Homily for Sunday Ordinary Time 5 A

"And if we are faithful in this way, as an organized Church and as its individual members, we will succeed in announcing Christ to the world until all is seen in full light.” (Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, from Vatican II in Plain English by Bill Huebsch)

I am away this weekend, traveling to Rome and Madrid. I attended Pope Leo's audience on Wednesday in the Vatican.

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

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." 

The Gospel of the Lord. 

Last Sunday, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and taught them. Notice who is there on the mountain. Jesus is speaking directly to the disciples who are gathered around him. Then there is the crowd who is listening in. And finally, all of us are hearing this Sermon on the Mount. The sermon continues in today's Gospel. 

"You are the salt of the earth." "You are the light of the world." It's a direct second-person address. The English language doesn't have a second-person plural address, so we tend to hear this individually. But Jesus is not speaking to individuals. My northern-born cousins who now live in Atlanta would say, "y'all," or the more emphatic, "all y'all." "Y'all are the salt of the earth. Y'all are the light of the world. Only all y'all can be a city on a hill." 

We hear the same kind of language in the familiar parable about the sheep and goats in Matthew chapter 25. "For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink." The parable begins, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. all the nations will be gathered before him." Jesus is telling us how we, as a people, "all the nations" will be judged. 

The prophet Isaiah is making the same point. In today's first reading, the prophet is addressing the whole nation of Israel. I'm paraphrasing here, "All y'all are disappointed because God doesn't seem to notice your religious practices and your fasting. Isaiah, speaking for God, says, "All y'all think that by going to church you are showing your love for me, but you are serving your own interests, ignoring the interests of others around you."

The Irish mystic and poet John O'Donohue reminds us, to be human is to belong. Belonging is a circle that embraces everything. If we reject it, we damage our nature. The word belonging holds together two fundamental aspects of life, "being" and "longing." 

God, through Isaiah, addresses the whole community. "Is this not the fast that I choose? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house, clothe the naked when you see them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly. Your vindicator shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."

I love this line. "The Lord shall be your rear guard." God says, if you do these things, I've got your back. The kingdom of God is joined with you, but it's not really about you. As Sally McFaig famously said, if God is absent from this world, it's because we are. 

When we live out our vocation of being God's righteousness and blessing in the world, we become radiant. People recognize the source of that light and give glory to our Father in heaven. 

In the ancient world, salt was vitally necessary for everyday life. But salt is not for itself. It's a seasoning for food. In the same way, the disciples are there not for themselves, but for the earth. Salt of the earth means that faithful disciples must get involved with this earth and this life. They are to regard themselves as a most important ingredient of this life. 

The testimony of Aristides, a second-century philosopher, reveals how well the early Christian community reflected the light of Christ by the witness of their lives. He wrote, "Christians love one another. They never fail to help widows. They save orphans from those who would hurt them. If one member of the community has something, he gives freely to those who have nothing. If they see a stranger, Christians take them home as though they were their own brother."

During his Wednesday audience at the Vatican this year, Pope Leo is revisiting the documents of Vatican II. The Dogmatic Constitution on the church is titled "Lumen Gentium," Light to the Nations. I want to close with a section from Article 8, This is from a paraphrased version by Bill Huebsch. 

"We who claim to be the church, we who claim to be the body of Christ, must resemble Christ as much as possible. We must take the part of the poor whenever we can. We must defend those without power. We must avoid seeking our own glory and act with humility and self-sacrifice for the good of all. 

We who are Christian, and indeed the organized church itself, must take in those who are afflicted, forgotten, and suffering. The church itself, like its members, is always in need of being renewed and forgiven, purified for its mission, which is the same as the mission of Christ. 

And if we are faithful in this way, as an organized church, and as its individual members, we will succeed in announcing Christ to the world until all is seen in full light."