Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Isaiah 58:7-10; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

"Then you will call, and the Lord will answer ... He will say: Here am I." (Isaiah 58:9)
God’s Word invites us to ‘call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved’ (Acts 2:21). To each and every one of us, the call of God comes. He's calling us to come to Him. This is the call of our loving, heavenly Father. It's the call of our Saviour. It's the call of the Spirit. Before we say, "Here am I" (Isaiah 6:8), God says, "Here am I." Before we call on the Lord, He calls out to us. This is the God of love, the God of grace, the God of mercy. He comes to give us His "peace" - "Peace, peace to those far and near" (Isaiah 57:19). He comes to give us His "joy" - "you will find joy in the Lord" (Isaiah 58:14). We rejoice in Jesus Christ. He is "the High and Exalted One." He has come from His "high and holy place." He has become "Emmanuel" , "God with us." He is our peace and joy, our Saviour,  "our Lord and our God" (Isaiah 57:15; Matthew 1:21, 23; John 20:28).

Our faith is ‘not based on human wisdom but on God’s power’ (1 Corinthians 2:5).
Paul didn't preach the Gospel, "in plausible words of wisdom." He preached the Gospel "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). He preached "Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Jesus Christ is the message of our salvation. We look at the Cross of Christ, and we say, "All the glory belongs to God." We have no right to steal away any of the glory for ourselves. As we turn our eyes upon Christ crucified, we remember, also, that He is the risen and living Lord. In Him, we have full salvation - the forgiveness of our sins, new life in the Holy Spirit and the glorious hope of sharing in God's eternal Kingdom. Let us "rejoice and be glad" in Him (Psalm 118:24).

Holiness is to be seen. Happiness is to be shared. We are not to be secret disciples. 
It will not be easy to live the life of Christ’s disciples. In a world of much corruption, we are to be ‘the salt of the earth’ (Matthew 5:13). In a world of much darkness we are to be ‘the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:14). If we are to bring the refreshing light of Christ into our world, we ourselves must receive spiritual refreshment, as we let the light of God’s Word shine on our lives. Reading God’s Word can never be a purely personal thing. Being "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" - this is what Jesus says we are - , we read Scripture with a view to learning how we are to live in the world.  Don’t lose your saltiness. Be salty enough to create a thirst for God in other people. Don’t let your light grow dim. Let it shine brightly. Remember - all the glory belongs to God (Matthew 5:16; Psalm 115:1).