Have Salt in Yourselves

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

By Beth DeCristofaro

For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’ (Mark 9:49-50)

Piety

God of all good things.  Salt me with yourself, ever enlivening, quickening, purifying.  Preserve within me a desire for you always.  Never allow me to settle for the dull, lifeless or toxic choices in the world.  Jesus, be my peace and lead me in paths of peace-bringing to others.

Study

Ironic that sodium and chloride, two elements which are virtually poisonous to humans, when joined together make salt.  Not only is salt necessary for most life but for many of us, salt could be considered its own food group.  What would popcorn, ratatouille, burgers, sardines and even treats such as caramel be without salt?  Salt preserved food so that early explorers could sail far beyond the reach of easy provisions.  Salt was so vital to trade and economy that Gandhi used the iconic mining of salt to launch his rebellion against oppression.  In Scripture salt is recognized as a purifier and symbolized indissoluble covenants.

Jesus tells his friends that we have been salted!  We have been graced with God’s presence, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  When times of prayer are dry, we have inner salt so that our dark nights deepen our need and life in the Lord. In times of trial, sadness or fear, God’s salt boosts courage and trust needed to struggle through.  When we watch an incredible sunset or meet the eyes of a loved one, we experience a nanoparticle of God’s own beauty present within. Like a salt lick, God’s being there, even when we feel God is faint or far away, renews our strength in what is of God so that we can avoid being an obstacle to faith or choosing sin.  Many poisons are disguised as good for us.  God’s presence helps us choose Life, not death.

Action

Have you felt dull, colorless or even puny in prayer and action?  Invite God to blow over your sense of featurelessness, stagnation or fear as God did in Creation.  God can bring form and new life from chaos and even poison.