Matthew 5:13-16

Lectio (Reading)

Read the passage twice and get a sense of what it is saying. Pay attention to what strikes you.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.”

Meditatio (Reflecting)

Slowly read the passage again, pausing on words or phrases that stands out. Take time to consider the meaning. particularly in your life.

You are the salt of the earth…,You are the light of the world.

Oratio (Responding)

Read the passage again, slowly. Consider how God has spoken to you and respond back to Him. You may want to consider how this passage is asking you to act differently.

What does this parable mean? There are several ways to look at this analogy, and they are all deeply meaningful. Salt and light both enhance everything around them. They give of themselves to make the things around them better, meaning that they both make the things they come into contact with more like that thing. Salt makes the food it is on taste more like that food. Light makes a thing more clearly visible, and not hidden in darkness.

Salt and light also have the ability to purify. When meat is salted, the salt preserves the food, preventing bacteria, and other things from corrupting and rotting the food. Light as well has similar properties. Dark and wet places grow bacteria, and disease, but places that are in direct sunlight are the opposite, they are dry and sterile. With enough time, anything placed in the light will be purified.

Finally, Salt and light both have a spiritual warfare aspect as well. Conquering armies would use salt to kill farm fields of their enemies, and it has always been used as a sacramental that can be used for protection from evil spirits. So too with light, Consider the metaphor of the cockroaches scurrying away when the lights come on. The devil and his demons are just the same, they love to live in the darkness and shadows, and they hate light, they hate having their ugliness exposed for all to see.

So today Jesus is saying that we have to be like salt and light in the world. We have to enhance the world around us, shining light on it, and making it better. We have to use our nature and our connection with Jesus to purify those that we come into contact with every day. And we have to fight off the evil in our midst, conquering our worlds, claiming them for christ, and making them intolerable places for the evil forces of the world to ever return. It may seem like a tall order to fulfill, but with God all things are possible. So go out into the world and be salt and light.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Make a resolution that will improve your life, your relationships, or your faith. Make it small and attainable, and do it.

Oh lord, help me today to be salt and light to the world, helping to enhance those around me, to purify those that you have given me to work on, and give me the courage to fight evil and send it off into the darkness.