Homily OT (A) 5th Sunday - Salt and Light

Salt and Light

II. Body

A World of Darkness

The light breaks forth at dawn and thanks be to God because our world sits in darkness

Echoes of the Presentation

Ever since Christmas day, there was one place beckoned him.

· The Temple, for that was God’s dwelling place among men.

· 40 days after that First Noel, the Christmas mystery comes to a close, as the newborn Jesus enters his own house.

· At last, the fullness of GLORY, the Son of God himself, fills the sanctuary.

If we stones could speak, the Temple would tell how it was made for this moment.

· Ever since the glory cloud descended upon the tabernacle, God’s holy place longed for his coming.

· And now he is come! The King of kings and Lord of Lords! What a glorious day!

Simeon is filled with the Spirit and cries out, “Nunc Dimittis, Now you let your servant go in peace.”

· I’m ready to die Lord! There’s nothing left in this earthly life for me.

· Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

· My eyes have seen your salvation… your Yeshua!

· Indeed, there he was face to face with Jesus, Yeshua.

· A Light for Revelation to the Gentiles.

The Light has come.

· The Dayspring has visited us from on high (as Zechariah sang in his Benedictus, as do we every morning in the Liturgy of the hourse)

· Jesus is the Light of the World (as we sang in the Gospel Alleluia!),

· And whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life

But wait a minute, that’s a very different message than today’s gospel.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, You are the light of the world.

· Let your light shine before others.

· Which is it then?

Is Jesus the light or are we?

Not so quick, sister. Remember JB, who, acc to Jesus, was the greatest man born of woman.

· “He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light,”

· And afterwards it is said that “[Christ] was the true light” (Jn. 1:8–9).

St Thomas Aquinas answers perfectly: I answer, saying that…

· only Christ is the light essentially, but the Apostles are called illuminated lights, namely, by participation

Participatio, Koinonia, Communion

It’s by communion with Christ that we who are not the light of the world become the light of the world.

· Jesus is the lumen gentium…we heard in Luke’s Gospel.

· But guess who is the lumen gentium in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles?

· The apostolic Church (represented by Paul and Barnabas)

I have made you a light for the Gentiles,

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

Those words were an echo of Isaiah, who we heard from today in the First Reading.

Isaiah shares the secret about how we who are not the light can become the light.

If you lavish your food on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

Then your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your gloom shall become like midday

What the prophet is saying is, “If you want to be luminous in a world of darkness, BE HOLY!”

· If you want to be missionaries, who season an earth that is insipid with indifference, ignorance, aimlessness, don’t lose your saltiness! Be salty salt!

· Be luminous light! Otherwise we are a walking contradiction, good for nothing but being trampled underfoot.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith spoke to you and to me when it said

It needs to be remembered that, in transmitting the Gospel, word and witness of life go together. Above all, the witness of holiness is necessary, if the light of truth is to reach all human beings. If the word is contradicted by behavior, its acceptance will be difficult.

(Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization, 2007)

This is our secret. This is our strength. We don’t rely on our talents, our brains, our beauty, our rhetoric.

Paul says (2nd Reading)

3 I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, 4 and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive [words of] wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Where can we tap into that power?

Where can we drink in his wisdom?

How can we who are not the light become the light?

Koinonia, Communion!

O God, who have willed that we be partakers

in the one Bread and the one Chalice,

grant us, we pray, so to live

that, made one in Christ,

we may joyfully bear fruit

for the salvation of the world.

III. Conclusion

Subtitle

My conclusion goes here

Readings

Ordinary Time

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A | Roman Missal | Lectionary

First Reading Isaiah 58:7–10

Response Psalm 12:4a

Psalm Psalm 12:4–9

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 2:1–5

Gospel Acclamation John 8:12

Gospel Matthew 5:13–16

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sunday, February 5, 2017

First Reading

Isaiah 58:7–10

7 Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,

bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;

Clothing the naked when you see them,

and not turning your back on your own flesh?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Your vindication shall go before you,

and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

If you remove the yoke from among you,

the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

10 If you lavish your food on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

Then your light shall rise in the darkness,

and your gloom shall become like midday;

Response

Psalm 12:4a

4 May the Lord cut off all deceiving lips,

and every boastful tongue,

Psalm

Psalm 12:4–9

4 May the Lord cut off all deceiving lips,

and every boastful tongue,

5 Those who say, “By our tongues we prevail;

when our lips speak, who can lord it over us?”

6 “Because they rob the weak, and the needy groan,

I will now arise,” says the Lord;

“I will grant safety to whoever longs for it.”

7 The promises of the Lord are sure,

silver refined in a crucible,

silver purified seven times.

8 You, O Lord, protect us always;

preserve us from this generation.

9 On every side the wicked roam;

the shameless are extolled by the children of men.

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 2:1–5

1 When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, 4 and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive [words of] wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Gospel Acclamation

John 8:12

12 Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Gospel

Matthew 5:13–16

13 “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. 14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. 15 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. 16 Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.

Missal

FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Entrance Antiphon [Ps 95 (94):6–7]

O come, let us worship God

and bow low before the God who made us,

for he is the Lord our God.

Collect

Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care,

that, relying solely on the HOPE of heavenly grace,

they may be defended always by your protection.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

O Lord our God,

who once established these created things

to sustain us in our frailty,

grant, we pray,

that they may become for us now

the Sacrament of eternal life.

Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon [Cf. Ps 107 (106):8–9]

Let them thank the Lord for his mercy,

his wonders for the children of men,

for he satisfies the thirsty soul,

and the hungry he fills with good things.

Or: [Mt 5:5–6]

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall have their fill.

Prayer after Communion

O God, who have willed that we be partakers

in the one Bread and the one Chalice,

grant us, we pray, so to live

that, made one in Christ,

we may joyfully bear fruit

for the salvation of the world.

Through Christ our Lord.

CCC

782 The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history: (871; 2787; 1267; 695; 1741; 1972; 849; 769)

— It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.”

— One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being “born anew,” a birth “of water and the Spirit,” that is, by faith in Christ, and Baptism.

— This People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is “the messianic people.”

— “The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple.”

— “Its law is the new commandment to love as Christ loved us.” This is the “new” law of the Holy Spirit.205

— Its mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world. This people is “a most sure seed of unity, hope, and salvation for the whole human race.”

— Its destiny, finally, “is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by him at the end of time.”

II. Moral Life and Missionary Witness

2044 The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the Church’s mission in the world. In order that the message of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. “The witness of a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the faith and to God.” (852; 905)

2045 Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ, Christians contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and their moral lives. The Church increases, grows, and develops through the holiness of her faithful, until “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (753; 828)

2046 By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, “a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” They do not, for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love. (671; 2819)

In Brief

2047 The moral life is a spiritual worship. Christian activity finds its nourishment in the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments.

Question and Answer

Presentation of the Lord

What is a question I have?

Second Reading

From a sermon by Saint Sophronius, bishop

Let us receive the light whose brilliance is eternal

In honour of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and to carry a light.

Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.

Quotes

CDF

It needs to be remembered that, in transmitting the Gospel, word and witness of life go together. Above all, the witness of holiness is necessary, if the light of truth is to reach all human beings. If the word is contradicted by behavior, its acceptance will be difficult. (Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization, 2007)

STAQ, Comm. On Matthew, p. 164

He says, therefore: You are the light of the world, as though not only are they the light of Judea or of Galilee, but also of the whole world; “For so the Lord hath commanded us: I have set thee to be the light of the Gentiles: that thou mayest be for salvation unto the utmost part of the earth” (Acts 13:47). And this was marvelous, that their light was hardly known in their own land and yet it went out into the whole world. But it is objected that it p 164 seems that this word that He says, light, applies only to Christ; “[John the Baptist] was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light,” and afterwards it is said that “[Christ] was the true light” (Jn. 1:8–9). I answer, saying that only Christ is the light essentially, but the Apostles are called illuminated lights, namely, by participation, just as the eye is an illuminating light and yet it is illuminated[1]

[1] Thomas Aquinas. (2012). Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. (P. M. Kimball, Trans.) (pp. 163–164). Dolorosa Press.