Today,
St. Mathew reminds us of those words Jesus said regarding our mission
as Christians: to be the salt and the light of the world. On the one
hand, the salt is a necessary seasoning to make foods taste good:
without salt, most dishes are almost worthless! Throughout centuries,
on the other hand, salt has been a fundamental element to keep
victuals from corruption. Jesus tells us: —You must be the salt
of your world, and like the salt, you are to be tasty and avoid
corruption.
In our time, many have
lost the sense of life and claim it is not worth their while; that
life is full of disappointments, difficulties and suffering; that it
goes by very fast and that it has death, as a final perspective, and
a sad one too.
«You
are the salt of the earth!» (Mt 5,13). It is up to
Christians to give flavor to life: by showing the joyful and serene
optimism of he who recognizes himself as the son of God, for
everything in our lives can be a path to sanctity; by making
difficulties, suffering and pain help us to purify ourselves; and by
realizing that, at the end of our lives, life in Glory —the
eternal happiness— is waiting for us.
And, also as the salt
does, Christ's disciples, must preserve from corruption: where there
are Christians with living faith, there cannot be injustice,
violence, ill-treatment of the weak ones... Rather on the contrary,
the virtue of Charity must shine in full force: worrying for others,
solidarity, generosity...
And,
thus, Christians are the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:14). A
Christian is the torch that, with the example of his life, shows the
path to Salvation, by bringing the light of truth everywhere in the
world... Where, before, there was only darkness, uncertainty and
doubts, now, there is light, certainty and self-confidence.
