This week’s gospel focusing on salt and light further enhances the message of Jesus’ teaching of The Beatitudes. If we embrace the qualities that God desires for us in the Beatitudes and allow our hearts to be transformed, then we will be impelled to share these qualities in our relationship with others. This is our missionary response - to be Christ-like in the world.

We’ve all experienced a time when the lights went out and we were in darkness. In this case, if you were to light a candle and place it in the centre of the room, its light would make quite a difference. One candle in a darkened room transforms that room, making it a more comfortable dwelling place.Using that image, consider Jesus’ metaphor: “You are the light of the world.” Imagine yourself as that single candle in the darkness. Just as a single candle can give light to an entire room, so you are capable of being a source of light for many others.

Teresa of Avila expresses why this is so important in her writing:Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Imagine then, if there is more than one light in the darkness. This is the value of community,  the support and inspiration to allow God’s grace to shine through each one of us. Reflect upon those whom you have been called to shine God’s light. Who in your life needs an act of love, mercy, forgiveness or compassion? Who has shone the Light of Christ upon you? Hold that person in your prayer of gratitude.