Fr. Serge TchaTche
Today gospel (on salt and light) immediately follows in the gospel of Matthew, the proclamation of the Beatitudes: there is therefore certainly a link between the two. And we can probably illuminate these two passages from each other.
Salt and light do not exist for themselves. If a lamp is pretty, frankly, it is not the most important! What is asked of it first is to enlighten; and besides, if it doesn't light up well, if you can't see anything in it, as they say, you won't see that it's pretty either! As for salt, its vocation is to disappear while fulfilling its function: but if it is lacking, the dish will be less good. Salt enhances the flavour of food, light reveals the beauty of beings and of the world. Both give meaning, purpose to the things.
Jesus tells them “You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world”: what counts is the earth, the world; salt and light count only in relation to the earth and the world! By telling his disciples that they are salt and light, Jesus puts them in a missionary situation. He said to them: “You who receive my words, you become, by this very fact, salt and light for this world: your presence is indispensable to it”. Which is to say that the Church exists only FOR the world. Nobody needs us to exist, but apparently we have a specific role to play. Salt of the earth, we are here to reveal to mankind the flavour of their lives. Light of the world, we are here to highlight the beauty of this world: it is the gaze of love that reveals the true face of people and things.
But this can only be done with discretion and humility. Too much salt distorts the taste of food instead of enhancing it. A light that is too strong crushes what it wants to illuminate. To be salt and light, you have to love a lot.
It is enough to love, but it is necessary to really love. This is what the texts of this day repeat to us according to different modes of expression but in a very coherent way. Evangelization is not a conquest.
This presence of love can be very demanding if I believe the first reading: the comparison between the text of Isaiah and the Gospel is very suggestive. To be the light of the world according to the expression of the gospel is to place oneself at the service of our brothers; and Isaiah is very concrete: it is to share bread or clothing, it is to break down all the obstacles that prevent men from being free.
And this Sunday's psalm does not say anything else: "the good man", that is to say "the one who shares his wealth of all kinds with full hands" is a light for others. Because through his words and his gestures of love, others will discover the source of all love: as Jesus said, “By seeing what the disciples do well, men will give glory to the Father who is in heaven. that is to say, they will discover that God's project for men is a project of peace and justice.
Conversely, one can wonder how men will be able to believe in God's project of love as long as we, who are listed as his ambassadors, do not multiply the gestures of solidarity and justice that our society demands; we can also think that the salt is constantly in danger of becoming insipid: for it is tempting to let the strong words of the prophet Isaiah fall into oblivion, those that we heard in the first reading; it is perhaps no coincidence, moreover, that the Church gives them to us to hear shortly before the start of Lent, that moment when we will ask ourselves in very good faith what is the fast that God favourite.
To be salt of the earth, to be light of the world, is to live according to the spirit of the Beatitudes, that is to say exactly the opposite of the spirit of the world; it is accepting to live according to values of humility, gentleness, purity, justice. It is to be artisans of peace in all circumstances, and, perhaps more important than anything, to accept being poor and destitute, having only one objective in mind: "only by seeing what the disciples do good, men give glory to our Father who is in heaven. » Perhaps the best way to be salt and light for the world is simply to develop everyone the Beatitude to which we are called?
Today gospel (on salt and light) immediately follows in the gospel of Matthew, the proclamation of the Beatitudes: there is therefore certainly a link between the two. And we can probably illuminate these two passages from each other.
Salt and light do not exist for themselves. If a lamp is pretty, frankly, it is not the most important! What is asked of it first is to enlighten; and besides, if it doesn't light up well, if you can't see anything in it, as they say, you won't see that it's pretty either! As for salt, its vocation is to disappear while fulfilling its function: but if it is lacking, the dish will be less good. Salt enhances the flavour of food, light reveals the beauty of beings and of the world. Both give meaning, purpose to the things.
Jesus tells them “You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world”: what counts is the earth, the world; salt and light count only in relation to the earth and the world! By telling his disciples that they are salt and light, Jesus puts them in a missionary situation. He said to them: “You who receive my words, you become, by this very fact, salt and light for this world: your presence is indispensable to it”. Which is to say that the Church exists only FOR the world. Nobody needs us to exist, but apparently we have a specific role to play. Salt of the earth, we are here to reveal to mankind the flavour of their lives. Light of the world, we are here to highlight the beauty of this world: it is the gaze of love that reveals the true face of people and things.
But this can only be done with discretion and humility. Too much salt distorts the taste of food instead of enhancing it. A light that is too strong crushes what it wants to illuminate. To be salt and light, you have to love a lot.
It is enough to love, but it is necessary to really love. This is what the texts of this day repeat to us according to different modes of expression but in a very coherent way. Evangelization is not a conquest.
This presence of love can be very demanding if I believe the first reading: the comparison between the text of Isaiah and the Gospel is very suggestive. To be the light of the world according to the expression of the gospel is to place oneself at the service of our brothers; and Isaiah is very concrete: it is to share bread or clothing, it is to break down all the obstacles that prevent men from being free.
And this Sunday's psalm does not say anything else: "the good man", that is to say "the one who shares his wealth of all kinds with full hands" is a light for others. Because through his words and his gestures of love, others will discover the source of all love: as Jesus said, “By seeing what the disciples do well, men will give glory to the Father who is in heaven. that is to say, they will discover that God's project for men is a project of peace and justice.
Conversely, one can wonder how men will be able to believe in God's project of love as long as we, who are listed as his ambassadors, do not multiply the gestures of solidarity and justice that our society demands; we can also think that the salt is constantly in danger of becoming insipid: for it is tempting to let the strong words of the prophet Isaiah fall into oblivion, those that we heard in the first reading; it is perhaps no coincidence, moreover, that the Church gives them to us to hear shortly before the start of Lent, that moment when we will ask ourselves in very good faith what is the fast that God favourite.
To be salt of the earth, to be light of the world, is to live according to the spirit of the Beatitudes, that is to say exactly the opposite of the spirit of the world; it is accepting to live according to values of humility, gentleness, purity, justice. It is to be artisans of peace in all circumstances, and, perhaps more important than anything, to accept being poor and destitute, having only one objective in mind: "only by seeing what the disciples do good, men give glory to our Father who is in heaven. » Perhaps the best way to be salt and light for the world is simply to develop everyone the Beatitude to which we are called?