Christus Arbor Meus Hymn:

Jesus said to his disciples:                                                                                                 “You are the salt of the earth.

But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.” Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus doesn’t say today: “You could be salt of the earth.”
No, he says: You are the salt of the Earth!!
Even with all your imperfections, weaknesses, struggles.

Jesus affirms us today about our dignity, importance and mission on earth, which stems from our baptism.
We are the light for others.
But how often we are not?
How often do we bring sadness and pain to the lives of people around us?
When does salt lose its taste?
Not when is too old!
It loses it tastes in its interaction with other substances.
And what happens all around us?
There is huge pressure on the church to incorporate the beliefs of others……to accept same sex union, to accept abortion and euthanasia.

There is another dimension to you being the salt of the earth:
Salt was precious cargo in ancient world, worth a great deal of money.
Jesus is saying to us that we as Christians are crucial for this world.
We are meant to be face of God, His hands and His feet.

In today’s language we could say that you are the gasoline of the world.
But if gasoline gets polluted or watered down, the engine will be broken and car won’t run any more.

This is a good occasion to ask ourselves to whom are we like polluted gasoline?
To whom around us does our presence, our words, our gestures bring sadness, pain, and suffering? …or in whose eyes doe we bring darkness to the world instead of light?
Who could say that we are not the face of Christ for them?

Let us pray today, that God may renew in us is His spirit of love, kindness…
…the spirit of generosity and forgiveness.
May Jesus salt us with Eucharist, in that we may become what we consume……that we become like the Christ.