Have you been to the mountaintop? And can anyone tell?

Last week in scripture study, our priest pointed out that whenever Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom, Matthew has him on a mountain or on the plains at the bottom of a mountain. Part of this is Matthew pointing out to his Jewish audience that Moses prefigured Jesus. However, part of it is a greater symbolic message to all of us. God is on the mountain (where Moses met Him). Jesus descends to meet us and we must ascend to meet Him. Now whether Jesus has to come all the way to the plains to help us along ... well, what goes to the confessional, stays in the confessional, right?

I was thinking about this when I read the commentary this morning on today's Mass readings where Jesus says we are the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13). Then, disturbingly, he goes on to talk about salt that has lost its savor. I will let the commentary take it from there:

The first Christians were true salt of the earth, and they preserved people and institutions -- the whole of society -- from corruption. What can it be that has happened in so many nations? Why is it that Christians should now be giving the sad impression that they are unable to slow down and halt that wave of corruption that is bursting in on the family, no schools and on institutions ...? The Faith is still the same. And Christ lives among us now just as He did previously. His power is still infinite -- divine. Only the lukewarmness of so many thousands, indeed millions, of Christians, explains how we can offer to the world the spectacle of a Christianity that allows all kinds of heresies and stupidities to be propounded within itself. Lukewarmness destroys the strength and endurance of the Faith, and is the soulmate, in both a personal and a collective way, of compromise and of a spirit of comfort-seeking. (P. Rodriguez, Faith and Life of faith) It is difficult to explain many of the things that happen nowadays at a personal and at a public level, if we do not bear in mind that so many people should be awake, watchful and attentive have allowed their Faith to fall asleep; love has been snuffed out in so very many hearts. In many spheres, the "normal Christian" now generally means someone who is lukewarm and mediocre. Among the first Christians the "normal Christian" meant one who lived the heroism of each day, and when the occasion presented itself, accepted martyrdom itself: it could and did mean very often the surrender of one's very life in defense of the Faith. ...

Let us fervently ask God for the strength to react. We will be the true salt of the earth if we keep up our daily conversation with God and if we go with ever-greater faith and love to receive the Holy Eucharist. Love was, and is, the moving force in the life of the saints. It is the whole raison d'etre [reason for being] of every life dedicated to God. Love gives us wings with which to soar over any personal barriers to our advance, or any obstacles presented to us by our surroundings. Love makes us unyielding when confronted by setbacks. Lukewarmness gives up at the slightest difficulty (a letter we should write, a telephone call we should make, a visit, a conversation, the lack of some material means ...). It makes mountains out of molehills. Love for God, on the other hand, makes a molehill out of a mountain; it transforms the soul, gives it new lights and opens up new horizons for it; it makes the soul capable of achieving its highest desires and gives it capacities it had never as much as dreamed of possessing. Love does not make a fuss about the effort involved, and fills the soul with happiness as it surveys the results of its efforts.

In Conversation with God
Daily Meditations Volume Three: Ordinary Time: Weeks 1-12
by Francis Fernandez

Are we really living our faith? Offering a witness that flows from real love and relationship with God? Jesus did it through personal witness. The first Christians followed his example. They couldn't even vote but they showed their true love with their unflinching actions in daily life. They changed the world.

I pray that I, that we, all may be doing the same.