Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (African American Heritage Celebration): Pastor John Edmunds, ST

CLICK VIEW TO WATCH THE HOMILY/MASS.  Then click “Watch on YOUTUBE,” scroll down and click “more…” if you want to find a specific part of the Mass to watch. This entire special mass is posted! Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

You are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, a city on a hill. That’s how Jesus looks on us. The Prophet Isaiah tells us how to live up to such a lofty identity. Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn. The Church does not exist for itself but as a servant to the suffering in the world. The Church is a sacrament planted in the world to help bring about the kingdom of justice and peace that Jesus proclaimed. So, how are we doing? Notice that Jesus uses the present tense. You are light, salt, a city on a hill. Not you’re going to be one day once you get your act together. You are. Kinda makes you want to pull Jesus aside and say, “not so much, working on it.” Our light is dimmed by selfishness and sin. Our saltiness is weakened by divisions and disagreements. Our city on a hill has been pulled down to earth by shame and scandal. We need to become the kind of light which Jesus named us as being.

One of the most amazing letters ever written was by St. Peter Claver in 1627. He was a Jesuit priest working in Cartegena, Colombia, a major slave port in the Spanish colonies. Remember that the men capturing slaves in African were Christians. The sailors were Christian who crammed those captured onto ships where conditions were so terrible that 15% died on the way and were unceremoniously tossed overboard. Those running the slave market were Christian. And those buying the newly arrived Africans to work on their plantations were Christian. The light of the world? Peter Claver would meet the slave ships and attempt to provide some limited care for the brutalized men and women as they got off the boats. He would give clothing, warmth, food, medicine, cleanliness and, as he put it, “friendly gestures” of encouragement. That is light of the world stuff. But the letter goes on: “After that we began an elementary instruction about baptism. When by their answers to our questions they showed they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to more extensive instruction, namely about the one God. We asked them to make an act of contrition. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion.” That he imagined the Africans ripped from the homelands by Christians would be interested in becoming Christian astonishes me. But he must have been onto something for in the course of the forty-plus years he worked in Cartegena he baptized an estimated 300,000 Africans into the faith. Peter Claver had faith that, despite what they had gone through, becoming a Christian would transform those suffering individuals into light-bearers, beacons of hope.

The way for a Christian to be the light of the world is pretty simple – love God and love your neighbor.  When we see Christians treat the stranger with hostility and rejection, when we see Christians ignore the needs of those suffering around us, when we see Christians neglect the proper care and formation of children, when we see Christians grab everything they can and devil take the hindmost, when we see Christians use, abuse and misuse the vulnerable you can understand why so many people would look on us as the opposite of the light of the world. So, Church, here is our challenge – how can we become who we are meant to be?

St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tells us how he lived as the light of the world: “I, resolved to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” No Jesus and we are trapped in a dog-eat-dog world where it’s every man for himself. Know Jesus and when we look around all we see are brothers and sisters made in the image and likeness of God who will walk with us in the journey of life. No Jesus and I grab onto this food, this drink, this smoke, this image, this person who will make me feel better for at least a little while. Know Jesus and I am filled with joy because I am loved just as I am and nothing can take that away from me. No Jesus and the crosses that come by way of family trouble, money worries, health concerns, grief and loss are overwhelming, Know Jesus and find that we can lean on the everlasting arms which provide the blessed assurance that all will be well. No Jesus and suffering is to be avoided at all costs. Know Jesus and discover that suffering does not get the last word but is transformed into resurrection. No Jesus and death is the enemy to be feared above all. Know Jesus and understand that we are made for more, made for glory, made for happiness forever. No Jesus, no peace. Know Jesus, know peace.

You are the light of the world.  The Webb space telescope recently observed the light from a star that has been moving through space for 13.5 billion years. The light from that distant star continues to shine even though the star itself has long since blown up and been recycled – perhaps several times. Church, the light of Christ which we are is similarly long-lasting. While it might not seem like no big deal to us, every act of kindness, every word of charity, every deed of mercy, every will to forgive, every embrace of love sends a sparkle of light into the universe that illuminates all that is so generations far into the future will see a people transformed by the presence of Christ in our hearts into something shining for all eternity. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.