Mt 5,13-16

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Imagine your home, the room. There is a lamp. It’s evening. You can light the lamp and notice what you can see thanks to the light. Feel the warmth of light, its glow.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: that I would like to be the salt of the earth and light for others

1.     You are the salt of the earth. …if salt loses its taste…

Jesus calls us the salt of the earth. Salt has various properties: it cleans, gives flavor, preserves, and enhances the value of dishes. So, it is a very important ingredient that gives and extracts flavor. However, salt may lose its flavor if it is not properly cared for and stored. It may not be known to us, but in the place where Jesus lived, salt was sourced from the Dead Sea and needed to be cleaned and properly stored, otherwise it would not be usable. So, Jesus, calling you salt, tells you how important you are and how much you need to take care of yourself in order to be able and feel the flavors of your life and at the same time give flavors to your life and life in the places where you are. Tastes don’t always have to be pleasant, each of us has our favorites and the ones we don’t like. Both are important and tasting everyone allows you to feel their fullness, variety and finding your favorites. Sometimes it happens, especially when we are in a rush, that we swallow food and do not even know what it tasted like. Today try to taste what you eat, drink. Note that when you eat a mixture of ingredients (e.g. a salad), one of the unlikely taste ingredients can sometimes even increase the flavor of the whole dish, and sometimes make you unable to eat it, and sometimes you just need to add salt to be able to eat it, eat this dish. And it is probably the same in our lives …Think about what it means to you that you are the salt of the earth. What flavor are you giving your life? What flavor are you giving others? How do you care for your taste? What shapes your taste? How does your relationship with Jesus affect your taste?

2.     You are the light a lamp… it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.

Jesus says about us again: we are the light of the world and we are to shine for others. The lamp illuminates the darkness, allows you to see what cannot be seen in the dark, illuminates the path you are walking, enables you to be on the right path, and allows you to avoid getting lost. However, it does not seem to be able to blind you. The light you give is to be adapted to the person using it. It should help on the way, in life. You also need light that illuminates your path, that illuminates your interior, allows you to see darker spaces inside you, find what is hidden, invisible. It may not be pleasant sometimes, it may even be painful, but only what is visible and conscious gives us understanding of ourselves, our behavior and, if necessary, it can be changed by us.What kind of light do you shine for others? What is the light you give to your loved ones in their life and your everyday life? What is the light for you?Maybe today you will let Jesus illuminate your interior and see darker recesses?

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)