Are you good salt? Do you let your light shine?

The following is from day nine of the USCCB's Novena for Faithful Citizenship. It is excellent for personal meditation and reflection upon one's own life.

Reading
Mt 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with
what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are
the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be
hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a
bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light
to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before
others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your
heavenly Father.”

Reflection
How am I salt for my community?
How do I shine your light for all the community to see?
What deeds am I performing in order to glorify God?

Tom's comments:

Jesus called us to be salt of the earth so that we might cause His Gospel message to be more palatable to others. But believe it or not, salt can go bad and leave a very bad taste in one's mouth or make you sick. So we are challenged to ask ourselves whether we are good salt that can be beneficial to others, or have we become bad and potentialy harmful salt to others?

In the same way, Christ asks us to use our God-given gifts for the building up of His kingdom. We are called to shine the light of our goodness on others so that they too may be reformed, conformed and transformed by our example, and by our pointing out and illuminating the path that leads to Him.

Jesus used both words and deeds to evidence the Gospel message. We are called to do the same. So we are also challenged to ask ourselves whether we are light to others, or whether we darken their path by a failure to illuminate it for them, or worse, by helping to extinguish their own light by leading them into the pitfalls of this world instead of guiding them along the path of goodness and salvation?