Salt and light of the world

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, we hear our Lord Jesus telling us that we should be salt and light to the world.  “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.’” (Mt 5:13-16)

Our Lord Jesus Christ speaking by analogy tell us first and foremost, to be salt.  What does salt do to our food?  It enhances its taste. It helps bring out the good taste of food.  In life, it means we are to help others become the best version of themselves.  We are to assist our fellow humans to live a life of meaning and purpose, first in the human side of things, as well as in the spiritual order.  In the human side, we try to help them succeed in their goals in life, in their studies, in their career and in their married life.  I’m a teacher so I’m pretty much in a position to help students.  I try to focus on those students struggling with their studies and are not so motivated finishing their degrees.  I try to counsel them not to live a life of regret, if they quit their studies, and make them see the deeper joy of accomplishing goals rather than waste it through useless and passing pleasures of vices.  I try to complement it with spiritual advice, because we can’t achieve things on our own given our weak and fallen nature, we need a Savior.  That’s the reason why Christ came into the world to save us from our sinfulness, weaknesses and failures.

Salt is used as well to preserve food from getting rotten.  In the absence of refrigerator or cold storage in the olden times, salt was used to maintain the freshness of food.  We are to preserve others from becoming corrupt and help them stay faithful in their pursuit for human and spiritual growth.  We can do this by regularly giving them advice and make them see the importance of constant formation.  Formation which means acquiring wisdom or knowledge of values through reading spiritual books, attending values formation classes, recollections and retreats.  We Christians are in a constant assault by the three main enemies of the soul which is the world, our fallen and selfish nature (due to original sin) and the devil.  Formation is one of our main weapons to defeat these three enemies and obtain spiritual victory.  Formation or wisdom makes us see the fraud and falsehood behind every sin, that sin cannot truly make us happy.

We are likewise to be light of the world.  Light illumines the surroundings so that what is beautiful can be seen and what is ugly are exposed.  We Christians ought to praise the good things we see in others and encourage them to even be more good but at the same time we also have to point out what is not good in them.  We are to be both an encouragement and a corrector of others.  If others are doing well in their studies, in their career and in their spiritual life we should try to help them aspire to even be better because there will always be room for improvement, and joy comes from constantly growing and aspiring.  And if they tend to deviate from the right path, we try to bring them back through advice and encouragement.

Our Lord also says, “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.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket”.  Christ is describing what would happen if we do the opposite of being salt and light in the world.  Bishop Barron says, “The mayhem of the 20^th Century where so many people are killed and slaughtered (through wars and abortion) even more than all the previous centuries combined, is caused by Christians not being salt and light in the world.  Remember that these killings happen in deeply Christian countries such Russia, Germany, the rest of Europe and the U.S.”  This reminds me of the famous saying of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In other words, there is no such thing as a victimless end-result. All of our actions and inactions have consequences on other people, whether good or bad, because we belong to a body, the body of Christ where one cell of the body can affect the others.  If we Christians don’t do our duties of being salt and light, the world will become rotten and blind, heading towards chaos and destruction.