2026/02/08 SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
- Lori Howard, Coordinator of Sacramental Prep
In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks words that are both comforting and challenging: “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” He does not limit these words to moments when life is easy or faith feels strong. He speaks them into the whole of our lives—including times of loss and grief.
Salt is something small, yet it preserves what would otherwise fade. In our everyday lives, we are called to be salt through quiet faithfulness: showing kindness, choosing honesty, offering patience. After losing someone we love, salt takes on a deeper meaning. We preserve their memory not only by remembering them, but by carrying forward the love, values, and goodness they placed into our lives. In this way, love is not buried—it continues to season the world through us.
Jesus also calls us light, but grief can make us feel as though our light has been dimmed. In seasons of loss, being light does not mean being cheerful or having all the answers. Sometimes the light is simply refusing to give up on love, continuing to trust God even when the way forward is unclear. Our vulnerability, our tears, and our longing can become a quiet witness that love is real and that it endures.
Jesus reminds us that light is not meant to be hidden. Yet when we grieve, we often want to withdraw. Still, God meets us there—sometimes by shining His light through us for others, and sometimes by shining it toward us through the compassion, presence, and patience of those who walk alongside us.
Everything Jesus says here points beyond ourselves. When faith persists in ordinary life, and when love endures even in loss, God is glorified. Others come to see that sorrow does not have the final word—love does.
So today, we simply ask for the grace to live as Jesus calls us to live—to hold onto what is good, and to let love keep showing through us, even when life feels heavy. May we trust that God is still at work in both the ordinary moments and the painful ones, and that no act of love, no memory, and no life given in love is ever lost.