Scripture Reflections for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A, Lectionary 73
Where there is darkness in the world, God asks us to shine God's light. Where the world is deprived of love, God asks us to be the salt of love, bringing out and preserving love in others. But as we do so, we must always point to God's light, love and never make it about ourselves. It is about bringing the world back to God.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Anger • Care • Charity • Choice • Community • Darkness • Discipleship • Emotion • Fulfillment • Generosity • Happiness • Healing • History • Hope • Humility • Hunger • Justice • Light • Love • Matthew • Mercy • Miracle • Mission • Open • Paul • Power • Prayer • Preserve • Sacrifice • Salt • Strength • Temple • Transformation • Truth • Works •
“Paul's missionary activity according to Acts is never just he's a really good preacher, he's really persuasive...but he also performs signs and wonders to back up his preaching. He performs miracles that testify to the truth of his preaching.”
“To be 'light' and 'salt' for the world, people of God, means to live with purpose and with passion”
“you are salt and light. We have to be. We need to be. We've been commissioned to be that.”
“Just as, as salt teases out the flavors of chicken, so we as Christians we're called to tease out the Christian virtues that we find in the other”
“A number of scholars have suggested this, that when Jesus refers to his disciples as the 'salt of the earth,' he's not just talking about common everyday salt...but that he's in a sense using this as a metaphor and likening them to the salt of the Covenant sacrifices that would be offered to God in the temple”
“the goal of performing these good works, he makes clear here, is not so that each individual person would get glory but so that God the Father might be glorified”
“there's a presence of God, as a matter of fact, in everyone whether they go to church or not. God is present in each and every person in the world and so our work is to draw out the flavors of the divine presence in other people.”
“May the Lord make us people whose words preserve what is good, whose actions scatter the darkness, and whose lives help others glimpse the goodness of God”
“I wonder what you need to be a prophet of light and flip every switch of mercy-filled actions so that those around you don’t have to fear the darkness of injustice. Go, then, be that prophetic light to the world!”
“Light is not loud. Light does not argue with darkness. Light simply shows up and darkness loses.”
“I believe this scripture passage is reminding us that healing in our own body is linked to working towards healing in the body of Christ, with a preferential option for the poor”
“Jesus challenges his disciples then and challenges us today to be people who affect change in the midst of a twisted world, in the midst of mean, nasty world...we're called to make a difference”
“Christians are the light of the world. Christians do not become light by their own power. Their responsibility is to show who they are as evidence of the grace of God.”
“Mercy requires a change in heart and a transformation at our core. Living mercifully means giving from my whole heart so that my hands, my feet, my voice, my actions mimic God's reconciling and restorative work in the world.”
“My deepest prayer is that we remember what it means to be salt and light. As we near the Lenten season when we feel hopeless, darkness or that we have lost our taste, we keep our gaze transfixed on God and keep our peripherals open and aware of our faithful youth.”
“Because when you and I are able to let go of things in our life that holds us back, that confuse us, that keep us depressed or angry for years, when we are able to do that, what happens people of God? The grace given to us in our baptism can rise up and we can shine.”
“So if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus and follow the Sermon on the Mount, you really don't have a choice, so to speak, when it comes to engaging in acts of charity, works of mercy, and evangelization”
“what is God calling us today as we listen to his word to preserve? Is it my Christian faith? Is it the lives of others?”
“Caring effectively for the oppressed in our world requires a radical transformation. It will take more than seasonal or one-time efforts like food drives and service trips. It will take nothing less than the gospel call to conversion to go beyond our small self to a higher mind and consciousness.”