Salt
One
In the ancient world, salt was so valuable it was even used as currency. It’s where we get the word salary. Salt added flavor to food otherwise too bland, healing to wounds otherwise too harmful, and a preservative to delicacies that would otherwise rot. Salt is needed for life but can also bring death when too excessive. There most be harmony and balance when employing it. In His sermon on the mount, Our Lord compares you and me to salt. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its taste, how shall it be restored? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Mt 5:13.) Jesus compares us to salt because we can either be of great value to bring the flavor and healing of the truth to souls in need of it, or we can become insipid and useless and will be literally trampled underfoot. Jesus warns us that if our saltness loses its flavor, it is incapable on its own of being restored. This salt is the result of the divine gift of life and truth. Jesus replaces our spirit destined for destruction due to sin with His own Holy Spirit, destined for glory due to His redemption. This Spirit is the promised Spirit of Truth to lead us into all truth and “declare to us the things that are to come” (Jn 16:13). Our role as missionaries to those who don’t know Jesus is to bring the salt of His Gospel to them, even if we’re rejected at first. For those who’ve completely refused religion our role is to pray and do penance in hopes of converting hard hearts to the Gospel. This is what it means to be salt to the world.
If our world seems lost and hostile, if enemies seek to trample us underfoot, perhaps we’ve not applied ourselves well to the task of seasoning this culture. Perhaps, we’ve become too bland! Today, let us commit or recommit to being salt to the earth; to bring the flavor of truth, the healing of mercy, and the preservation of grace to those who don’t know what they don’t know. Lord restore us and save us from being too bland!
Two
Bland Christians fail at their mission entrusted to them by Jesus. This failure is certainly a failure of commission through committing sin and causing scandal, but also omission—omitting our activity to seek holiness while helping others do the same, but also omitting speaking and witnessing to the truth, especially when this runs counter to public opinion. This omission creates bland Christians. Bland Christians tolerate evil by claiming to be nonjudgmental. It’s true, we’re not supposed to judge people, but we ARE supposed to judge actions. “If your brother sins, rebuke him” (Lk 17:3). Bland Christians excuse themselves from openly professing convictions regarding the Church’s teachings, including the moral ones, by claiming to be ‘open minded.’ As Chesterton once said, if we stand for nothing, we’ll fall for anything. The mind is supposed to be open so that it closes down upon truth. Bland Christians misunderstand compassion. Compassion is supposed to follow conscience, which means doing what I know is right, not just what I feel is right. Compassion without conscience is misguided and becomes mere emotionalism. But emotions without the intellect are blind forces, and the mind without truth cannot perceive reality. When the blind follows the blind, they both fall into a pit.
Three
Jesus was compassionate with sinners because He chose to suffer with them, which is what compassion means. He doesn’t alleviate all suffering but allows it to remain so that we can grow in love and sacrifice. This is how we become more like Him. Modern compassion too often models itself out of secular niceness. Secular because it is godless, and niceness because its end goal is to avoid suffering at all costs, especially in myself. Witnessing the suffering of another is very difficult, for sure. But I need to be careful to do it in the proper attitude, the attitude of trust in God. Otherwise, I will want to fix them or the situation because I don’t believe that God is doing His job! So, it’s up to me. But this is wrong thinking. We should rather realize that If this suffering doesn’t change, God must be using it for something greater and I can rest in that.
While it is good to feel bad or sympathy for another, we must keep in mind that our feelings need to be properly ordered. They are not that important. Being nice isn’t the same as being charitable. Our modern culture has placed our feelings up on the highest pedestal with a sign hanging over it that says, “Thou shalt not offend me.” This commandment seems to have replaced all the others. I am not saying we should offend others, nor that we shouldn’t try to alleviate suffering, but we must do so in accords with the truth. This is what is means to be salt!
Four
Truth brings clarity, meaning, understanding, and hope. It fulfills our intellectual desire to know. Without truth, we fall into confusion, make choices that harm ourselves and others, and become depressed and even suicidal. Jesus identifies himself as “the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). He confirms that truth is not some concept that merely remains theoretical but is instead a relationship with a person: Him! We can either wrap our arms around Him with the embrace of friendship or wrap our cords around Him to bind and kill Him. Each of us must make this choice. If the truth is so good, why, then, would anyone want to reject it? Who would want to bind Christ and lead Him to the cross?
Five
Jesus reminds us, “be either hot or cold, for the lukewarm I will vomit from my mouth!” (Rev 3:16, Vulgate translation). But you are salt of the earth, and you are not to lose your flavor! I am so convicted of this that I have dedicated my life to it, dedicated my life to forming others in the truth to be salt. I have sought out and live in a community of family and friends who support me so I don’t weaken or lose heart by going it alone. I need the encouragement. I also entrust myself entirely to the Holy Family by praying the rosary daily. And I frequent the Holy Sacraments. By doing these things I have a greater understanding and ability to know and accomplish my mission as salt. Will you do the same? If you haven’t done so already, join the Movement, recommit to being salt for the earth, rescue souls that are perishing, and help this movement grow so all can belong to a team and give health to the world.