Sunday 5 A (2023)

Listen to Isaiah:  give your bread to the hungry ….

shelter the homeless poor …. clothe the naked ….

give relief to the oppressed …do away with the wicked word …

then … your light will rise in the darkness

… A good day for our retiring collection today for CAFOD and Assist.

Jesus says: You are the salt; you are the light; your light must shine

‘You’ is plural throughout…

Being a follower, a friend, of Jesus, being a Christian,

is not a private matter, on two counts:

we are in it together; we are supposed to be visible.

[Hands up] if you are preparing for first Holy Communion.

I’m going to say something especially to you,

but everyone else can listen.

Your special friendship with Jesus starts at your baptism,

and, as you get older,

that friendship is made stronger by Reconciliation and Holy Communion.

Today, we heard a special message Jesus has for his friends.

He said: You are the light of the world.

Jesus means his friends are like lights in the world.

Lights let people see things:

getting around your house in the evening

is much easier if the lights are on.

When Jesus says of his friends

‘you are like lights in the world’,

he means that, through his friends,

people will recognise God at work.

Jesus’ friends are like lights that let people ‘see’ God at work.

(evening Mass; lower church lights)

In Jesus’ time, people lit their houses with lamp lights,

which are like candles, so here is my ‘lamp’. 

(show candle; light candle on floor)

You light a lamp in a dark room,

so you can see around the room;

I know it is not dark, so you must imagine that bit.

Now you would put it on a stand (put candle on stand)

so that the light spreads to more of the room,

and everyone in the room can benefit from its light.

That would be a light doing what it is supposed to.

It would be silly to put the light under a tub. (place tub over candle)

What happens…….you can’t see any light,

it might as well not be there;

no one would do that: it is a completely ridiculous thing to do.

You light a lamp so it can give light, so it can be seen. (Remove tub)

As Jesus said in the gospel:

you don’t light a lamp and put it under a tub,

you put it on a lampstand for people to see by.

We are each like a lamp.

Jesus’ friendship with us lights us up;

so that we are his light in the world. 

Real friendship with Jesus cannot be hidden,

it spills over to everyone we meet.

(evening Mass: turn on Church lights)

Just a few extra words for the grown ups:

First, under the tub, the light soon goes out:

a reminder that there is no such thing as an invisible disciple.

Second,

before you get carried away with whether you are salty enough,

or whether your light is bright enough,

take the time to look around

and see the Christian light shine in others

and, in this Eucharist,

give praise and thanks to our Father in heaven, for that.