SALT PLUS WHAT?

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This Sunday's gospel reading is from the Sermon on the Mount, and begins, "You are the salt of the earth." Homilists like to concentrate on the central importance of salt in our lives, even today. And in Jesus' time it was even more essential, being used for preserving food in an age before refrigeration, was used for various medical purposes, and so forth. 

I found myself reflecting on this passage at my morning meditation, but I was concentrating on the next idea: If the salt loses is savor, with what can it be salted? It is of no use any more. Some commentators are bothered by the fact that salt, sodium chloride, can't really stop being salt. So they explain the image by saying that salt from the Dead Sea was extremely impure, and so over time the sodium would leach out and the salty flavor would be lost. 

Salt and sand

I want to suggest slightly different image. Pure salt can lose its flavor, not by becoming less than salt,
but rather by being adulterated with other substances. That's the way to make salt lose its saltiness: Just "cut" it with impurities. The more foreign matter you throw into the mixture, the less salty it becomes. 

Now, apply that to Jesus' image. We are each of us pure salt to start with; but then the influences of the wider culture (e.g. consumerism, hedonism and egoism) and the pressures of daily existence, can begin to adulterate the pure salt of who God made us. If we don't keep our guard up, these influences can make us less and less the people that God intends us to be -- our salt loses its savor.

Looking for some more insights into this passage, I went to the original Greek and found an interesting verb. It describes the salt as "losing its savor." That's a single word in Greek, a verb based on the root"mor-," meaning "foolish" (think "moron"). When a statement loses its meaning and stops making sense, that's moros. So, by extension, if salt loses its taste, that's moros too. 

St. Josephine Bakhita

The lesson is obvious: I cannot let impurities and foreign substances begin to adulterate the "salt" of my baptismal commitment. Laziness, selfishness, anger, dozens of little sins, can all adulterate the salt of who I am called to be. If I'm foolish (I won't use the biblical word "moron") I'll let this go on until my salt begins to lose its saltiness, and my baptismal identity is lost.

The saints are wonderful examples of keeping oneself free from the adulterations of the world that tend to make us less than we truly are. Today, Feb. 8, the Church commemorates an extraordinary saint, Josephine Bakhita. If you don't know the story of Josephine, you should read it. It can help each of us stay focussed on being the salt of the earth.