WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.799 This Sunday, once again, we're standing on the mountain with Jesus. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.240 Last week he proclaimed the Beatitudes. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:18.559 Today he turns and looks directly at his disciples, and that means he's looking directly at us as well. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:35.679 And he's saying to us and to those disciples, not who should not who we should be, not who we might be someday, but who we are by virtue of our baptism. 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:48.000 He says to them, You are salt of the earth, you are light of the world, you are a city on a mountain. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:01:03.280 And before we spiritualize these words, before we soften them, before we reduce them to something safe and comfortable, we need to hear them as his first listeners heard them. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:10.719 Because these are not sentimental images, they're demanding ones. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:20.560 Salt, light, a city on a mountain do not exist for themselves, they exist for others. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.640 Salt does not sit in a jar admiring itself. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:28.719 Light does not shine for its own enjoyment. 00:01:28.959 --> 00:01:31.599 A city on a hill does not hide. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:36.000 Each one exists to change its environment. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:40.400 In the ancient world, salt was not optional. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:42.879 It preserved food. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:45.920 Without it, things decayed. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:47.280 Rot spread. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:49.040 Corruption took over. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.280 Salt kept what was good from going bad. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.599 Jesus dares to say, that is what you are. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.400 You're meant to preserve what is good in the world. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:06.079 You're meant to keep truth from decaying. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:09.599 You're meant to slow the spread of evil. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.479 But salt also had another use in the ancient world. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:25.520 When an enemy city was destroyed, its fields were sometimes sown in with salt, rendering barren, rendering barren, incapable of producing life again. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.639 In other words, salt does two things. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:34.400 It preserves what is good and renders evil infertile. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.599 Do you ever think of your Christian life in that way? 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:52.319 That your fidelity, your moral courage, your refusal to go along with everyone else might actually stop evil from spreading. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:55.280 Now consider light. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.360 We live surrounded by artificial light. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.759 Ancient people did not. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:11.120 When night came, darkness was real and total, dangerous, disorienting, far fear-inducing. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:16.000 And into that world Jesus says, You, you are light. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:22.000 Light reveals what is good, but it also exposes what is hidden in the dark. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:26.479 When light comes on, certain things scatter. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:29.599 That's why light is uncomfortable. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.520 That's why light is resisted, and that's why it's sometimes attacked. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:41.360 And then Jesus gives the final image, a city on a mountain. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:49.120 Before GPS, before maps, before street signs, a city on a hill was a reference point. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.479 You looked at it and you knew exactly where you were. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:57.039 You looked at it and you know the direction you needed to go in. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.400 And Jesus is saying, that is you. 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:08.639 Your life is supposed to tell the world where goodness is, where truth is, where hope is. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:14.560 Now here's the uncomfortable truth of this gospel, and we can't avoid it. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.199 When Christians lose their identity, the world suffers. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:23.360 When salt loses its taste, decay accelerates. 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.639 When light is hidden, darkness expands. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.879 When the city disappears into the fog, people lose their way. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.879 Look at the last century alone. 00:04:35.279 --> 00:04:47.199 Unthinkable evil, industrialized death, communism and totalitarianism regimes, entire cultures collapsing into lies. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:52.959 And many of those whores arose in places one shaped by Christianity. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:53.920 Why? 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:00.319 Well, the reasons are complex, but Jesus already gave us part of the answer. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:12.319 The salt became bland, the light flickered, the city dimmed, faith became private, conviction became optional, silence became safer than truth. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:17.680 And if I'm honest, this gospel doesn't just accuse the world, it accuses me. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:31.120 The extent that my faith is sometimes not what it should be, or the extent that my light is hidden, to the extent that my sins may contribute to the darkness. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:34.480 But here's the good news. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:39.600 The gospel is not meant to crush us, it's meant to ignite us. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.680 Because Jesus does not say, just try harder. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:46.160 No, he says, remember who you are. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:54.319 You are the one I have chosen, you are the one that I have redeemed, you are the one that I have claimed in baptism. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.639 You are salt, you are light, you are a city. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.879 Not because you're perfect, but because I live in you. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.680 And that means something terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:08.079 Why? 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:10.240 Because your choices matter. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:28.319 Every prayer you say, every mass you attend, every act of charity that no one sees, every temptation you resist, every dollar you give for something good, every time you refuse to compromise truth, none of it is small. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:36.720 Each one pushes the world just a little bit away from darkness and into light. 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:43.759 Do not go with the flow of a culture drifting into confusion. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:48.079 Do not tell yourself your faith is just personal. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.720 Do not believe the lie that silences humility. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:59.279 Jesus didn't climb the mountain to inspire us, he climbed the mountain to commission us. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:04.480 So now the gospel leaves us with a question we cannot dodge. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:15.439 If this is who Jesus says you are, a salt, light, a city on a mountain, how then are you living this? 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:21.199 Not in theory, not someday, not when life slows down? 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:28.639 Where is your faith actually preserving something good that otherwise would decay? 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.240 Where is your presence exposing darkness instead of blending into it? 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:43.199 Where is your life giving someone else a clear reference point for truth, for hope, for an understanding of God's mercy? 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.759 Because salt that stays in a jar changes nothing. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.600 A light that stays switched off saves no one. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:55.519 A city that refuses to be seen becomes useless. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:01.279 This gospel is not asking you to be louder, it's asking you to be real. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:18.319 Real in how you speak, real in how you love, real in what you refuse to compromise, real in how you pray, how you give, how you forgive, and how you stand when it would be easier to sit down. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.959 Christianity does not fail because the world is dark. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:27.199 It fails when Christians decide the dark is more comfortable. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.040 Jesus has already told you who you are. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.840 The only question left is whether you will live like that. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:44.320 So this week, in a very special way, be the salt that preserves truth in your family. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:48.240 Be the light that names goodness at work. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:53.120 Be the city that points someone, anyone, towards God. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:00.320 Do not underestimate what faith, ordinary obedience can do. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.919 The world does not need more opinions. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:10.000 It doesn't need huge heroic acts, it needs small acts of love. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:13.200 Be a witness. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:15.840 You are salt of the earth. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:18.000 You are light of the world. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.879 You are a city set on a mountain. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:24.960 The Lord Jesus is commissioning to go and live this. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:25.840 Amen.