If you have ever spent time in a kitchen, then you know that salt can be a cook’s best friend. A dish that is bland can be turned completely around by a pinch of salt. However, the opposite is also true. If you put too much salt on a dish, you ruin it completely and render it inedible. That is the secret of this morning’s Gospel.

We have to be the right amount of salt for the earth. We must live our lives as witnesses of Christ’s love and the saving power of His Cross. However, if we come on too strong or push too hard, we can completely turn someone away from Christ and the Church.

We see that daily in the mainstream churches today. They have all their outreaches and programs. They meet new guest at the door with forms to fill out, invitations to get donation envelopes and the never ending push to join this group or that Bible study. Before the morning is out, the new member is exhausted and burned out. And this was only their first Sunday!

This is why Saint Francis of Assisi encouraged his brothers and sisters to “Preach always and to use words if necessary.” Our lives should be all the witness to the transforming power of Christ and Him crucified that people need to see from us. We should be changed in a way that people recognize the difference in us and come to us wanting to know more about that change.

That is where the light from this morning’s Gospel comes in. A light that is set on top of a candle stand sends forth its light to all corners of a dark room. That light draws people toward it.

I am reminded of the many summer storms we experienced in my hometown in Kentucky. It was almost a given that at some point we would lose our power. Therefore, I would start the candles and lanterns burning and I would always set a lantern in the window. Why? So that people would know that they could come to us and find light and shelter from the storm. And there were times when neighbors came into the light and joined us.

That is how we must be as Christians. We must let our light shine. We must draw people in with our actions, with the way we live our lives. Then they will come to share in the wonderful flavor of the saving power of Christ and His Cross and become the salt that transforms others around them.

God Bless.