Salt, Lamplight, and Perfect Circles - 2/9/2026

In Catholicism, daily and Sunday Mass readings are selected and mandated for the whole of the Church. The technical word they use is "the Lectionary." I think Anglicans, Episcopalians, and some other churches follow the prescribed readings, too. I sometimes read the daily and Sunday readings, either from the Daily Roman Missal, which is pretty cool, or from the little Catholic prayer and Mass reading magazine, Magnificat.

My Daily Roman Missal. 2508 pages. I love it, but it's a little much to carry to Mass.

Magnificat is cool because it's pocket size and easy to take to Mass or anywhere.

Something I sometimes like to do, in conjunction with the daily or Sunday Gospel reading, in addition to reading it for myself, is to listen to the Daily Exegesis from an app called Hallow. In the Daily Exegesis, a biblical scholar, whose Australian accent is quite pleasant to listen to, actually, gives a breakdown of the Gospel reading from the Lectionary every day. Yesterday's Gospel was from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 13-16, part of The Sermon on the Mount. It's a well known passage, one for simplicity sake I'll call it Salt and Lamps.

I do enjoy Hallow's Daily Exegesis. Very much.

 

Here's the passage in the translation they use at Mass:

Jesus said to his disciples: "You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses it's taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled undefoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and 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." 

The teaching here is simple: It's how we live, how we act, how others see our example. I'm reminded of a quote I remember from St. Francis of Assissi: "Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary." Jesus' message is that our faith is more than what we believe. If it's not readily apparent in how we live, then it's no more than flavorless salt is an enhancement to food or no more illuminating than is a covered lamp.

I went to Mass, and on the way out, grabbed the bulletin. You gotta grab a bulletin, don't you? How else can you prove to mom that you actually went to church, right?

Yesterday's Bulletin - "You are the salt of the earth" Matthew 5:13 on the cover.

I got the message, even in the take home bulletin.

This morning, while I was waiting for  my sweet wife, Caroline, who was having a minor medical procedure, I scrolled Facebook over coffee, and then I did my morning prayers and some reading in the car.

I came across a post by a dear friend, Renee. (you know who you are!) Renee posted something by someone called Pastor Brandon, which I think very, very clearly aligns with the message from the Gospel of St. Matthew there in Chapter 5. It didn't use the salt and lamp words in it, but it was no doubt a bullseye on that target. At least as I saw it. Salt and Lamps.

The Gospel reading was from Matthew. As would of course be the case, I've been reading Matthew, too. Deeply, prayerfully, and with a desire to draw closer to Jesus through understanding and through that understanding, allowing myself to have a conversion of my heart. As a part of my study of Matthew, I realized I want more. So, I ordered a book titled "The Gospel of Matthew". It's from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series, and the author is fairly well know in Catholic biblical scholarly circles. It's part of an entire series. The famous Dr. Scott Hahn is the engine behind it,

My current study. 300+ pages on the Gospel of Matthew.

I just received it yesterday evening. In fact, while everyone else was watching the Super Bowl Halftime Show (or not watching it), I was thumbing through it, excited to get started. And get started I did, as I sat in the car this a.m. waiting to hear Caroline was ready. I started with the Introduction. The Introduction, on Page 26 and 27, read almost verbatim as did the Pastor Brandon post that Renee put on Facebook earlier, about how faith is about more than words. It was kind of uncanny, how perfectly aligned the message here was to that of Pastor Brandon. It all seemed s perfectly harmonious, so perfectly arranged, in tune, and on beat. I felt the synergy as I read further. And then, there it was...

"This is what it means for disciples to be "the salt of the earth" 5:13 and "the light of the world." 5:14

In order to complete what turned out to be a perfect circle, the Introduction passage I'm telling you about finished with "salt" and "light." Salt and Lamps. Of course it did. How could it not?

My takeaway is simple. I can't just have my faith. I have to learn to live it. I need to find ways to 'stay salty' and to let the light of my faith shine, and in more than just words. I do feel, for my personal faith journey (this blog is literally titled My Faith Journey), that these words are necessary, but if this is the only way you recognize my Christianity, then I'm coming up short.

Have a great day, friends. I hope that you are richly blessed, as am I.