Thursday of Week 7 in Ordinary Time
Jas 5:1-6
Mk 9:41-50
“Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again?”
I must admit that I’ve read and heard from the Gospel about salt losing it’s saltiness so many times and yet, I didn’t really know how salt can lose it’s saltiness. Well, I didn’t bother to find out until now, when I Googled:
Salt might lose its flavor under certain conditions when it contains chemical impurities. Other possible reasons might be: Salt might have absorbed humidity and eventually evaporated and left behind a substance that looked like salt but did not taste like it… salt cannot lose its flavor unless exposed to certain conditions or contains additives. (koyuncusalt.com).
Apparently, salt could lose its saltiness if exposed to conditions, or if it’s not pure. What does this mean in my Christian life?
I think before we proceed with the reflection of losing saltiness, maybe we should take a step back and reflect on what our ‘saltiness’ is. Salt is primarily used to add flavor, and to preserve food.
When we talk about flavors in food, I usually think that they are similar to the colors in a painting. It makes food more exciting, it makes it different. It also enhances the flavors of the other food ingredient: it helps the food juices ooze out so we can taste them more readily. I think as salt, we are supposed to add character to God’s creation. We also help each other become better versions of ourselves.
Salt also preserves by killing microbes. In a sense, I think this is where we are called to fight against evil.
I think we start to lose saltiness if we start being unable to do the above. If salt loses saltiness if exposed to certain conditions, maybe we will lose our saltiness if we expose ourselves to certain conditions as well. I recall that in one of the versions of the Act of Contrition, we say that we will ‘flee from occasions of sin.’ If we keep ourselves exposed to these occasions of sin, we will eventually sin. And when we sin, it is easier for us to become away from God. If we are away from God, it is likely that we won’t be able to bring out the best in ourselves and others, losing our saltiness.
If we are also not 100% for God, we could start losing our saltiness. After all, we draw our quality of life from God’s living waters. And with God, it’s either you’re with Him or against Him. And if we’re not with Him, how can we fight evil? We can never fight evil with evil because it’s only good that triumphs.
To be honest, I think that we can only maintain our saltiness with God’s help. If we look around, occasions of sin are in abundance. And evil seems so prevalent, that all of us will be tempted to fight evil with evil. I hope we can find it in our hearts to sincerely implore God to help us keep our saltiness.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Stephanie Villa)
Prayer: Dear Lord, please help maintain my saltiness. I know that occasions for me to lose my saltiness abound and it’s only with your help that I can be preserved.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for giving us a daily reminder of what it means to be a Catholic as never a day passes by that we don’t encounter salt.
OXYGEN 
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