Sunday Gospel Reflection, February 8, 2026: You are the salt of the earth...

You are the salt of the earth...
 But what does it mean to be salt? 

    When Jesus, in our reading from Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday, tells his disciples that they are the salt of the earth and light of the world, he wants them to believe that they themselves are able to enhance the lives of others as they bring God’s love to bear on those lives. Salt enhances flavor; light brings life. In all that we do, Jesus suggests, we are called to live our lives for others, enhancing their lives. We are graced so that we can bring the love of God to all we meet, by living the gospel in their midst, thus revealing God’s love in action. 

    In fact, Jesus is echoing a key idea in Isaiah, where the Lord reveals that true social morality results in life-giving justice for all: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. We are called to live lives of compassion, seeing the need around us, and meeting it in such a way as to equalize the situation at hand. But it means we can’t just talk about justice: we have to do justice, participate, act. Moreover, to be authentic, such behavior must come from the depths of who we are, and must reflect our own openness to and trust in God. Such a person—one who is in right relationship with God—is described more fully in Psalm 112: s/he is gracious (the source of grace and blessing for other), merciful, and just. When our compassion recognizes our source and our commonality, we respond out of that commonality. We can thus be a blessing to other, and God is revealed in us. 

    For Paul writing to the Corinthians, such knowledge of God is focused first and foremost on Jesus Christ and him crucified. The paradox of the Cross lies in the fact that salvation comes from a criminal: the love of Jesus dying for our sins transcends the embarrassment and humiliation of a crucified Savior. If you know this, know it not only in your mind but in your heart, you will experience God’s love in the depths of your being, and can only respond to the experience of such love with faith and humility, in complete service to other. Enhancing the lives of others, you are salt. It’s as simple as that. 

This “vintage” post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

The preferential choice for the poor (Pope Leo)

          The preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society, if only we can set ourselves free of our self-centeredness and open our ears to their cry. 

        Those who follow Jesus must tread the path of the Beatitudes, where poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, hunger and thirst for justice, and peace-making are often met with opposition and even persecution. Yet God’s glory shines forth in his friends and continues to shape them along the way, passing from conversion to conversion. 

--Pope Leo      

Image source: Br. Mickey McGrath, The Preferential Option for the Poor, https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/option-for-the-poor-and-vulnerable
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To 'inherit the earth' (Fr. Ron Rolheiser)

    What does it mean to ‘inherit the earth’? To be a superstar? To be rich and famous? To have power over others? To walk into a room and be instantly recognized and admired as being significant and important? Is that the way we ‘inherit the earth’? Or, do we ‘inherit the earth’ when a coldness is melted in our hearts and we are brought back to our primal goodness by the smile of a baby? What does it mean to you? 

 --Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI 

Image source: https://www.todaysparent.com/baby/baby-development/when-do-babies-smile-2/
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Blessed are (Henri Nouwen)

   "Blessed are the poor,” he said. Jesus is poor, not in control, but marginal in his society. What good can come from Nazareth? 

   “Blessed are the gentle,” he said. Jesus does not break the bruised reed. He always cares for the little ones. 

 

   “Blessed are those who mourn,” he said. Jesus does not hide his grief, but lets his tears flow when his friend dies and when he foresees the destruction of his beloved Jerusalem. 

   “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice,” he said. Jesus doesn't hesitate to criticize injustice and to defend the hungry, the dying, and the lepers. 

   “Blessed are the merciful,” he said. Jesus doesn't always call for revenge but heals always and everywhere. 

   “Blessed are the pure in heart,” he said. Jesus remains focused only on what is necessary and does not allow his attention to be divided by many distractions. 

   “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he said. Jesus does not stress differences, but reconciles people as brothers and sisters in one family. 

   “Blessed are those who are persecuted,” he said. Jesus does not expect success and popularity, but knows that rejections and abandonment will make him suffer. 

   The Beatitudes give us Jesus' self-portrait. It is the portrait of a powerless God. 

--Henri Nouwen

 

Image source: https://jacksoncommunitychurch.org/reflections-on-beatitudes-and-blessings-themes-from-matthew/
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Consider your calling (Beth Ford McNamee)

    In today’s readings we are given an invitation to become a part of God’s reigning of justice. An upside down, turn your world around, reigning of justice. Where the lowly are raised up, the blind see, the hungry are fed, and the imprisoned are set free, the psalmist proclaims. Where God chooses the foolish of the world to shame the wise and chooses the weak of the world to shame the strong, Paul tells us. Seek justice, seek humility, the prophet Zephaniah exhorts us. Seek humility that no human being might boast before God. Seek humility, for we are in Christ Jesus, the wisdom of God. Seek humility, the very ground and birth of our being from God's fierce and tender love, a radical love that does justice, a justice that we are called to work for with others, especially learning from those on the margins. 

    Consider your calling, Paul says. Can we show up for this upside-down reigning of God? Can we place ourselves in spaces where we are not trying to be first, best, or boasting before God and others? Can we place ourselves instead in marginal spaces, place ourselves in humility before the sacredness of one another, to become people of authentic encounter, kinship, and relationship? 

    Consider your calling. God is calling us.... Welcome to your calling. Welcome to your calling that is blessedness, that is humility, that is fierce and passionate love, that is encounter, kinship, and relationship, that is collaborative and creative restructuring of our societies. So that the oppressed are set free, the lowly are lifted up, the mourning are comforted, and the hungry are not hungry in the first place. So that we may celebrate and join together in the Eucharistic banquet where no one is outside of God’s overflowing, abundant, and compassionate love. For this, let us rejoice and be glad! 

--Beth Ford McNamee    

Image source: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/why-you-should-literally-look-at-the-world-upside-down/
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Bringing peace through justice (Fr. Greg Boyle / Benoît Standaert)

I suspect that, were kinship our goal,
we would no longer be promoting justice
– we would be celebrating it.

 --Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ,
Homeboy Industries

    Whenever we strive to bring a little more peace through justice here on earth and, in whatever form, change sadness into happiness, heal broken hearts, or assist the sick and the weak, we arrive directly at God, the God of the resurrection. 

--Benoît Standaert 

Image source: Edvard Munch, The Sick Child (1907), https://medium.com/@leila.tayebifard/depictions-of-disease-in-art-history-70cf039445ff
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If I say I am a Christian (Pope Francis)

Whatever you did for
the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for me.

--Matthew 25:40 

    You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian. You cannot be a Christian without practicing the Beatitudes. You cannot be a Christian without doing what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25. It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of your help. If I say I am a Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite. 

--Pope Francis

Image source: Pope Francis meets with refugees, November 2014, https://slmedia.org/blog/pope-francis-meets-with-young-refugees-before-his-departure-from-turkey
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