Homily Cycle A 02/05/2024
– Offered at OLPH
Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020523.cfm
We heard in Isaiah “…light shall break forth like the dawn….” &
prayed in our Responsorial psalm the just are a light in the darkness. Paul came “…in
weakness & fear & much trembling”
& St. Paul was one of the Church’s greatest saints and
missionaries. If he came in weakness,
fear & trembling what can we expect to do?
One of my countryman Shamus O’Reilly went out one Saturday
evening to his favorite pub and he had a few to many and stayed way to
long. Since he was very late, he decided
to cut through the cemetery to save some time getting home.
I was very dark, and he fell
into an open grave and spent the night there. The next morning, he woke up and crawled up to the top of the
grave. It was a beautiful morning the sunlight glistening off the
grass.
O’Reilly, exclaimed Praised be to God, it’s Resurrection Sunday and
I am the first one up.
Jesus challenge us to be His
disciples to be His missionaries “salt” for the
Kingdom & “light” for the world. In
Jesus’ time salt was a precious commodity; Jesus is telling you & me that
we are precious. Salt enhances the
flavor & light illuminates.
To
be salt, in the Spirit of Christ, is to bring out the best in the people we
meet & to do that unobtrusively. To
be light, is to illuminate the presence of God in the midst of the darkness in
our world.
Did you ever eat a handful of
salt or drink a glass of ocean water? – [maybe a mouthful of ocean water while
at the beach] but drinking a glass full of ocean or a handful of salt would be
terrible. Salt by itself does not taste
particularly good – it might even make us sick; looking directly at the sun or
into a bright, light bulb can damage to our eyes. Salt and sun
are valuable when they mix or blend, bringing
out the fullness of others. A little
salt can bring out the natural flavor in every kind of food, from filet mignon to
popcorn. [I prefer the filet].The four ounces of salt in our bodies
enable our muscles to contract, our blood to circulate, our hearts to
beat. Salt
purifies & softens; cleans & preserves. Light’s
true beauty is realized when it illuminates.
Light enables us to see, to study, to discover, to behold the beauty
of God’s creation. Salt & Light are
most effective when they draw little or no attention themselves. In well-seasoned food the salt is not noticeable
& in a well-lit room the lamps are not the focus. [Adopted from Abiding
Word, Barbara Reid, p.65]
So, it is with us as disciples we
should focus our actions and words on giving Glory to God. Jesus calls us to be salt
& light for the earth, we can best do that by taking last week’s
Gospel, The Beatitudes, and making them the foundation of how we live. Jesus challenges us to make God’s presence known
by the lives that we live. And we can do that by “Do
all things in the name of God & you will do all things well. ” [St.
Francis deSales]
We are precious & that we
have good in us because Jesus put it there, He gave us goodness so we can learn
to love God and help others to do the same.
For a few minutes think about how you will be the Salt and light of Christ in the world.
May God Be Blessed!
