5th Sunday: Light and Leaven, Salt and Seed in a World Waiting to be Born

The late Blessed John XXIII wrote, "Every believer, in this, our world, must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying ferment in the dough: He will be so to the degree that, in his innermost being, he lives in communion with God. In fact, there can be no peace among men if there is no peace in each one of them."  The Gospel of this Sunday's Liturgy asks each one of us to be light, leaven, salt and seed in a world waiting to be born. The Lord who invites us into His mission awaits our answer.

P>CHESAPEAKE, VA. (Catholic Online) - On the fifth Sunday in Ordinary time I proclaim this Gospel passage at Mass: "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." (Matt. 5: 13 - 16) The passage calls to mind the words of the Lord, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12)

We have been baptized into Christ who now lives His life in us - and we live our lives in Him. This becomes reality by living in His Body, the Church, for the sake of the world. The Father still loves the world and gives His Son to save it. (John 3: 16)  Now, that gift continues through you and me. In Matthews Gospel Jesus uses more images to further communicate this message to us, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." (Matt. 13: 31 - 33)  We are light and leaven, salt and seed, in a world waiting to be born.

All of these images concerning the spread of the kingdom are meant to bring home the new reality that comes from our discipleship. In the words of St. Jose Maria Escriva, "May Our Lord be able to use us so that, placed as we are at all the cross-roads of the world - and at the same time placed in God - we become salt, leaven and light. Yes, you are to be in God, to enlighten, to give flavor, to produce growth and new life. But don't forget that we are not the source of this light: we only reflect it. (St. Jose Maria Escriva, Friends of God, 250)

As Christians we are called to love the world as God loves the world. Because we live in Jesus Christ, He continues His redemptive mission in and through us! God created us for Himself. He made us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). He placed us within this created world with a purpose. God so love the world he sent His only Son into it to save it! (John 3:16). Jesus now walks in that world through His Body, the Church. Understanding and living this reality is supposed to change the way we view our human existence. We live our daily lives now in the Lord. In a very real sense, we actually live in the Church and go into the world. One of the titles that the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council ascribed to the Church (found in early patristic literature) is the "the world reconciled."

Some of the confusion concerning our relationship to the world comes from the remnants of one of the early heresies in Christian history, Manichaeism. The followers of this error believed that all matter was evil. That is NOT the Christian belief. We profess in our Creed a belief in a bodily resurrection and the coming of a new heaven and new earth!  Yet this error of viewing matter as evil still infects and can lead to a kind "ghetto mentality" whereby Christians withdraw from the world. Some confusion also comes from ways the phrase "the world" is used in the New Testament. 

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There is "the world" that God created and looked upon and said "it is good". (See e.g. Genesis, chapter 1). That world is still good. It is filled with beauty and reflects the Divine artist and architect who made it. That world He entrusted to the crown of his creation - man and woman.  Then there is a system, that culture of death and use, which has squeezed God out of His rightful place and substituted idols. That system is also called "the world" in the bible. (See, e.g. James 4:4). We are not to "love" that world, in the sense of giving ourselves over to its dominion. We are to reject that system in order to free those enchained by its lies. The Father wants to bring the entire human race back into a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Those of us who live in Christ are sent on that mission into the world.

The power to effect redemptive change in the world comes from the life of God within us. It is amazing how little leaven it takes to raise a loaf of bread. That is because within those little particles of yeast is found the power to ferment, to change the lump of wet dough into a loaf of aromatic, tasty, nourishing bread. However, the power contained within that yeast is not activated unless it is mixed and kneaded into the dough. Once you work the leaven in, it is still hidden to the eye but how it transforms that loaf! So it is with Christians within human culture! The power within us is the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead (See Romans 8:11)! All we are asked to do is to mix it up. We have to get in the loaf. We must be in the world - where Jesus is - in order to be used to accomplish His ongoing work of redemption.

Leaven that is not used in time spoils and loses its capacity to ferment that dough; it must be active or it becomes useless. That leaven must be in the dough to effect its extraordinary change. So it is with all of us. We must be "in the world" to effect its transformation. Once hidden in the loaf, leaven always raises the dough. It also takes human effort - it must be kneaded and worked into the loaf. So it is with our lives of faith. Faith is a verb, it must be exercised. By living in the heart of the Church in the center of the world we bring the world back to God. This kind of missionary mindset has inspired great missionary ages in the past and brought extraordinary changes to entire cultures. It can once again! However, it always begins one person, one grain, at a time.

Years ago, after returning from Mass where I proclaimed this Gospel, I read the Sunday paper. Included with the paper was a magazine called "Parade." On the cover was a beautiful photo of an Orthodox Christian Bishop, Anastasios Yannoulatos of Albania. With beauty in his eyes and bearing the characteristic gray beard of the Orthodox cleric, he stood out, popped off the page, with the dignity of a Son of God. He was pictured holding a little girl with a backdrop of children behind him. The caption in the photo read "What America might learn from a man who helped heal a nation broken by decades of tyranny and despair."

The article told the story of how one man of deep Christian faith helped to inspire multitudes and to rebuild an entire nation, one person at a time. In the window of his office was a bullet hole from a failed snipers' attempt to silence this man of the Gospel. The effort failed. The Lord whom he loves protected him so that he could continue to proclaim in word and deed the "good news" of Jesus Christ who continually makes all things new! The good Bishop explained that he keeps it there to remind him that "that life can end in a second. We must not waste a single day." Against all odds this contemporary Christian lived as leaven in the loaf. He understood what it meant to redemptively love the world. He was so configured to the Lord that he echoed the cry of the Apostle Paul "No longer do I live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God".(Galatians 2:20)

This man of courage was ferment in the dough, light in the world and the salt of the earth. He stayed in Alabania -even though he could have engaged in any number of meaningful tasks as an academic, a cleric and a Church leader. He chose to be with those who needed the Lord whom he served. He walked into that loaf and offered himself for its transformation. The writer of the article, Nicholas Gage, explained that this holy priest saw 'the despair in the faces of the Albanians."  The Bishop told him "I thought. "Who's going to help these people? Who's going to give them hope? I knew this was a test and I said to myself, "If you have faith, stay and struggle. If you don't, go home".

The late Blessed John XXIII wrote, "Every believer, in this, our world, must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying ferment in the dough: He will be so to the degree that, in his innermost being, he lives in communion with God. In fact, there can be no peace among men if there is no peace in each one of them."  The Gospel of this Sunday's Liturgy asks each one of us today, whether we will be light and leaven, salt and seed? We are all called into a world desperately in need of God. Will we be " a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying ferment in the dough?" We are light and leaven, salt and seed, in a world waiting to be born.

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