Homily for the 5^th Sunday Ordinary Time 

(Cycle A Readings: Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalm 112: 45, 6-7, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16)

    

            I don’t know about you, but about this time of the year I get really excited about those few extra minutes of daylight. I have been known to seem to be amazed at the fact that it was light before 7:30 this morning, and I’m like a little kid remarking how it is still light at 5:30!

            Light is so essential to us and that is why we aknowldge Christ as our light and use symbols of that to remind ourselves. We light this Paschal Candle at the Easter Vigil and use it for baptisms and funerals; it is why we have candles by the ambo and the altar, and why we have a lit candle by the tabernacle that holds the Blessed Sacrament.

            But Jesus says something startling to us today. He says YOU are light; I am light; WE are light. He doesn’t ask us to become light or to try to be light, he says we ARE light. And we are light because we are his – we are Christians – we are “little Christs”. It is because Jesus has called us and we have responded. If we are light, Jesus tells us that our light must shine among others – giving light to all in the house.

            And he tells us that we are the salt of the earth. We are salt – that basic element that flavors food, preserves food, and, in Jesus’ day, was used to make fires light and burn better. But if we lose our flavor, if we fail to preserve our faith, if we are no longer starting fires of peace and justice, then we might as well be put in the truck and dumped on the street to melt the ice.

            Jesus’ challenge to his believers, then and now, is that we be who we are – that we live who we have become. We have been baptized into his life. We come here each week to receive the Body of Christ, to BE the Body of Christ, and we are called to live as Christ’s body in the world.

            Being light and being salt is what the New Evangelization is all about.  We are supposed to live so that by who we are and what we do others will give glory to God. Light and salt share an interesting characteristic – they can both be perceived by the sense – taste for salt and sight for light – but neither of them is meant to the object of that perception. When salt is used properly, it enhances the flavor of what it is put on – and is unnoticeable itself. Same is true of light – we turn on a light not to look at the light, but to see other things because of it. We are to live our lives so that those around us see what we do and give glory to God.

            Pope Francis continues to challenge us toward this New Evangelization, to live, as he put it in his exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel.  And he tells us that if we take up this challenge, we have to go out to everyone – without exception. But, he asks, to whom do we go first? He is very clear: he says, not so much our “friends and wealthy neighbors”, but to “the poor and the sick, those who are usually despised and overlooked, ‘those who cannot repay you’”(48). In other words, he wants us to get out of our comfort zone. Getting out of your comfort zone is different for everyone. For me, it was prison ministry. When I was first invited to be a part of prison ministry, I resisted – mostly because I couldn’t see what a suburban, white bread, goody-two-shoes could possibly have to contribute to men in prison. But it’s not about me – it’s about bringing the love and friendship of Jesus to those who need to hear it desperately. It’s about being salt in a place of tastelessness and light in a place of darkness.

            What is it for you? Where do you need to get out of your comfort zone? Where do you have to go? To whom do you need to reach out? How far are you willing to take the challenge, as Isaiah put it, to share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, and clothe the naked?

            There are certainly risks involved.  But Pope Francis tells us that he would “prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security”. (49) Are we willing to risk getting bruised, hurt and dirty in order to bring the “strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ” (49) to those who live without it?

            You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Be salt. Be light.