In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Monday 10 June 2019

Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Matthew 5:13-16

Salt

An ancient and precious element, salt is  primarily used to preserve perishable foods and, when utilized in small quantities, to give flavor to  meals at  table. The Latin word sal also signifies wit and sharp intelligence. In ancient Rome salt was put on the lips of infants as protection against dangers. According to ancient traditions demons appeared to abhor salt, thus foods offered during satanic banquets and witches’ feasts are always free of salt. In the Old Testament salt is a symbolic medium that guarantees the link between God and His people: However, every cereal offering that you present to the LORD shall be seasoned with salt. Do not let the salt of the covenant of your God be lacking from your cereal offering. On every offering you shall offer salt. (Leviticus 2.13). Elisha purified the unhealthy water from the spring by throwing salt into it (2 Kings 2:19-22).
The characteristics of salt are, therefore, to preserve, to flavor, to purify and to heal, as well as to defend against evil. Salt is also symbolically synonymous with sharp intelligence and is a sign of the covenant between God and man that Satan and his demons hate.
These characteristics and associations with reference to salt explain what Jesus was referring to when He said that those who believe in Him and the Gospel are the salt of the earth and must be the salt of history. Those who believe in Him are the ones who preserve wisdom and maintain a preeminent spiritual and intellectual evolution that goes beyond any fashion, ideology or cultural convention. They are the ones who utilize the announcement of the metanoia in the gospel as the opportunity to  transform their lives according to what God wants for us, an amazing experience full of well-being and happiness, to regain consciousness and awareness with rgard to love and our spiritual life. They are the ones who, through the power of Jesus Christ, defend the world and people from evil, ignorance, and Satan. They are the ones who, with the power of the Gospel and through works of solidarity in every corner of the earth, can cleanse and heal the waters that have been made poisonous and sterile by political powers and  unjust predatory economic systems.