How should we, as believers, position ourselves in the world? As salt and light, that is, as those who give flavour and illuminate, not as those who judge and condemn. Again: being salt and light means moving from ideological alignment to unbiased acceptance, from individualism to sharing, from delegation of conscience to likeness to Jesus. Through these two images, Jesus therefore makes a clear and unequivocal invitation. The disciples are called to make the power of the Gospel visible through their lives, and to demonstrate that love—lived to the end by Jesus, the only Master—is always possible. And this, as we said, before the entire world. In other words, the community of disciples (under penalty of uselessness and insignificance) is called to be a prophecy of the new heavens and the new earth not so much through words but through their lives. But let us delve deeper into these two images. Salt, as we know, is an image of wisdom (sal sapientiae). But be careful, Jesus says, it can become tasteless. The Greek verb used here has the same root as morós, which means “stupid” (cf. Mt 5:22). The foolish/stupid is contrasted with the wise, the one who has no taste is contrasted with the one who does. This wisdom is played out in life, in the priorities that form the foundation and end of personal or communal choices. The tree is known by its fruit, the Master will say on another occasion (cf. Mt 7:16-20). The second image is that of light. Scripture affirms that God is light (cf. Ps 2:7; Jn 1:5). His word is light (cf. Ps 119:105), Israel, who lives by it, is light (cf. Is 42:6). Matthew, who is well versed in the Old Testament texts, rereads Isaiah in a messianic key, applying the prophecy to Jesus (cf. Mt 4:16). It follows that every disciple of the Master is light and therefore called to bring light to their brothers and sisters.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey