I very much appreciated the optional readings proclaimed on EWTN Friday for St. Dominic’s feast day.  The end of the first reading (2 Tim 4:1-5) is quoted above.  It is in this passage that Paul exhorts us to “proclaim the word” boldly in truth since many will be deceived by false teachers.

Then in the gospel (Mt 5:13-16) Jesus starts off by saying: “You are the salt of the earth.  But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”  He goes on to tell us we are the light of the world and that light is to shine forth our good deeds thus glorifying God.

So what happens when we become apathetic in our response to God?  We lose our “saltiness.”  We are good for nothing.  By our deeds we can glorify God or we can draw others away from God.  Do we proclaim the Good News by our lives and words making our faith attractive to others or do our behaviors and utterances betray a carelessness serving to lead astray, like the false teachers Paul warns about, those whom we encounter?  We certainly do not want to be in the number of those who are to be “trampled underfoot” on judgment day.

Let us pray to God that we will retain or regain (with God all things are possible) our saltiness so that we will always henceforth be in His good graces, spreading the truth of His Word, Jesus, in every thought, word, and deed for His greater glory and to combat those, as prevalent as ever, who would draw God’s children away from Him.