When I was young we would always eat as a family around 6pm. Most of the family would be seated by the time dad joined us. Dad would be seated and scan the table. If he did not see the red salt shaker he would, throw his hands in the air and exclaim, “Salt! Salt! Salt!…”. Responding to this exclamation someone would immediately scurry to the cupboard to retrieve the forgotten red salt shaker.

In an odd way, dad’s instance on the presence of salt on the table at a meal, underlined how important salt is to the properly set table. It is part of our dining habits and rituals. We always have a choice on whether to use salt or not on our food. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. Setting aside the modern health issues surrounding salt in our diet, salt is designed to add flavor to food…in other words to jazz it up.

During an ice or snow storm we demand that the city salt our streets so that we aren’t sliding into parked cars or into intersections. Even at the entrances of our church and our sidewalks, we need salt laid down so that we can not slip and fall on our way in and out of Mass.

Salt adds flavor and saves us from falling.

Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth. We, as Christians, are called to give flavor to the world and to keep the world from falling. How do we do it? We add flavor to the world by proclaiming the Gospel. The Gospel we proclaim adds flavor and spice to an otherwise dreary and hopeless world. The hope and joy the Gospel gives can spice up our dark world. We save ourselves and others from falling by  teaching and even warning each other of the potential slick spots in the world that can easily cause us to fall into all sorts of dangers in our world.

We are reminded to keep our salt fresh and on the table in order for my dad not to get angry and so we can add flavor and traction for our world.

DID YOU KNOW…

If each of our parishioners pledged $1,500 we would raise nearly $400,000 toward our capital campaign?

Run2Win4Him,

James Kirby