To be salt and light-- JBB

You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world... Matthew 5: 13-14

I am an “okay” cook but I do understand how salt can flavor a dish and I find it interesting how little salt it takes to do so. I can readily identify with the phrase, “You are the salt of the earth,” because it is such a basic seasoning. Works of justice are “salt” in its most ancient use to preserve and prevent decay thereby insuring good health.

“You are the light of the world,” however, invokes quite a different “Who ME?” feeling. Yet, look how the US Catholic Bishops, in both Called and Gifted for the Third Millennium and Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us, envision “a laity who are living witnesses to Christ: well-formed in faith, enthusiastic, capable of leadership in the Church and society, filled with compassion, and working for justice.” These are the ingredients for being a light to the world and it begins with continuing adult faith formation. Author Thomas R. Hawkins calls it, “the learning congregation,” in a book by the same name. Learning challenges our mental models of how we perceive things to be and opens us up to the possibility of seeing from God’s perspective how things could really be. Learning ignites our interior lamp.

You and I are on a mission to be salt and light to the temporal world. As the U.S. Bishops affirm, “The church and its adult faithful have a mission in and to the world   to share the message of Christ to renew and to transform the social and temporal order. This dual calling to evangelization and justice is integral to the identity of the lay faithful; all are called to it in baptism.” http://www.nccbuscc.org/education/ourhearts.htm “We need to build local communities of faith where our social teaching  is central, not fringe; where social ministry is integral, not optional; where it is the work of every believer, not just the mission of a few committed people and committees.” http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/saltandlight.shtml

Choose to accept the mission and we can get to cooking and learning in our own congregations.

Comments

[himalayan salt lamps]

This post a good information and each word blog conveys a meaning.salt lamps