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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
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Gospel text (Mt 5:13-16): Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world... Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”

The mission of Christians (apostolate): "salt of the earth" and "light of the world”

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today, Jesus through these images full of meaning – the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” – wants to transmit to His disciples the sense of their mission and witness. “Salt”, in the Middle East culture, evokes different values such as covenant, solidarity, life and wisdom. Light, on the other hand, is the first work of God the Creator and it is the source of life; God’s Word itself is compared to the light.

Wisdom summarizes in itself the valuable effects of salt and light: as a matter of fact, the Lord’s disciples are called to give a new “flavour” to the world, and to preserve it from corruption, with God’s wisdom, which fully glows in the Son’s face.

—In union with Him, Christians can spread the light of God’s love, true wisdom which gives meaning to men’s existence and actions, in the middle of the darkness of indifference and egoism.