<\/p>\n
Today Jesus says that \u201cSalt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?\u201d\u00a0 What does all that mean?<\/p>\n
You know, if we are honest about it, we will each see part of ourselves in the first reading, especially those who are in the prime of life.\u00a0 We start out with good intentions- especially when we learn about our faith as children.\u00a0 But when we become adults, wealth, power, strength, and enthusiasm for the things that the world has to offer us, these things lead us astray of communion with God because they guarantee us our pleasures and self-interests.\u00a0 These are the things that take up most of our time and energy as we navigate through the mainstream of life.\u00a0 We tell ourselves we will think about our ultimate calling, our ultimate destiny with God, later.\u00a0 All too often, it becomes much later. \u00a0We end up looking back and find that decades have passed in our lives and God is still not in the center of our attention.\u00a0 Like salt, we started out good with the right flavor, but somehow, as we navigated through life, we lost our flavor.<\/p>\n
The problem is that, as Sirach warns, God bides his time, and so, few of us knows when our time will come.\u00a0 The recent events in the news tell us that Sirach is right on.\u00a0 We can be called to account for our actions at any time- like the people who were at the Boston Marathon finish line or in the Oklahoma Tornedo paths.\u00a0\u00a0In just 5 minutes, everything changed in their lives; and for some of them, right in the middle of life, life was suddenly over.\u00a0 There was no time or way to restore the flavor of good salt, so to speak.<\/p>\n
So this calls to question, what are we doing with our lives?\u00a0 Are we going through the motions, living life in the world as if life in this world will never end?\u00a0 Because if we are doing that, we can become like salt that has become insipid.\u00a0 Or are we focused on knowing God and following His commandments?<\/p>\n
Now, Jesus gives us some compelling advice in the Gospel \u00a0\u00a0First, he tells us to show concern for and care for others; and that even giving a drink of water to the thirsty will not go unseen by God.\u00a0 But then he says woe to those who lead others astray by their actions especially the children and the innocent.<\/p>\n
You know, sometimes we just don\u2019t see how much influence we have on others.\u00a0 And yet, we do have a great deal of influence.\u00a0 Parents and Grandparents influence their children all the time, and may not even be aware of some of the influence they have.\u00a0 Public figures have influence as well- teachers, bosses, lawyers, doctors, news media, celebrities, actors; you name it.\u00a0 So, we all need to be careful of what we say and do which could lead others astray<\/p>\n
Yet ultimately, we are responsible for our own actions.\u00a0 And Jesus mentions some things in the Gospel to help us avoid sin.\u00a0 We are advised to avoid the occasions to sin.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something we see, touch, or seek after that is an occasion to sin- then don\u2019t allow yourself to be tempted.\u00a0 Avoid it- that\u2019s what the advice cutting off your foot or plucking out your eye means.<\/p>\n
Finally, Jesus tells us to \u201ckeep salt in yourselves, and you will have peace with one another\u201d.\u00a0 Yes, indeed.\u00a0 If we retain the flavor of the spirit within us; living always within God\u2019s plan for us, we will have peace with one another in the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time Sirach 5: 1-8; Mark 9: 41-50 Dc. Larry Brockman Today Jesus says that \u201cSalt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor?\u201d\u00a0 What does all that mean? You know, if we are honest about it, we will each see part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[226,227],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions\/376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}