The salt of the earth...

My thoughts and reflections on today's Mass readings...

The first reading today… [Is.58:7-10]

"Thus says the LORD: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday."

…reminded me of the “Pastor Email” that has been floating around the Internet for some times with mixed versions and claims to whether or not it’s a true story 

[See SNOPES:http://www.snopes.com/glurge/homelesspastor.asp ]

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service....only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food... NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit in the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation...."We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek"... The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation.....The homeless man sitting in the back stood up... and started walking down the aisle... the clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him.... he walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment.... then he recited

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning... many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame... he then said... Today I see a gathering of people... not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples... when will YOU decide to become disciples? He then dismissed service until next week... Being a Christian is more than something you claim. It's something you live by and share with others. -end-

The story is a good one (even if it turns out untrue) because it is a wonderful reminder of how we are to live.  Being the “light” in the world or the “salt” of the earth are really the same thing.  If we cast no light in the world we bring no glory to God. 

The people in the Pastor Email story did not share their light with the homeless man.  They gave him no money for food, no kind words and showed him NONE of the love of Jesus Christ.  If the people in that congregation had any love of Jesus in them, they hid it well and completely failed to live today’s first reading about caring for others and showing them love and in doing so bringing the light and glory of God to them.  

What a contrast that story is to our own Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta's story and the light she brought to the world after hearing Jesus' plea to her saying "Come be my light!"- she couldn't resist his call to be a light in the world.

And the Gospel Reading…[Matt. 5:13-16]
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.”

If we have no salt…we are tasteless, useless unneeded things rather than the flavor we are supposed to be in the world.  Do we need light in the dead of night to see? Of course!  If non-Christians are stumbling around in the dark of today's secular society who will be a light for them?  Who will bring them God's Truth and Love?  If we Christians are not a light for others they will live their entire lives in pitch black.  And what about the Catholics sitting in the pews who are hungry for the taste of salt yet are being deprived by their own clergy?

Oh yes, there are far too many salt-less clergy in the Catholic Church- like THIS GUY or THIS GUY or THIS STUFF.  At one time they might have preached the Word of God and filled the earth with their salt…but then the world and it’s secular demands pushed the Salt of God from them and left them void of salt.  The salt that lost its taste.

These are the clergy (priest and Bishop alike) who now talk about the desire for the Church to changes its stand on birth control, abortion, gay ‘marriage’ and a female priesthood.  These clergy have NO salt or light in them any more.  They have become useless to the people of God and worse…a stumbling block for many as they lead entire flocks of God’s sheep away from God and on the road to Hell.  This is what happens when our salt becomes tasteless.  

Who would season their meals with salt that has no flavor?  It would be a complete waste of time - so it is listening to these wayward tasteless-salt clergy.

As the scripture states “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”.  It is good for nothing.  Some of our clergy as well as our Church members have no light or salt in them and they have become ‘good for nothing’.  One wonders when the Church will follow the scripture teaching and have these clergy “thrown out” for the useless lumps of dark tasteless salt they are.  We need clergy who are full of light and haven’t lost their salt.

Pray for more salt and light in our wonderful Holy Catholic Church.

In Christ,

Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner

Yes, Faithful People Can Still Be (And Often Are) Intelligent, Too!

From Contributor Doug:

“Jesus said to him {Thomas}, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’” (John: 20, 29.)

A female co-member of a group to which I belong to inevitably winds up sitting at or near me at our annual dinner, ironically around Christmas time. I say ironically because it is during this season of the birth of our Savior that I typically again hear this woman touting how she left the Catholic faith because it insulted her intelligence. I also once remember reading somewhere a nasty quip by another Catholic dissident who claimed she left the faith because the thought Jesus had more answers to her questions than the Pope. I guess the rest of us are just simple minded idiots. Or are we?

My dictionary partially defines "faith" as an “unquestioning” belief in God. I beg to differ with the good Mr. Webster on that summary.

Having accomplished all that she did, Mother Teresa was far from stupid, yet she was certainly faithful. But at the same time, she also experienced and survived a period of grave doubt. Mother Teresa I’m not, but I am faithful, and while hardly a rocket scientist, I don’t consider myself a stupid person either, yet I have had questions, too. Asking questions is natural and even prudent. It’s how we handle those questions that really matters, as per # 26 of the Catechism: "Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life." Thus, the quest is OK, but our path needs to be illuminated to see where we are going. Such is faith.

In his talks telecast on EWTN, Father Corapi addressed this issue at least a couple different times. On one occasion, he cited once being chastised for his traditional beliefs by a moral relavist nun, who sarcastically dismissed him as not being too bright, so he then acquired his numerous undergraduate and graduate degrees and later spoke to that same nun again. The second time, she accused him of being too conservative. In another talk, Father Corapi used the Holy Trinity as an example, admitting that he also cannot fathom how God can be three beings in one, and most if not all of us would also be hard pressed to explain that one. Such is one of God’s many mysteries. Father Corapi simplified the question by simply suggesting that we acknowledge that it is above our ability to explain it, and to thus simply accept it instead.

But isn’t that really the true test of faith? The dictionary also offers the definition of “loyalty.” When we are of average or even higher intelligence, and believe contrary to that which we cannot explain, isn’t that true faith to God, and indeed, “loyalty”? Faith infers belief without seeing proof. And it does not have to be rocket science, nor is it an insult to anyone’s intelligence.

As Catholics, we believe in apostolic succession, Jesus, our High Priest, ordained his apostles, and one of them, Peter, became our first Pope, as so appointed by Jesus. (“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.“ Matthew:16, 18). It is through this same apostolic succession, as well as history, tradition and scripture, that Jesus, and not just the Pope, answers our questions through the (Catholic) Church, the original Christian Church, instituted by Jesus Himself, and then onward through Peter.

As Catholics, we believe that our Church’s teaching our absolute truth. To deny them is heresy. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen once noted, “absolute truth” is still “absolute truth,” despite how many, or how few people believe it.

As beings created by God, our intelligence is truly blessing, but it is also finite. What our intelligence cannot explain, faith must.

Perhaps it is these allegedly far more “intelligent” people who are in true need of education, specifically via evangelization. One of the admission requirements to Heaven is humility, but not an I.Q. test, as Jesus said in Luke, 18, 17:” Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Is it little wonder that Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”? (Matthew 5:5.)

Thus if we intend to enter Heaven, our chances are far greater by doing so with the trusting humility of a child, and not by haughtily tossing around 95 cent words, erroneously thinking we are actually impressing someone. And remember, who is often referred to as the gatekeeper to the Pearly Gates? Peter!

I’ve used these quotes before and I continue to do so because they are so beautifully sage, simplistic and applicable: “Humility is the mother of all salvation” (St. Bernard), and “Pray, hope and don’t worry” (St. Padre Pio, my adopted Patron Saint).

Thus my parting advice: Keep the faith! It’s the smart thing to do!

Peace,
Doug