Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Solution to the Problem of Poverty

Today we are very familiar with the song SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD. It is usually sung just before the reading of the Gospel. Most of us do not know that it was the young lady Karen Lafferty who composed this song in 1971. The circumstances of how she wrote this song ware very appropriate to the lyrics of that song.

Of course she got the words from our Gospel reading today but how she put it into a song that became very popular around the world is very interesting and very instructive for us.

In 1971 Karen had just decided to quit singing in the entertainment bars to devote her life to singing for the Lord. She supported herself financially by teaching guitar lessons. She had only three students. When her savings were gone and she had no money even to pay for the installment for her car she became very discouraged and confused. One evening she went to a Bible study in church and the verse studied was Matthew 6:33 where in our Gospel reading today we read, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." She was tremendously encouraged and challenged by the words about Christ's kingdom. She went home, wrote the tune of the song we now use, recorded it on a tape recorder. She taught the song in the church the next week and it caught on right away. (from PERSPECTIVES Seek Ye First: Interview with Karen Lafferty).

That was in 1971. It is now 2017, forty-six years ago. We have sung that song almost at every Mass just before the reading of the Gospel. The message of that song if heeded would eliminate extreme poverty all over the world and in our country. But we are still facing extreme poverty. Millions of people still go to sleep with half-empty or full-empty stomach.

In the Philippines it is published by the Philippine Statistics Authority that 26.3 percent of Filipinos are very poor in the first part of 2015, its latest tabulation so far. There are indications that this poverty is getting hold of more and more Filipinos. This is strange because these same people sing this song of Karen Lafferty SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD (in English or in their own dialects) whose message if put into action would eliminate their poverty.

That is what Jesus said, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." He was saying in effect, Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and you will have enough food, clothing and shelter.

It is also strange that in the course of my research on the commentaries about this statement of our Lord I have not come across a commentator who applied this passage to ending poverty on the social level, in society. The application was only on the personal level. They said in effect, If you seek God's kingdom and his righteousness you will have what you need for a living. They did not indicate that this message would also eradicate poverty in the community as a whole.

I think that the reason why this message of Jesus has not been put into action is because people were not taught what this kingdom of God is and what his righteousness is. We keep singing the song of Karen but we miss out on its meaning. Because if we got its meaning correct and acted upon it our lives would be totally different.

We would no longer work for ourselves during the week and work for the Church or God on Sunday. Some preachers (priests or laymen) in their desire to invite more people to attend Mass or Liturgy of the Word tell them some words like these, 'The whole week from Sunday to Saturday you work for your family. God is asking you only for an hour or so to attend his Mass or Celebration of the Word and still you cannot do this.' Such an approach gives the people a misunderstanding that it is only necessary for them to give God an hour or so during the week.

Seeking the kingdom of God is a 24/7 business or work. This means it involves 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. It is not one hour or so during the week. It does not involve only attending Mass or Celebration of the Word. It involves our whole life, from the time we wake up in the morning to the time we wake up the next morning.

And Jesus said that we seek "his righteousness", that is, God's righteousness. He did not tell us to seek our righteousness but God's righteousness. He wanted us to be as righteous as God is righteous. And this can be done by having a right relationship with God.

If God is our Father and we are his children by the sacrament of Baptism it is only right that we depend for everything on our heavenly Father and it is only right that our heavenly Father provides for all our needs. When we depend for everything on our heavenly Father the whole Gospel passage we have becomes very clear.

We will no longer worry about our life, what we will eat or drink, or about our body, what we will wear. We will be like the birds in the air fed by our heavenly Father because we are more important than these birds. We will no longer be anxious about clothes. We will be like the wild flowers. They do not work or spin. God clothes them and he will provide clothes for us also.

We will no longer worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' Our pagan neighbors seek these things. We are not like them. We are baptized children of God. Our heavenly Father knows that we need them all. We do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

Unfortunately our people are not told these ideas of Jesus. So, they continue to make a living and fail to live the way Jesus wants them to live, that is, in complete dependence on the heavenly Father for all that they need in life.

Surely you are going to admonish me, “Physician, cure yourself. Preacher, practice what you preach. Depend on God completely for all your needs.”

By the grace of God I do depend on God for all I need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But that was not my way of living before. Before I also used to worry. But one incident erased my worry.

This happened in 1984. I was eating my breakfast. After 10 minutes of eating my breakfast I noticed that the food I was eating was not diminished and I was already full. What happened? The only answer I can make out is that as I was eating God was also adding to my food so that it did not appear that my food was diminished. Then I understood that this is how Jesus multiplied the food on the lake shore of Gennesaret. It was God's way of telling me, Do not worry, I supply all your needs.

Our first reading brings out the concern of God for us most emphatically, God says that even if a mother would forget her infant he, God, will never forget us. He will always provide for our needs.

Our second reading tells us that God "will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts", whether we are seeking his kingdom and his righteousness or we are simply following our desires and inclinations.

I like this very brief statement by Charles Haddon Spurgeon In Faith's Checkbook, ‘You mind His (God's) business, and He will mind yours.’ God’s business is to make all of us obey him in everything. This is his kingdom. If we promote this we shall have solved the problem of poverty among us. Jesus told his disciples, “The poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11). This is because there will be always people who will not believe in him. But those who believed in him did not remain poor. For as the Holy Spirit says through Luke, “nor was there anyone needy among them” (Acts 4:34).

Let us bow our heads to pray.

Lord Jesus, you care for us. Your heavenly Father cares for us too. You do not want us to be destitute. You want us to have our share of food, clothing and shelter. And you told us how to have this, by completely depending on our heavenly Father for everything from the morning till the next morning every day. Help us to trust him in everything as you also trust him in everything. Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Good or Bad or Neutral?

When we were children most probably we heard our parents and those around us tell us to do good and avoid evil. They told us to tell the truth, to study our lessons in school, to help in the work at home, to behave well in front of visitors and to avoid actions or behaviors which are bad like crying or just pouting. Even today we still hear these exhortations given to our children and grandchildren. These advices are meant to lead the children to live good lives and thus grow up as good family members and good citizens of our country. Some of us still remember that during our elementary grades we had a subject called Good Manners and Right Conduct. This subject was supposed to give an indication of how well we behaved in school and thus to gauge our goodness.

The underlying assumption of these exhortations and advices was that children become what they do. They become good by doing good things. On the other hand they become bad by doing bad things, like disobeying parents or fighting other children. That was the motive behind these advices. We wanted children to be good, so we told them to do good.

In our Gospel reading for this Sunday there is a passage which tells us that this underlying assumption is contrary to the mind of Jesus. We read that he said, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”

 

In this passage we learn that Jesus affirms that there are two kinds of people, bad and good, just and unjust. There are people who are good and there are people who are bad. There are people who are just and there are people who are unjust. Jesus tells us that God causes the sun to shine on both these kinds of people at the same time. He does not discriminate between the good and the bad as to who should receive the sunlight or the rain.

Jesus repeats this idea that there are people who are good and people who are bad in other parts of his teachings. In Luke’s Gospel he says, “A good man produces goodness from the good in his heart; an evil man produces evil out of his store of evil” (7:45). Just before saying this he has an illustration of a tree. “A good tree does not produce decayed fruit any more than a decayed tree produces good fruit.” In other words a good tree always produces good fruit and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A tree is known by its fruit. A mango tree produces mango fruit, never a banana fruit. And bananas do not produce mango fruits.

I want us to reflect on this passage of Jesus because the first reading tells us to be holy. It begins “The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.” It does not exhort us to perform works of holiness making us holy. Rather it tells us to be holy. It also does not tell us to become holy, but be holy. To become involves a process, a series of procedures. To be involves one act. We become an educated man by going to school or by reading on our own, by observing others and reflecting on our experiences. One becomes a lawyer by going through a law school.

The command of the Lord is to be holy, not to become holy. As soon as we accept this command of God and submit to him we become holy. It is God who makes us holy by our response to his command.

We made this submission when we were baptized. We were made holy by God. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, “Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission.” (1213). We become sons of God, we participate in God’s nature and holiness. We are made holy as God is holy.

Our second reading tells us “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”

Again our Catechism declares this happened when we were baptized. It says, “The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood." By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1268)

We have been made into a spiritual house, a temple or dwelling place of God, a holy place. We are a holy people, a holy nation.

If we are a holy people then fruits of holiness are going to be produced by us. We cannot produce these unless we are united to the vine which is Jesus. He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I am him, will produce abundantly.” (John 15:5)

The proper approach then in leading our children to do good is to inform them of the grace of baptism which they received and to lead them to live in union with Jesus. As they are enlightened about this grace of holiness which was given to them and of their union with Jesus through his Spirit they will grow into temples of God, producing fruits of holiness and goodness in their lives.

May we walk in this direction so that we behave really as children of God and thus we turn the other cheek when someone strikes our right cheek, we hand over our cloak to someone who gets our tunic, we go two miles when we are forced to carry a burden for one mile, we give to those who ask from us something, and we do not turn our back on one who wants to borrow from us. Thus we love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us, all of these are true in our lives because we are perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

Philosophers have debated for many centuries whether the human being is by nature good or bad. Others have formed the opinion that he is neither good nor bad by nature. He is born neutral. He becomes good or bad as he grows up with the influence of his family and others around him.

Jesus has given us the answer to this question whether human beings are by nature good or bad. He says there are human beings who are good. There are human beings who are bad. Those who are told by his heavenly Father to be holy, as in the first reading, and believe this to be done in their lives are good. They produce good fruit or actions. Those who do not believe are evil. He once called them children of the devil (John 8:44). And the means whereby God makes us holy is baptism.

Let us pray. Let us bow our heads. Lord Jesus, you told us that there are two classes of human beings, good and bad. You have made us good by baptism, by washing away our sins and incorporating us into your self. Help us to produce fruits which show this goodness that comes from you: love of neighbours, love of enemies and of those who persecute us. Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.

Sixth Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

Is the Devil Really Real?

Most of us are not aware of the air we breathe. We take it for granted. Usually we become aware of it when we consciously pause to breathe or when we are short of breath. The more so most of us are not aware that the air we breathe is oxygen. Unless we learned this in school or somebody somewhere else told it to us we would not know that the air we breathe is oxygen and that normally on this planet we are surrounded by this gas.

In the same way unless somebody told us we would not be aware that the air around us is controlled by someone who is a creature like us and that this creature is very interested in us.

Here is the statement of St. Paul the Apostle: “You were dead because of your sins and offenses, as you gave allegiance to the present age and to the prince of the air, that spirit who is even now at work among the rebellious” (Ephesians 2:1-2).

And here is the statement of St. Peter: “Stay sober and alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

These two statements tell us something very far from our mind. The first tells us that the air has a prince, a spirit who works among those who disobey God. The second tells us that this spirit is roaring at us like a lion, ready to devour us. This spirit is our opponent, the devil.

Unless St. Peter and St. Paul told us this we would not be aware of this danger around us, just as normally we are not aware that the air we breathe is oxygen.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us something about this opponent who is trying with all the might at his disposal to devour us, who controls the air we breathe.

Our Gospel reading ends with this sentence: “Anything more is from the evil one.”

Many commentators have discussed the meaning of these last three words “the evil one”.

The immediate context of these three words was that Jesus was talking about swearing or taking an oath. He said that we do not swear at all. Let our yes be really yes and our no be really no. Anything more or beyond this is from the evil one.

The meaning of the last three words differs according to the interpretation of the gender of this noun in the original Greek. Some commentators think that the gender of this noun is neuter. If this is the case, then it can be rendered “of evil” as in some translations. If the gender is masculine then it is rendered properly as in our translation from the New American Bible, “the evil one.” St. John Chrysostom thinks that the latter is correct, the evil one, referring to the devil or Satan.

In other words this statement of Jesus is saying that any lie that we make is of the evil one, the devil. And this conforms with what he said in John 8:44. There we read Jesus telling the Jews who did not believe in him, “The father you spring from is the devil, and willingly you carry out his wishes. He brought death to man from the beginning, and he has never based himself on truth; the truth is not in him. Lying speech is his native tongue; he is a liar and the father of lies”.

But wait a minute. There are some Christians, and even preachers who argue that the devil does not exist. He is only a personification of our ideas, of our sinful nature.

Perhaps the one who made a very good case for this argument was Robert Roberts who published a pamphlet entitled “The Evil One”, subtitled “Bible Teaching Concerning the Devil and Satan”. Roberts was a Christian preacher who lived in the 19th century. In that pamphlet he concluded that the devil or Satan is only sin personified. His last sentence equates Satan or the devil with the world. For him Satan is not a person, only an idea which we personify or attach personal qualities to.

After reading this pamphlet which was very well written with very good arguments for the non-existence of a personal devil I almost believed him, because his arguments were biblical and very sound.

But then I thought: Who was it then who tried to burn my Bible? An idea could not burn it. I had a Bible which I used in my classes. I noticed that it was burned from the inside, not from the outside. The burnt piece of paper was there but it could not have been burned by a human person, because it was burned from the inside.

Upon further thinking about this statement of Jesus I put forth certain arguments against the teaching of Roberts.

First is that we take into consideration the ordinary meaning of the words in the Bible. Again and again we find that the devil is addressed as a person. This is basic in Bible interpretation, take the ordinary meaning of the words there, unless we have good reason to believe otherwise.

Secondly, Jesus tells us that the residence of Satan during the times of the Apostles was in Pergamum. He said in his letter to that Church, “I know you live in the very place where Satan’s throne is erected” (Revelation 2:13). Only a person can have a specific residence. Ideas reside only in the minds of people, not in a physical, material place.

Thirdly, we know that temptations come from the world, the flesh and the devil. If the devil was only a personification of the world or flesh there is no need to list him in this enumeration.

Fourthly, early in Genesis in the story of the fall of Adam and Eve God told the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel” (3:15). Only persons and not ideas produce offspring. Ideas only produce other ideas with the help of persons. Ideas do not reproduce ideas by themselves. Ideas do not strike at the heel of a person. Only another person can do that.

Fifthly, we have the teaching itself of our Catholic Catechism. In the last pages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read, “2851 In this petition (deliver us from evil), evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. 2852 "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world."[165] Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."

Satan, the Devil, is indeed a person. He is alive and doing well. According to Jesus his kingdom is still standing. But He has already overcome or conquered Satan.

In the second reading Paul is referring to Satan and his host when he wrote “the rulers of this age who are passing away”.

Satan is the person who tells people that Jesus came to abolish the law so that we can do what we want, who wants us to break the least of Jesus’ commandments as commandments which have least importance, who is behind the insults we hurl at our neighbors, who tell us that it is alright to commit adultery if we are not caught, who tells us it is alright to file a divorce on grounds of incompatibility, that it is alright to tell lies once in a while.

For Jesus the devil was a real person and he was Jesus’ enemy. The enemies of Jesus were not the hard-hearted, hard-headed Jewish priests nor the fickle Jewish mob nor the Roman soldiers and their commanders. The enemy of Jesus was the devil, a person, not a mere idea. Because he is Jesus’ enemy he is also our enemy. He is just moving around us personally or with his demons trying to devour us like a lion would. But thanks be to Jesus who has rescued us from the clutches of the devil. According to Paul in the second reading God has prepared for us a reward that eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it entered the human heart. This reward is ours because Jesus has vanquished Satan through his death and resurrection and we have given our whole life totally to Jesus.

Let us bow our heads as we pray.

Lord Jesus, you have told us that any lie is of the devil, the father of all lies. You have fulfilled the law for us. Help us to follow you as you and we follow this law of God. Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

Welcome to read homilies for the Sundays of the year. These are sample homilies which you can read with devotion. You may use them in your own homilies without asking my permission. You may also change or edit these to fit them to your audience. A unique quality of these homilies is that they are Christ-filled. From beginning to end they present to us some aspect of Jesus so that beholding his glory we “are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NAB).

The Wonders of Salt

We are so used to salt on our table, and this is so relatively cheap that we do not care to study how wonderful this food is for us. As our rector in the seminary once repeated this proverb, "Familiarity breeds contempt." Indeed we no longer appreciate the wonders of salt because it is too familiar to us.

We will first reflect on the wonders of this special creation of God, salt, because our Gospel reading today is about this substance. Jesus called his disciples the salt of the earth. The reading immediately begins with "Jesus said to his disciples: "You are the salt of the earth.” To understand better what Jesus meant by this statement we need to know the wonders of salt and properly value its importance.

Most Bible commentators explaining this passage of the Gospel comment on the two qualities of salt which are very familiar to us. Salt improves the taste of the food and preserves the food. Therefore they conclude that by calling his disciples the salt of the earth Jesus referred to these qualities of salt. His disciples improve the quality of life on earth and preserve the earth from moral corruption. This is a very good explanation but lacking, very much lacking.

We know and affirm that it was Jesus who created all things. According to John without him nothing came to be. Thus it was Jesus who created salt. And he alone knows the full nature and uses of salt. And now with the help of science we know that salt is not only used to improve the taste of food and preserve it from decay or putrefaction.

When Jesus spoke this affirmation that his disciples were the salt of the earth he surely meant these two qualities and uses of salt but he did not mean to confine his meaning to these two qualities. After all he said that he would send the Holy Spirit who would teach us all things (John 14:26). And now the Holy Spirit through his men and women of science has enlightened us more about this salt. And Jesus’ meaning can have a broader and more wonderful application.

We know from chemistry that salt or table salt is sodium chloride. Now we know the very many uses of sodium chloride. Salt is used to produce caustic soda and chlorine. Salt is also used to produce PVC or polyvinyl chloride, plastics and paper pulp and many other products. It has been used to counter effect caking or the hardening of substances. It is also used to prevent iodine deficiency through being iodized. Salt makes us float in the Dead Sea. Salt was used to pay the Roman soldiers. This is the reason why we still use the word “salary” to refer to the payment of workers, because the “sal” in “salary” is the Latin word for salt. It was used by Gandhi and the Indians to affirm their independence from the British rule. It was traded by some people for gold, weight for weight. It was also used by other tribes to drive out evil spirits. Even today when the priest makes holy water a pinch of salt is dropped on the water. And this is believed by some as the reason why demons flee from holy water. St. Teresa of Avila said that there is nothing the demons fear most than holy water. According to her they fear the holy water more than the crucifix. Is it the salt in the holy water that the demons fear most?

Shall we go on enumerating the uses of salt in history? It was used as a material for taxation. It provoked wars between peoples. It is used to de-ice highways. Salt is spread on highways that are covered with ice to melt the ice. It is used by some farmers as fertilizer, especially for coconuts. It is used as an electrolyte, that is, it conducts electricity in a solution. It has built cities by people gathering around its source.

There are three potential uses of salt which I have not yet read discussed in my research on this substance. The first is that it can boost the explosion of fire. You notice that when you throw salt in fire a crackling sound is heard. This sound comes from a mini explosion of the salt grains. The second is that salt produces magnetism. I have a theory that the magnetism of the earth is due to the salt in the oceans. The third is that because salt produces magnetism it also produces electricity. Hence when we carry salt we produce electricity but this is very minimal. I have not found these three possible uses of salt discussed in scientific journals. But they add up to the wonders of salt.

Salt has been made into a lamp. It is used to purify the air, to counter the positive ions which come from our electronic gadgets. These positive ions deplete our energy. We need negative ions to fight these positive ions. The salt lamp gives us these negative ions to renew our energy.

These wonderful uses of salt tell us that salt is most valuable in our life. Jesus created salt to give us all these wonderful uses of salt.

But perhaps we can say that the most wonderful use of salt is that Jesus used this as the first element in his teaching. We notice that Jesus used objects to paint a mental imagery which would aid him in his teaching. He used seeds, soil, trees, birds and so forth to make his teaching colorful and understandable to those listening. But the first object he used is salt. He compared his disciples to salt. Later on he would tell us to have salt in our heart. He said, “Keep salt in your hearts and you will be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50). This is the most wonderful use of salt. It was used by Jesus to tell us about himself and about us.

Knowing these many uses of salt Jesus can say to us his disciples, You are the chlorine in salt which purifies the water of God’s grace. You are the PVC tubes from salt which carries the blessings of God to human kind. You are the salt which de-ice human hearts cold with indifference to the things of God. And many more too many for us to enumerate now.

In our Gospel passage we also read Jesus telling his disciples, “You are the light of the world.” In John’s Gospel there are two passages where Jesus says, I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5). We, the disciples of Jesus, are the light of the world because we get our light from Jesus who is the light of the world, just as the moon gets its light from the light of the sun.

In the same way we are the salt of the earth because we get our saltiness from the salt which is the rock of ages. Some other sources of salt besides the sea are rocks. Jesus is that rock of salt which makes our life pleasant and preserves us from the corruption of the world, the devil and the flesh. He is the rock of salt which can have a hundred and one uses in our lives.

Let us pray to him now borrowing from the hymn Rock of Ages. This is a favorite hymn of the Knights of Columbus. We get the first stanza for our prayer.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Amen.

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Note for the readers:

The Mass readings are from the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE). This is where our Lectionary gets the readings.

NAB stands for New American Bible (before it was revised). This is the translation I use. Unless otherwise stated the text I use is from this translation.

AV stands for Authorized Version of the Bible. It is more commonly referred to as the King James Bible. It is the version most used in English literature, therefore it is the one known more by the English speaking world.