Salted and Enlightened

By Fr. Paul Scalia
HERALD Columnist
(From the Issue of 2/7/02)

One day a week the Missionaries of Charity — the religious order founded by Mother Teresa to serve the poorest of the poor — remain in their cloister and do not go out to their apostolates. They dedicate this "day in" to prayer, quiet reflection, sometimes with a spiritual conference from a visiting priest. Some people may consider this a neglect of the poor or even downright laziness. But really it displays an understanding of our Lord’s words, "You are the salt of the earth …You are the light of the world."

With the Beatitudes (which we heard last week) our Lord teaches us to seek our own sanctification. Here He teaches us to serve others. Salt keeps food from corruption and flavors it. Similarly, the Christian ought to keep the world free from corruption and flavor it with his joy. Light dispels darkness, bringing beauty and clarity to the world. As the "light of the world," we have the same task.

Notice, however, that our Lord does not tell us what to do. Rather, He tells us what we are: "You are the salt of the earth …You are the light of the world." A perennial temptation is to reduce the Christian’s role in the world to just a matter of doing good — running here and there to serve the poor, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and so on. All these are necessary things, but one does not need to be a Christian to do them. Christ asks not just that we do these things (cf. Mt 25:31-46), but that we be salt and light as we do them. This demands that we first be salted and enlightened — by Him.

We are not salt and light on our own, but only by way of our union with Christ. In order to remain salt and light, therefore, we must remain rooted in Christ by obedience to Him and His Church, by the sacraments, and by prayer. No amount of good intentions, hard work or expertise can replace these.

Christ Himself calls attention to the danger of losing union with Him by asking, "But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?" Salt losing its taste means being separated from Christ. He continues, "It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." These are harsh and frightening words. Their meaning becomes perhaps clearer when we consider that the majority of "Catholics" in Congress support legalized abortion. These men and women are salt that has lost its taste, because they have severed themselves from the teaching of Christ and His Church. They no longer keep the world from corruption. Rather, they contribute to it.

Further, to understand what it means to be "the light of the world," we must recall other words of Christ: "I am the light of the world (Jn 9:5)." We do not give our own light to the world, but only Christ’s. Since Baptism is often called the sacrament of "enlightenment," it follows that we will be the light of the world to the extent that we are faithful to our Baptism. When we fail to be "enlightened" by Christ, we bring no light to the world.

The tasks in the world are great, but they should never keep us from our union with Christ, which alone makes us salt and light. Mother Teresa, that great example of service, understood this well. She was not just a hard worker with some good ideas. Her secret was that she spent hours every day in front of the Eucharist, allowing the Lord to enlighten her. Her famous words about the Missionaries of Charity should apply also to us: "My sisters are not social workers; they are contemplatives in the world."

Fr. Scalia is parochial vicar at St. Patrick Parish in Chancellorsville.

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