February 5^th 2017. FIFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16

                                                                                                                                             

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus said to his disciples: 'You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.

'You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house.
In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus makes clear that each of us has a unique mission to be the light of the world. How do we achieve this? Does our personal mission consist in amazing individualistic feats? Stunning public performances of some kind? The first reading from the Prophet Isaiah tells us that we become a light to the world if we feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and clothe the naked. The human person is a fundamentally relational being. Our mission consists in entering into relationships of love and service with God and with the people we encounter in our daily lives. That is how we become a light for the world! If we follow individual, egoistic goals then we fail in our mission and bring darkness to the world. If I am caught up in my own projects, worries and sufferings, then I bring gloom and shadows to the people around me. The more I strive for my own individual light, the darker I become! But if, in union with Jesus on the cross, my sufferings and limits orient me towards God and neighbour, then I become a shining light in the obscurity of this world. Our Lord Jesus becomes a light to the world above all at the moment that he is hanging on the cross. At the moment of his death there is an eclipse of the sun and the world is thrown into darkness. The absence of natural light helps us to appreciate that Jesus is a light of a much different and more enduring kind! Jesus is our light because he offers his sufferings on our behalf and thus he illuminates all of history. At the end of the day, God is the origin of all light. He gives us life and wishes to fan us into a flame that will illuminate the world. We will be the light when we cease striving for worldly light and limelight, when we cease pursuing our selfish goals and instead turn towards God and neighbour. Until we shine with this light, we are not truly living at all.

Each of us has a unique mission to illuminate the world

The first reading comes from the latter part of Isaiah which speaks about the things that will take place at the end times. The prophet tells us that true fasting involves feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the homeless. If we do these things, we are told, then our light will shine like the dawn and our wounds will be quickly healed. What does this passage of Isaiah refer to? What kind of light does a human being possess? And how can this light heal us? All of this is made clearer when we consider the celebrated Gospel text from Matthew regarding the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Every human being has a unique identity and he is called so that his light will shine for others. Each of us has been given a mission, something important to accomplish.

Our mission is not to achieve some wonderful personal feat but to be light for others

This mission is not something for ourselves. It is not some kind of personal achievement or triumph.  It is something that must be done for others, because the human being is fundamentally a relational creature. Each of us has a relationship with God and with our neighbour. To fail in our mission means to become darkness, to become a contributor towards the darkness of the world and the blindness of others. To fail in our mission means to fail to lead others to see God and to see their neighbour. When darkness prevails we cannot see the other. Individualism, the pursuit of one’s own goals, the failure to share with others, is not just a problem of social justice. Individualism is a betrayal of our most authentic identity. We are called to be beautiful human beings and this involves being brilliant emitters of light for others.

What kind of light do we emit?

But what sort of light do we emit? Many people in the world pursue their own success, their own light. They shine with an artificial radiance that soon fades. This light has nothing eternal in it. These people seek to be themselves by taking themselves as their starting point and finishing point. But the first reading from Isaiah speaks of people who shine like the dawn because they have focussed on the welfare of others. We find the same discourse in the Gospel. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” The disciple is someone who lights the way for others, not for himself. This is a key point for understanding many aspects of our lives. “No-one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on a lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house.” A lamp is only lit so that someone else may see. We do not light a lamp in an empty room. But who is it that lights the lamp of the human person? It is God who is the origin of this light! It is God who called us to life. God lights each one of us so that we might be light for others.

If we follow egoistic goals then we walk in darkness. Suffering has no meaning if it is understood in egoistic terms

We continue to walk in darkness so long as we continue to pursue the dictates of our own egos. For as long as our ego remains the key by which we interpret the meaning of our lives, we will never be able to understand the things that happen to us! Many difficult and bewildering things happen to us in life. We only begin to accept them when we realize that through these things we can become light for others. If something critical happens to us, then by means of these things we can attain perspective on life and show love to others. The alternative is to view these things in a narrow egoistic way. The events then have no wider redeeming significance beyond themselves. They start from us and finish with us. How different it is to view my sufferings or limits as opportunities for doing good for someone else! This is the perspective we attain when we contemplate Christ crucified. The horrible, unjust and individual suffering of Jesus becomes the light of the world. As Jesus is dying on the Cross, there is an eclipse of the sun. There is no more natural illumination and Jesus becomes the true light of the world. It is the fact of Jesus offering his sufferings for us that makes him the light of the world.

As the Prophet Isaiah says, and as the Gospel says, we become light for the world when all the sufferings and challenges of our lives are transformed into love and service for God and others

We are redeemed when our light becomes something that illuminates others; when all of the events in our lives, its challenges, and its sufferings are oriented towards love, oriented towards making ourselves available for the other – the Other with a capital “O” (God) and the other with a lowercase “o” (our neighbour). When we open ourselves in this way, our lives become salt that gives flavour to the existence of others. It is one thing to be with a friend who has never suffered, another thing to be with a friend who has suffered but become embittered through his sufferings, but it is something else altogether to be with someone who has suffered and who has transformed his sufferings into a greater capacity to love, serve and understand others. There is a light hidden in our lives that we are not showing forth as we should. It is the light of the world, the light of Christ, the light of love.