Mother Church celebrates Sunday, February 5, 2023 as the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “O come, let us worship God and bow low before the God who made us, for he is the Lord our God. Amen.”
The focus of today’s Eucharist is definitely light shining like the dawn. The prophet Isaiah proclaims it in the first reading and Matthew picks it up again in the Gospel message. In the Old Testament two virtues symbolize a heart that is turned towards God and away from inordinate wealth and self-indulgence, that is almsgiving and fasting.
The present poem from Isaiah praises almsgiving and urges us to share our bread with the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless so that our light can shine like the dawn. Our Lord tells his disciples in the Gospel that it is their vocation to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The disciple is the lamp of the household and if this lamp is dimmed, there is no hope for the people he leads to see God’s work in the world. In the second reading, Saint Paul reminds his converts of Corinth and us that our faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God. We should, like him, preach only the crucified Christ in terms simple enough for everyone to understand. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to be the light that leads others to the crucified Christ who alone holds the key to the door of our salvation.
First Reading: Isaiah 58: 7-10.
Thus says the Lord: “Share your bread with the hungry, and bring home the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, cover him, and do not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say: Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
Comment
As mentioned in the introduction, two virtues in the Old Testament symbolize a heart that has been turned towards God and away from inordinate wealth and self-indulgence, that is, charity and fasting. In this passage Isaiah stresses almsgiving and extols a life of sharing. He says that the wealthy will themselves receive more if they share what they have with the needy. God will enable them to live a life that will be a shining witness of his own love for the humble. No part of their lives will be hidden from human eyes.
The background to this reading is worth recalling. The Jewish exiles have just returned from Babylon. Their initial enthusiasm is soon dampened by the harsh realities on the ground. The land of Judah lies in ruins and those returning from exile soon discover that those who remained are not too keen to have them back. Their priorities are different and tensions soon develop between the two groups. The returnees then start to blame God: “Why have we fasted if you did not see, why mortify ourselves if you never notice?” (Is. 58:3).
The prophet then steps in to encourage the returnees not to lose hope and to stay faithful to God and to remain sincere in their religious practice. He condemns fasting done in the wrong spirit, telling them that one who is genuinely fasting must not only be focused on God but must have the interest of the neighbor at heart as well. Genuine fasting should include sharing one’s food with the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked. When these things are done, he tells them, “Then your light will shine like the dawn and your wound will be quickly healed over.” They must include God and neighbor in the practice of their religion.
The theme of sharing the light is re-echoed in Matthew’s Gospel of this day as Jesus tells his disciples that they must be the salt of the earth and the light to the world (Mt 5: 13-16), and that discipleship should not only be about a right relationship with God but also with one’s neighbor. We should therefore share our bread and our shelter with others and help clothe the naked.
Christian spirituality has always stressed that love of neighbor and works of mercy are a clear proof of a person’s love of God. As Saint Leo the Great once taught: “Let each of the faithful examine his own conscience, seeking out his deepest desires; if he finds the fruits of love within his soul, he will know that God is with him, and he should strive even harder to be worthy of so great a guest, being ever more generous in his works of mercy” (Sermones, 48,3).
Let us pray for the grace of generosity because what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do it unto the Lord (Mt. 25:40). We make our prayer through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, One God forever and ever. Amen.
Second Reading: First Corinthians 2:1-5.
When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Comment
In Acts of the Apostles (17: 16-34), Saint Luke tells us that Saint Paul went to Corinth from Athens, where, despite the brilliant discourse he made at the Areopagus in central Athens, he failed to convince the Athenians to embrace his doctrine, especially the doctrine of resurrection from the dead. In fact, when he talked about resurrection, many of those listening to him walked away, laughing and telling they would listen to him some other time (Acts 17:32).
He then left for Corinth where he arrived “in much fear and trembling” (v.3) perhaps because of that city’s notoriety for moral corruption. He must have felt that he had a great task ahead of him bringing Christ’s message to its inhabitants, and he was right. He did encounter many difficulties there and our Lord had to appear to him at night in a vision to comfort and encourage him: “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you” (Acts 18: 9-10).
That is why Saint Paul does not rely on carefully written speeches, or on intricate philosophical arguments to preach to the people. He simply preaches Christ crucified to make sure that their faith is grounded on God alone. When Christ redeemed us by dying on the cross and rising on our behalf, Paul argues, he became for all time the crucified one. It was this crucified Lord who selected Paul to preach salvation. Human talents are therefore nothing when compared with this power of God and his Spirit working within him (Paul). That is why he must achieve his vocation with a reverence and humility towards the work of God through him.
The Church, on whom it devolves to continue the mission of the Apostles, does nothing but make Christ known to humanity. As Saint John Paul II once said, “Our spirit is set in one direction; the only direction for our intellect, will and heart is towards Christ our Redeemer, towards Christ, the Redeemer of man. We wish to look towards him,” continues the Holy Father, “because there is salvation in no one else but him, the Son of God…” (Redemptor hominis, 7).
We pray that God should also give our own preachers the wisdom he gave Paul, so that they too may preach only the crucified Lord and preach him in simple words which even children can understand. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. I am the light of the world, says the Lord. Whoever follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia.”
Gospel: Matthew 5: 13-16.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Comment
In this Gospel, our Lord tells us about our responsibility to the world. “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world.” Salt purifies. When Jesus uses this example, he means that we, his followers, should be models of purity. It flavors food because without it food is tasteless and is worth nothing. Christ’s spirit flavors our Christian lives and a life without the spirit of Christ is useless and purposeless. Salt preserves food from rotting and decay. Christians too must avoid actions that bring corruption and decay to their society.
In the Old Testament, it was prescribed that everything offered to God should be seasoned with salt (Lev 2:13). This was to ensure that the sacrifice so offered would be pleasing to God. The image of salt is from wisdom literature; if wisdom, like salt, loses its quality then it is useless.
Christ calls us, his followers, the light of the world. We are, or should be, the source of inspiration to everyone around us. We should shine forth in everything we do so others can see us and copy our examples. A priest, who runs a non-profit organization catering for the welfare of street children in the Archdiocese of Douala in Cameroon, once told us that he went to one public office for documents that would enable his organization receive funding for its activities. The official he met on duty openly asked for a bribe without which he would not sign the documents. The distraught priest said what he found so insulting, among other things, was that this fellow had the picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in her arms in front of him. The priest then wondered why he did not even care to hide his Catholic identity before asking a Catholic non-profit organization to bribe him so he would fulfill the duty for which he was paid. The priest left in disgust. Even though a Catholic – at least from what it appeared to the priest – this individual could not be said to be the salt of the earth or the light to the world. In fact, he was the embodiment of the darkness of corruption that our country is englobed in. When we, as Christians, fail to take Christ’s doctrine to the places where we live and work, human values themselves become corrupted and lose their value.
The function of light is to shine, to illumine, to be seen. Our Christian message is not to be hidden but to be proclaimed from rooftops (Mt 10:27). Light is not a private energy to be hidden or hoarded. It should not be lit and put, not under a tub, but on the lamp-stand so that it can shine for everyone in the house. Through our Christian lives, we should guide others and show them the right path to holiness. Discipleship is not a personal privilege; it is for the benefit of others and the glory of the Father. If we stop witnessing through the way we live our lives, we become like salt that has lost its taste and is only good for people to be trodden underfoot.
Let us pray to God to help us, through the witness of our Christian lives and our words and deeds, to be the salt that prevents the corruption of others and of society, and the light that illuminates but also gives warmth to others. We make our supplication through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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