The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Tuesday, 10 June 2008 Tuesday of the Tenth week in Ordinary Time Today the Church celebrates : St. Getulius & Comp., St Ithamar Saint John Chrysostom : Salt of the earth Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5,13-16. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then 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. Commentary of the day : Saint John Chrysostom (c. 345-407), Bishop of Antioch then of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church Sermons on Saint Matthew's Gospel, no.15 Salt of the earth «You are the salt of the earth», the Saviour says, so showing them the necessity of all those precepts he has just proclaimed. «My word,» he says to them, «will not only apply to your own lives but has been entrusted to you for the whole world. I am not sending you out to two towns, nor ten, nor twenty, nor even to a single people as in the case of the prophets in former times. I am sending you out to the earth, the sea, the whole creation (Mk 16,15), wherever evil is rampant. Indeed, by saying to them: «You are the salt of the earth», he showed them that all human nature is saltless, corrupted by sin. Through their ministry the Holy Spirit's grace will regenerate and preserve the world. Hence he teaches them the virtues of the Beatitudes, those that are most necessary and efficacious in anyone responsible for the multitude. Someone who is gentle, modest, merciful and just does not shut up the good deeds he carries out within himself; he takes care that these lovely springs should also stream out for the good of others. Anyone who has a pure heart, who is a peacemaker, who suffers persecution for the truth is a person who consecrates his life for the good of others.