My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus chose his words carefully – including the words we listened to in this Sunday Mass. They are part of his famous Sermon on the Mount, which is like a highlight film of all his sermons.
In this section, he is explaining to his followers what he expects of them. It is like a coach talking to his players before the big game - but this is Jesus talking to us about the game of life itself. It is like a general instructing his troops before a big battle - but this is Jesus talking to us about the battle of life. He is giving us our life-mission.And what is that life-mission? To be salt and light for the world around us. Salt had two functions in the ancient world: it gave flavour to food, and it also preserved food. They didn't have refrigerators back then, so they would preserve meat by putting a thin layer of salt over it.
Light had the same function then as it does now: to push back the darkness. But in the ancient world, before the advent of electricity, darkness was a much more dramatic reality than it is to us. The ancients understood how helpless they were without a lamp. We, on the other hand, because electric lighting is everywhere, rarely even have to think about our need for light.
Salt and light - these are the comparisons Jesus uses to explain our life-mission. And what is the common characteristic of salt and light? They are both for something else. Their purpose is not self-centred, but other-cantered. And that's the point.
A Christian's mission in the world, just like Christ's mission, is to make a positive difference for others, by bringing them the power and the illumination of the gospel.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: Getting Closer to God Means Serving Others
This life-mission gives us a glimpse into God's own heart. He longs for everyone to become convinced of his goodness, so that they will trust him and follow him to ever-growing happiness here on earth, and everlasting happiness in heaven. This is why the closer we come to God, the more we desire to make a difference in the lives of our neighbours - our hearts burn with the same desires of Christ's heart. All the saints show that this is the case.
This life-mission gives us a glimpse into God's own heart. He longs for everyone to become convinced of his goodness, so that they will trust him and follow him to ever-growing happiness here on earth, and everlasting happiness in heaven. This is why the closer we come to God, the more we desire to make a difference in the lives of our neighbours - our hearts burn with the same desires of Christ's heart. All the saints show that this is the case.
St Elizabeth Ann Seton, for example, had a long and difficult journey into the Catholic faith. She lived around 1800 and was part of New York high society both by birth and also by marriage. As a young wife and mother, she felt a profound spiritual restlessness.
A non-Catholic Christian, she longed for a deeper relationship with Christ, but didn't know where to find it. A series of Crosses, including her husband's death, led her to the Catholic Church, where she found what she was looking for in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Converting to Catholicism led her to be criticized and ostracized by friends, social circles, and even family members. But her deeper intimacy with Christ made the suffering worthwhile. Instead of falling into discouragement or self-pity, in fact, she found herself moved to start a new religious order dedicated to educating the young.
Thus was born the Sisters of Charity, which now has five major divisions in the United States and Canada. And thus also began the American system of Catholic education, which at 2011, includes over 7,000 elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States.
God wants to bring flavour and light to the world, and the closer we get to his Sacred Heart, the more our hearts will burn with that same desire.
Works of Mercy
If God is calling each of us to make a real, everlasting difference in the lives of others, then it must be possible for us to do it. But how? Today's First Reading gives a starting list of possibilities: "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." Those correspond to some of the traditional corporal, or material, works of mercy.
We can find another list of possibilities in the traditional spiritual works of mercy: comforting the sorrowful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing sinners, counselling the doubtful, praying for the living and the dead, bearing wrongs patiently, and forgiving injuries.
Certainly, during this Mass the Holy Spirit will translate these general ideas into some very practical possibilities in the heart of each one of us.
But the Holy Spirit is extremely polite. He doesn't want us to be his slaves; he wants us to be his friends. And so, even though he will inspire good ideas, he will not force us to carry them out. He leaves us free to say yes or no.
As we continue this sacred celebration of Christ's own sacrifice, of Christ's own perfect "yes" to the Father, let's say "yes" to him.
Let's allow the beauty and the power of this Mass to give us the courage we need this week to fulfil our life-mission just a little bit better than we did last week, being salt and light for a confused and broken world.