HAPPY SALTY LIGHT

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mt 5:13-16

The gospel today comes from the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. It is a small part of an episode that stretches for three chapters. These three chapters are regarded as the magna carta for every Christian, a disciple of Jesus. The highlight of this sermon is the Beatitudes, revealing not only the secret to true happiness but also who among us all is truly happy.

Happiness is like salt. It purifies, preserves and gives flavor. Happiness purifies our motives. For how can anyone be happy over something evil. Happiness for sin is not happiness – it is evil in itself as well. Happiness preserves our sanity. The tremendously deprived of happiness are sick people. They are called melancholic. Life is about striving to be happy, and keeping the balance between joy and sorrow spells human growth. Happiness gives flavor to life. Without it, life becomes such a drudgery. As salt brings out the essential qualities of every ingredient in a dish, bringing about a symphony of flavor, so too does happiness enhances the essence of every human experience we have.

Happiness is like salt, but, like salt, happiness, too, can lose its taste. When happiness pollutes our mind, destroys our spirit, and robs us of our values, happiness becomes a poison; it kills. When happiness loses its taste, it is not happiness anymore. It turns into folly.

Happiness is like the light. It brightens, warms up, and shows the way. A happy person has more than a face well lit, but also a positive disposition in his life. He also has a warm personality such that people are naturally attracted to him in the right way. Because of his positive disposition in life and his innate warm personality, a happy person is always the best guide to follow. Happiness should be one requirement for a leader. An unhappy person usually lead people astray. Besides, who wants to follow “Mr. Long-Faced?”

Happiness is like the light, but like the light, happiness, too, can dim or even totally lose its brightness. When happiness clouds our ability to think well, manipulates people rather than make them grow, and mislead, a person experiences “brownout”, not happiness, in his life. That is dangerous. Such a happiness is not true happiness at all. It is danger.

From time immemorial, people are searching for happiness. Sadly, from time immemorial too, countless have fallen into the pit of false happiness. Jesus alone can give us true happiness. Just as countless have been victims of their misguided pursuit for happiness, so, too, is numerous those who have found true happiness.

Those who have Jesus for their joy grow from being mere disciples unto apostles of joy and joyful apostles.