theROCK

To Be Salt of the Earth

“You are the salt of the earth.”

In today’s gospel Jesus tells us this very catchy and familiar phrase. It is also the motto of St. Francis de Sales Seminary, except they use the Latin, “vos estis sal terrae”. Sounds very inspirational. I must tell you, though, I don’t quite know what it means to be “the salt of the earth”. 

To be the salt, does it mean to be one of the people? For us priests, maybe it is a warning to maintain humility and not forget we are sinners like everyone else. My wife had that assignment  when I was a physician. When she noticed I was thinking too highly of myself she would remind me, we all put our pants on one leg at a time. I was never quite sure what that meant, but I listened. 

Maybe to be salt means that we, through our lives, are to be the flavor of humanity? We are to lead joy filled lives of service and thereby flavor the lives of those we meet. Through our relationship with Jesus, through our understanding of salvation in the midst of suffering, we can offer others a means of savoring life. 

I also cannot help but think of a common modern use of salt, especially at this time of year…to melt ice. Being the salt of the earth, we could melt the ice of anger and hate. As the salt, we can give traction to those whose ways are slippery and prone towards falling. As the salt, we can provide a safe path to God and home.

Now that I think about it, maybe I do know what it means to be the salt of the earth.

All Things Start at Home

All things start at home. All virtue. All habits. All learning.

In much of our literature at St. Dominic, we speak to parents as the primary educators of the children. While it reads as a bit of a "no brainer", the magnitude of this phrase is quite large. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says, the source of this phrase:

The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute. The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable (#2221). Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God's law (#2222). Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness
to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule...Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to
their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them (#2223). Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life
in keeping with the Gospel (#2224).

What We Put in our Minds & Body Matters

 What we put in our minds matters and what we put into our bodies matters. What we put into each, changes us. When you surround your mind with what we perceive as good and true and beautiful, it influences our desire to pursue that in life. St. Paul wrote about this in Philippians 4:8 "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things".

So think about Jesus. Don't just think about Jesus, be Jesus. When we receive Eucharist, Jesus then resides in us. Total perfection becomes one with you. You are made perfect! This is the most profound union we can have with our God here on earth. Dr. Edward Sri makes the point as it relates to the mind, "When we come back to our pews after receiving Holy Communion, it is not the time to look around and see who's at Mass, or daydream about the football game in the afternoon, or develop our 'parking lot exit strategy'. And, it's certainly not appropriate to leave before Mass is over. This is the most intimate time we have with our God - to talk to him from the depths of our hearts. As he is lovingly dwelling within us, we should use these profound moments to tell him we love him, to thank him for blessings in our lives, to pour out our hearts to him with whatever may be troubling us, and to quietly rest in his love and listen to him."

Fill your mind with what matters so that the body follows.