5th Sun OT, Year A February 5, 2017
Fr. Albert
St. Peter Catholic Church, New Iberia
Eating dirt in the dark. That’s what our world is doing. At least, whatever their eating is so bland and so useless that it might as well be dirt. Without a light to see and without a decent chef to broaden their culinary horizons, human beings spend most of their time groping around without purpose and constantly consuming what they find, but never with the satisfaction they want.
The fact is that the human heart craves something and craves it constantly. But, so long as it lacks the savoriness of eternal life, it will leave us wanting more. That same heart longs to see another’s heart and to be seen by it, but without divine love as the standard, without the light of Christ’s care for us, it can never penetrate the gloom enough to make out more than an outline of real communion. And that is why the world needs us to become salt and light to them. So might we reveal to them the true spice of live and what it means to really see another person.
Salt and light – we could say that these represent the two great commandments that Jesus gives us: Love God with your whole heart, mind, and body and love your neighbor as yourself. It may not be obvious at first, but being salty is a reference to worshiping God. In the Old Covenant, the Jewish priests were explicitly told to salt the sacrifices they would make to God, especially the grain offerings. It refers to the “salt of the covenant with your God.” It demands that this salt never be lacking in the offerings.
Well, translate that to the new covenant, where our whole life and indeed our own bodies are meant to be an offering to God. Salting our life with the covenant of our God means to do everything with a conscious awareness of the fact that we are doing it for God. St. Paul tells the Colossians “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others.” The quality of being the “salt of the earth” is somewhat intangible, but very real.
Think of stories you hear about John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and Padre Pio. People who met them would say that their very presence was different, that encountering them opened a new perspective or filled that moment with a new flavor not experienced elsewhere in life. The covenant, whose salt we should never lack, is a covenant of love and relationship with God. When a person consciously chooses to treat every part of their life as if it mattered to God, their life takes on that new flavor. Just like salt, the love of God enhances and brings out the taste that is already present.
The real spice of life is loving purpose – living, working, and even playing for the love of God. And how to do this? We mine the salt with a prayer life, but especially with the Liturgy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we must not forget about the offertory at Mass. Yes, we sing. Yes, we place our envelope in the basket. But that envelope, that money is meant to be representative of much more. Even more important is the spiritual and mental act of placing your hopes, joys, worries, trials, and thoughts on the altar. Indeed, place your very heart there, so that it may be thoroughly seasoned in the Spirit of God, transformed, and returned to you with a taste for eternity instead of longing for distraction, pleasure, and oblivion.
And what, then, of being light to the world? Jesus is quite clear about the city and the lamp; our example should serve others. He’s even more clear about what he means by light: good deeds. Do good deeds, for your neighbor, and people will see that and glorify God. Even if others do not believe in God, they will thank him indirectly because they will be glad that our apparent belief in God causes us to do so much good for them and others. Just look at the first reading: “Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn.” That is a partial list of the corporal works of mercy.
But, there is one particular deed that seems a bit more timely for us. Shelter the oppressed. I think it’s safe to say that everyone knows at least something about the refugee crisis in the middle east. This past week has seen a heated argument over how we should respond to it. I wish I could call it a “debate,” but it mostly consists of people shouting past each other. There are over 60 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes, many from the same few countries.
The argument tends to be treated like it’s about concerns for safety versus care for the needy. But, what Jesus Christ say to us about this? Honestly, it’s not as simple as either side would have you believe. I am not a political scientist, a sociologist, or an expert on economics. I do not pretend to have an answer to how the government should respond, but I can tell you something about how a Christian should respond. There can be a debate on policy, but it should not be lazy… or easy.
To do and say nothing, to simply nod our heads along with whichever political party we like is not what Christ would ask of us. Be a light to the world. Maybe there is a legitimate threat from a small percentage of the refugees coming into this country. Maybe there isn’t. Either way, it is not an excuse to shout our opinion and wash our hands of it. The prophet says “shelter the oppressed.” Jesus in many places sternly warns us about neglecting those in need. Each and every one of us should seriously evaluate what we personally can do as Christians in response to the crisis. Educating ourselves about what is actually happening is a great place to start. Donations, volunteering, deliberate and frequent prayer are necessary. If you want to worry about the political response, then learning the Church’s teaching on refugees and borders is a necessary step. A serious effort to understand the other side of the argument and a little kindness in dialogue would really help too.
I will say this much. Muslims in their own countries and among the refugees are converting to Christianity in surprising numbers. Go ahead and search the internet for “Muslim converts to Christianity.” Many, many refugees are fleeing precisely because of ISIS and the help they receive from Christians has allowed many of them to encounter a God of love and authentic peace… our God.
And our God has called us to be salt and light precisely for that reason. The world doesn’t need more haughty opinions or cleverly misquoted bible verses. It’s needs lovers: lovers of God and lovers of fellow man. Because only those lovers can become saints and the only tragedy… the one thing we will regret most when we die, is if we have not become a saint. That is the demand of a Christian life, the reason Christ gives us his sermon on the mount and his very life: to make each and every one of us into saints. And there are only two questions we can ask to know if we succeeded: Did I live totally for God? Did I love my neighbor, every neighbor, as myself?