Virtual Salt, Digital Light

Virtual Salt, Digital Light

"You are the salt of the earth... ...You are the light of the world..."

Gospel for the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time:
Matthew: 5.13-16

The exhortations of Jesus to his disciples (US!!!) to be "salt of the earth" and "light of the world" are eternal metaphors for our Christian lives. It is a call to each and every one of us to renew our commitment to the announcing the Good News.

As individuals, and as a Church, being "salt and light" is all about how we communicate within our culture. I would therefore give the blog reflection over to His Holiness, Pope Francis. Here is an excerpt from his homily on the 48th World Communications Day, January 24, 2014:

As I have frequently observed, if a choice has to be made between a bruised Church which goes out to the streets, and a Church suffering from self-absorption, I certainly prefer the first. Those "streets" are the world where people live and where they can be reached, both effectively and affectively. The digital highway is one of them, a street teeming with people who are often hurting, men and women looking for salvation or hope.

By means of the Internet, the Christian message can reach "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).Keeping the doors of our churches open also means keeping them open in the digital environment so that people, whatever their situation in life, can enter, and so that the Gospel can go out and reach everyone. We are called to show that the Church is the home of all. Are we capable of communicating the image of such a Church? Communication is a means of expressing the missionary vocation of the entire Church; today social networks are one way to experience this call to discover the beauty of faith, the beauty of encountering Christ. In the area of communications too, we need a Church capable of bringing warmth and stirring hearts... 
For the full transcript, go to  http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20140124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali_en.html

For this week...
Think about how you use Facebook, Twitter and all digital media in the classroom or in your home. Are there ways that you can be "salt and light" through them?