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The Salt of The Earth; By Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac © Copyright 2010 2ih01sx




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Our Lady For Life » Christocentric Reflections » Christocentric Reflections » The Salt of The Earth; By Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac © Copyright 2010

The Salt of The Earth; By Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac © Copyright 2010

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Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

© Copyright 2010: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.

The Salt of the Earth - 1 -




" You are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
It is no longer good for anything,
except to be thrown out and trampled by men."


Matthew 5:13

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

© Copyright 2010: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.

The Salt of The Earth - 2 -

No doubt it is a parable said by the Lord to let us know ourselves, and what we must be. This parable leads to two important things: a truth and a calling.

We, Christians, are the salt of the earth. It is a steady truth that we cannot change it, even if we deny it. No matter if we accept it or not, it is true that we are the salt of this earth.

On the other side, Jesus is calling us to be good salt. It's our life job. Once we know we are the salt of the earth we must work on ourselves to be a good one, and then, we will be known as Jesus' disciples.

Like good salt He wants us to be for all things on this earth, to be useful to all, and (so important) to be accepted by all, exactly like salt in our meals. But why salt? What does it mean to be good salt? Why did Jesus point to salt to let us know what we must be?

Just a simple reflection ….

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

© Copyright 2010: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.


The Salt of The Earth - 3 -

Good salt makes our meal more edible and delightful. When preparing it, using good salt, one can be sure of a good acceptance of the meal by the guests. Jesus wants us to be like the salt. He wants us to be delightful in our midst, and to reach the welcoming acceptance by our society. Good salt means that others who meet us feel comfortable by our presence, and accept us as honest and not malignant people.

For that, two conditions must be fulfilled in our inner selves:

-Equality towards others
-Complete dissolution between others.

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

© Copyright 2010: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.

The Salt of The Earth - 4 -

Equality towards others

Salt must be spread equally everywhere on our meals. Otherwise, we will have a part of the meal more salty then the other part. In this case, the meal will be inedible because some of it is so much salty, so distasteful, and some other is less or not salty, so almost disgusting. What is recommended, so, is to spread the salt equally on all parts of the meal.

In our midst, like salt, we must be at equal distance from others; equal distance of love to others, of work with them, in helping them, even an equal  distance in praying for them. That means we have to be equitable with others. We don't have to be closer to some and far from others, or love, help a person more than the other.
Like good salt in our midst Jesus want us to be.

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

© Copyright 2010: Our Lady For Life Christo-centric Reflections: Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac. All rights reserved.

The Salt of The Earth - 5 -

Complete dissolution between others.

I think it is the most important condition for us to be a good salt, and it is the most difficult to be satisfied.
Let us look at the salt on the meal. When we spread it equally it disappears after seconds and we would not be able to see it anymore. It dissolves completely. But, we could know, after tasting the meal, that the salt exists. Like that good salt, dissolved in our meal, we must be in our society.

That means: we don't have to seek fame when helping others and being good salt. We don't have to love or help others with that motive. Let us have the last place, the place Jesus loved the most. Even though, our society will know that we are here.

All saints were like dissolved salt in the meal and, the meal knew that they were present in its inner. It's an important condition to be satisfied in our journey to holiness, and, at the same time it's the most difficult because of our human nature. Let us be franck with, at least, ourselves: we all seek for the first place. We all love to be in the first place. And, we all know that Jesus loved the last place the most.

We have to be a good salt just because we love Jesus and we trust him. He, who sees everything, will reward us.

Just a reflection …
Think about it.

6The Salt of The Earth; By Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac © Copyright 2010 Empty Diverse Symbolism of Salt Sat Oct 02, 2010 5:43 pm

NeedIm


Guest

Salt has always been a preservative as well. It is also used to purify. In the Old Testament , salt had a very unique role in the sacrifices offered to God. The Levites were the priests who offered the sacrifices.

In Leviticus 2:13, through Moses, the Lord said [DRV]:

“Whatsoever sacrifice thou offerest, thou shalt season it with salt, neither shalt thou take away the salt of the covenant of thy God from thy sacrifice. In all thy oblations thou shalt offer salt.”

The DRV adds a footnote:  "Salt"... In every sacrifice salt was to be used, which is an emblem of wisdom and discretion, without which none of our performances are agreeable to God.

So salt was used to purify, to preserve; it was an emblem of wisdom and discretion, and further signified the “covenant of thy God”.

Saint John Chrysostom notes :  
 “... Did the disciples restore what had already turned rotten? Not at all. Salt cannot help what is already corrupted. That is not what they did. But what had first been renewed and freed from corruption and then turned over to them, they salted and preserved in the newness the Lord had bestowed. It took the power of Christ to free men from the corruption caused by sin; it was the task of the apostles through strenuous labor to keep that corruption from returning.”

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac

Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac
Admin

By Dr. Tarek E. Chidiac (c.) 2010

Thank you NeedIm for this great information.

All  I wanted to say, is that, when Jesus said we are the salt of the earth He gave us a job. Our job is to be good salt. That means to be good within our society, and, by consequently, towards God. So my reflection attempts to meditate on how we can be good salt, as I explained it.

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