Mt 5,13-16 – Tuesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
“You are the salt.” What an extraordinary image Jesus uses in today’s Gospel. Salt is not meant to be admired, but to give flavour. Nobody notices salt when it is present in the right quantity, yet everyone notices it when it is missing. Perhaps Jesus wants to tell us that the Christian’s task is not to occupy center stage, but to make the lives of the people he encounters truer, more beautiful and more human. Very often we think that bearing witness to the Gospel means convincing, winning arguments or imposing ideas. Jesus instead shows us another path.
The Christian is called to flavor reality with his own presence, to introduce into the world the taste of hope, mercy, truth and charity. Wherever an authentic disciple passes, the quality of life should increase, not the noise of controversy. For this reason, Jesus places the image of light alongside the image of salt. Light does not draw attention to itself, but it makes things visible. It doesn’t replace reality, it reveals it. This is how Christian testimony should also be.
A true believer does not live to be noticed, applauded or recognized. He lives in such a way that others can see the good, beauty and presence of God already at work in their existence. However, there is an implicit warning in Jesus’ words. Salt can lose its flavor and a light can be hidden. It happens when Christianity is reduced to a habitto a label or to a simple external belonging. When we stop living a real relationship with Christ, we may continue to retain the form of faith, but we lose its transforming power. Salt and light then become the distinctive signs of a true disciple. Not someone who continually talks about God, but someone who, through their life, makes God more credible. Not someone who imposes himself on others, but someone who helps everything around him express the best of themselves.
Tuesday 9 June 2026 – (Tuesday of the 10th Week of Ordinary Time – Even Year)
