First reading: Is. 58: 7-10
“Share your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed
and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your
back on your own. Then your light shall
break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your
vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear
guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord
will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and
the gloom shall become for you like midday.”
Second reading: 1 Cor. 2: 1-5
“When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of
God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was
with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much
trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive [words
of] wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith
might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”
Gospel reading: Mt. 5: 13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it
be seasoned? It is no longer good for
anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be
hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and
then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives
light to all in the house. Just so, your
light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify
your heavenly Father.”
Introductory theme question:
We are the light of the world, but what exactly is meant by
the metaphor of light? Is it simply performing
charitable works of mercy as described above, or is there more to it then that?
Reflection:
In this day and age where Christian values are commonly
understood, they are often ‘used’ to convey the impression of ‘being good’ in
order to promote a certain type of ‘image’ of one’s self for some self-serving
reason. Yet the Lord said to not perform
your good deeds so as to be seen, because that is what the hypocrites do. Clearly, there must be a deeper level meant
by the metaphor of conveying our light through our deeds than simply performing
charitable works of mercy.
If we consider the first reading we must project what type
of society those works were being performed in, to appreciate them as
light. It was a society of extremely
sinful behaviors that completely lacked our basis for belief in eternal life –
the life, teaching and resurrection of Jesus Christ giving validation to his
words. For them to perform deeds consistent
with our Christian faith without all the helps our position in time affords, it
is truly remarkable and thus warranting the correlation with signs of light.
For us in our time to achieve the same distinction we must
do more than simply perform these works so that they may be seen. We must embody the spirit of charity to
actually convey light through these deeds.
We have no need to look any further that Paul’s description in 1 Cor.
13: 4-7.
“Love is patient, love is
kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not
pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own
interests, it sin not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does
not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.”
This is the spirit we need to display through our works in
order to represent the light to the world.
In addition we must perform these works without fanfare. A perfect validation of this principal is our
Lord’s use of a single candle for his explanation. A single candle can only give off a small amount
of light, very modest in itself.
Consistent with this image we are to display our examples simply in our
day to day lives without going out of our way or making special efforts: whenever
the daily circumstance of life presents us with opportunities to perform those
charitable deeds. In other words, when
we find ourselves ‘put on the spot.’ Yes…
when we don’t expect it, and… when it isn’t convenient for us to perform them. Then, is when our charitable works of mercy performed
with a true spirit of charity become authentic deeds of light for the world to
see!
Come, let us be true lights for the world to see, and by
that we can actually show that Christianity truly does work, one person at a
time.
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