Homily – 5th Sunday – A – Fr Jeremiah Browne (National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies #southafrica #Botswana #eswatini #Swaziland)
If I asked you to look back over the past week, where could you say that your faith most influenced the choices you made? What difference does your faith make in the way you live your life? Where does your belief in God show itself when you walk out the church door on a Sunday morning?
These are uncomfortable questions, yet they sit at the heart of today’s Gospel. Jesus looks at His disciples and says, without hesitation, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13–14). He doesn’t say you should try to become salt and light one day. He says you are the salt, you are the light.
In the same way that a little salt can change the flavour of a meal, our lives, lived well, or lived badly for that matter, make a difference in the world. Maybe that is why Jesus clarifies the matter and adds, “you are the light of the world.” In other words, when you influence the world, make sure that you bring the light, that you help people find hope, that you make the world a better place, a place that reflects the mind and heart of God.
As Christians, the call of the Gospel is to engage with the world differently. Jesus doesn’t ask His disciples to escape reality or to live above it; He sends them directly into world, carrying a different way of seeing and acting. Faith is meant to shape our responses, soften our words, and sharpen our conscience. It challenges us to choose compassion over convenience, truth over popularity, generosity over self-interest.
Faith, when it is lived openly, humbly, and consistently becomes a quiet but steady sign of God’s presence at work in the world.
This is very important for our times, because, let’s face it, at times it’s very easy to focus on everything that is wrong. News cycles thrive on conflict, failure, and fear. Conversations often drift towards complaint rather than hope. How often does that happen to you?
The question the Gospel places before us is simple and demanding: what are we doing, concretely, to make the world a better place? Complaining costs nothing. Being salt and light costs something of ourselves.
Salt works quietly. It dissolves into what it touches. Light doesn’t shout. It simply shines. The Gospel is lived most convincingly not through grand speeches but through steady, faithful actions. A word of encouragement offered at the right moment. A refusal to join in gossip. Patience with someone who tests our limits. A decision to forgive when it would be easier to walk away. These are the ordinary places where salt does its work and light finds its strength.
This is echoed in the first reading from Isaiah (58:7–10) who reminds us that genuine faith always has concrete consequences. Feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, standing with the oppressed. These are not optional extras for us Christians. They are ways in which we reflect the light of the gospel in our day to day lives.
Isaiah is clear that worship without justice is empty; prayer without compassion hollow. The measure of our faith is not found only in what happens within these walls, but in how we live once we leave here.
The light Christ speaks of today is meant to spill out into our workplaces, our homes, our schools, and our community. It is revealed in how we treat the vulnerable, how we speak about those we disagree with, and how willing we are to let our comfort be disturbed for the sake of another. When faith shapes these everyday decisions, then the Gospel is no longer an idea we admire, but a life we choose to live.
Jesus trusts His disciples enough to say, “You are the salt… you are the light.” He speaks those same words to us today, not as a burden, but as a blessing.
He believes that our lives, shaped by faith, can bring flavour where life has grown bland, and light where shadows linger. That trust invites a response. It asks us to live intentionally, to notice the opportunities God places before us each day, and to respond with courage and kindness.
This week, the world will not be changed by louder arguments or sharper opinions. It will be changed when someone listens with patience, acts with integrity, or chooses compassion when no one is watching. It will be changed when faith quietly influences how we treat the people closest to us and the strangers we meet along the way. This is how the Kingdom of God grows, not dramatically, but faithfully.
So today, I want to end with a Franciscan blessing, since we are in a jubilee year marking the 800th anniversary of the death of St Francis. It is not your typical blessing, however, so be prepared, but one that somehow echoes the spirit of the gospel. It goes like this:
“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may wish for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears, to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.”
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If you would like to make a monetary donation to support the Mission of the Church you can do so on our website using the give button: https://missio-sacbc.org/donate
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Please consider praying a decade of the rosary on a daily basis for the evangelising Mission of the Church and the Pope’s intentions.
The pope’s prayer intention for February is “For children with incurable diseases.”
Let us pray that children suffering from incurable diseases and their families receive the necessary medical care and support, never losing strength and hope.
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Blessed Pauline Jaricot, Pray for us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
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Batswana Catholics Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Diocese of Francistown Diocese of Francistown Youth & Young Adults Catholic Diocese of Mthatha Catholic Diocese Of Kroonstad Missionary Childhood CATHOLIC YOUTH OF THE DIOCESE OF KLERKSDORP Catholic Youth- Diocese of Manzini,Swaziland DIOCESE OF WITBANK YOUTH MINISTRY Bethlehem Diocese Youth P.M.C Diocese of Manzini Catholic Institute of Education Catholic Diocese of Port Elizabeth #faith #hope #love #homily #catholic