He was the sort of person, "Salt of the earth."

A salt-of-the-earth with friendly and straightforward,

referred to as "salt of the earth". 

 

St. Gregory of Narek, abbot and doctor of the Church

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Sirach 5:1-8

Do not rely on your wealth. Do not say,

"I am self sufficient." Do not let yourself be carried away by greed and violence; they would make you their slave.

Do not say, "Who can stop me?" For the Lord has power to punish you. Do not say,

"I have sinned and nothing has happened!" For the Lord bides his time.

Do not be so sure of pardon when you are heaping sin upon sin. Do not say,

"His compassion is great! He will forgive the vast number of my sins!"

 

For with him is mercy but also anger; his fury will be poured out on sinners.

Do not delay your return to the Lord, do not put it off from day to day.

For suddenly the anger of the Lord will blaze forth and you will perish on the day of reckoning.

Do not rely on riches wrongfully acquired for they will be of no use to you on the day of wrath.

 

Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

"Blessed are they who hope in the Lord."

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Mark 9: 41-50

If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear his name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward.

If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin,

it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.

 

If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand,

than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off!

It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin,

 

tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes,

to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. The fire itself will preserve them.

Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Salt of the earth."

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux tells us to keep things in proper balance. If we think only of the mercy of God,

we might take his compassion for granted, and slide further and further into sin. If, however, we think only of God's justice,

we might become paralyzed by a fear of his just judgement. The answer, says Saint Bernard,

is to remember that justice and mercy are united in God, just as Christ, the Word made flesh, has two feet.

 

Therefore, he teaches us to kneel humbly before Christ in prayer and kiss both feet: the foot of justice and the foot of mercy.

In this way, we acknowledge our sins against God, but accept that he is also our salvation.

To live up to our vocation to be "salt of the earth," that is, to season the world with Christ,

we must rely on the Lord and not on ourselves or possessions or status.

 

Salt in the Old Testament was used in covenant sacrifices. Therefore,

in our weakness and propensity to fall into sin,

we also need to stay salted with both God's strength and his mercy to keep us faithful to his covenant.