FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
Dear St. Mary’s Parishioners:
When you grow up in a Filipino-American household, there are few things which will always be commonplace; we take off our shoes before entering into a house. We eat rice for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even dessert. And most of all, the majority of us are baptized Catholic. If you asked me growing up, why I was Catholic, I would have shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know.” It’s probably the same reason why my people eat rice - because we’re FIlipino. It’s just something you do. Such an attitude makes complete sense when you realize that the Philippines has the largest Christian population in all of Asia. Catholicism has been intertwined with our culture's DNA since the first Spanish missionaries brought the faith to the islands in 1521. Like with anything else that is passed down from generation to generation, I took my Catholic faith for granted. Growing up, we always attended Sunday Mass. If someone asked me if I believed in God, I would have effortlessly said yes. Yet, I still do not understand the precious gift this Catholic thing my parents gave me. It would take me eighteen years before my eyes were open to the power and beauty of our Catholic Faith!
“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel reading. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” (Cf. Matthew 5:13-15). He is reminding us of our high, noble calling. To be Christian is to be a light bearer, leading the world out of darkness back to our Heavenly Creator, back to our Father. When I look out into our modern culture, I see a battlefield littered with broken hearts and souls of my dear brothers and sisters of mine, who search for infinite happiness and joy in the finite things of this world. Yet, it will never be found there. It’s only in Jesus.
The image of “salt” and “light” that he uses is often lost on us as modern readers but for the first century Jewish audience that was listening to him, they would have immediately understood its complex significance. “Salt” is connected to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, where the Jewish priests would pour on the meat of the animal sacrifices as sign of purity and flavor for consumption. It is also used for Jewish religious worship as seen in the Book of Chronicles and Numbers (Cf. 2 Chr. 13:5; see also Num 18:19). Salt, therefore, is about true worship and holiness of life.
Being the ‘light”, as Jesus tells us to be, also has a strong relationship with the Temple again. The Jews believed that when the End of the World came, the Temple would be a miraculous and continual source of light for all those who stayed faithful to God. Each year, during what they called the Festival of Tabernacles, the Jews would light huge candles for 24 hours a day. These practices of salt and light, was only a practice run for the true salt and the true light. It is Christ. We Christians are called to share in his power. Now do you see why we must embrace and fully live our Catholic faith? The world needs holy Christians. Without us, everything would be bland and dreary.
A Slave of Jesus Christ,
Fr. Brian J. Solive
