1.
One of the most delicious, inexpensive and popular dishes of Madeira Island is a dish called «carne de vinha dà-lhos» that means «meat of wine and garlic». Usually it is consumed in sandwiches and it is most popular during Christmas Season. When I was a child, this was the only
time of the year when the people of the countryside would have the privilege of eating meat. Most of the people were poor and they had no money to buy meat.
Therefore, they would raise a pig during the year to be killed one week before Christmas. The meat was prepared and sometimes it would last for the entire year. The funny part is that this was at a time when nobody had refrigerators or freezers but the meat was very well preserved and would last as long as they needed.
For me, who lived this kind of life along with my neighbours, this is not a surprise. That’s why it is not a surprise that Jesus had called his disciples «You are the salt of the earth». The Madeiran people from the countryside, when they heard Jesus calling them «salt of the earth» they understood the meaning very well. They knew that the delicious meat that had been prepared by them would never be deteriorated because it had been completely mixed and penetrated with salt, which was the most efficient and only preservative that could guarantee a «fresh» piece of meat at any time of the year with no refrigerators or freezers.Jesus calls us «salt of the earth and light of the world». These are the two words that summarize today’s Gospel (Math. 5: 13-16).
2.
Years ago, there was a movement in the Catholic Church called «Catholic Action»: It was a Catholic movement that «shook» the youth of the entire world, especially Europe. Cardinal Cardijn, a Belgian priest,was its founder. One day somebody asked him:
«Cardinal, the Catholic Action is fishing with a hook or with a net? ».
The Cardinal answered:
«Catholic Action is not fishing with a hook or with a net. The Catholic Action is simply to change the water where the fish swim».
This is the role of all baptized. This is being salt of the earth and light of the world. This is getting involved with the world and its problems, its sufferings and being a passionate follower of Jesus to help Him to change the water where the fish swim. «It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me»; (Gal. 2: 20).
Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade