Being the light of Christ

Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 08 February 2026
Isaiah 58:7-10 ><}}}}*> 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ><}}}}*> Matthew 5:13-16

We continue today Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount that started last Sunday when he called “Blessed” are the poor in spirt, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers, those persecuted and insulted falsely.

These blessed ones are not different kinds of persons but every disciple of Jesus Christ who is the truly Blessed One who is poor and meek, hungry and thirsty, merciful and clean of heart. Blessedness is an inner disposition, a being than doing.

And so this Sunday, Jesus reminds his disciples that include us today, of our dignity and responsibility in being blessed, as if telling us, “Blessed are you… You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”

We whom Jesus called “blessed” already possess the kingdom but in a hidden manner; that is why we as his disciples must make it shine upon the world in our lives, in our witnessing especially in this age that has turned away from God and holiness.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth… 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” (Matthew 5:13, 14-16).

Last February two we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple that is also known as Candlemass or Candelaria where Simeon recognized the Child Jesus as the “light of the nations”.

It is one of the beautiful feasts we have with the blessing and lighting of candles outside the church; then, led by the priest, the people enter the church with lighted candles to signify Jesus Christ as our only light and fulfillment in this life.

Jesus asserts that this Sunday. The Bible itself teems with so many references of God being the source of light with Israel as bearer of that light. This explains our first reading today from the Prophet Isaiah:

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusations and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday” (Isaiah 58:8-10).

So beautiful! And what a prophecy fulfilled in Christ that continues to happen today among us, his blessed ones as disciples!

To be a Christian especially nowadays is to be the bearer of the light of Christ, to illumine the darkness among us especially in this world that has become so fascinated with artificial lights like studio lights that emphasize and focus on men and women, on their fame and glory and wealth. How ironic that the more artificial lights we flood the world these days, the darker life becomes with more crimes, more abuses, and more emptiness and meaninglessness within us.

Bringing the light of Christ, sharing his light is being holy, being good, being a blessed one, doing what is right, what is true, what is good as Isaiah reminded the people in the first reading.

Bringing the light of Christ, sharing his light is sharing Jesus to the world that we become the God’s answer to the cries and pleas of his people for mercy and justice, for healing and comfort.

Hence, bringing the light of Christ, sharing his light is actually to bring out Jesus within us who had come to us sacramentally in Baptism and continues to come to us in the Sacraments especially the Holy Eucharist we celebrate on Sundays.

Problem is we keep on hiding Jesus within us. This is why he calls us not to hide him like a lamp placed under a bushel basket but let him be like a lampstand that illumines the house.

We are the light of Jesus Christ who shines before others with our good deeds that make God known to others. Not the other way around. Young people call them as “performative” like performative couple, performative student or performative employee. They are all performance, all for the show or the content. Puro palabas, walang paloob kaya walang laman. These are the very ones that Jesus warned to “take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them” (Mt. 6:1) which we shall hear soon in Lent.

How sad that many people today have become “performative” – pakitang-tao as we say in Filipino who would go to great extent of publicizing everything they say and do like many of the so-called content creators and vloggers. This is most painfully true in the Church of priests and laypeople posting in social media everything they do or “perform” that are always empty of meaning and any sense at all.

Bringing the light of Christ, sharing his light always leads to God’s glory, not to us humans.

Let us keep in our hearts the words of St. Paul today in our second reading:

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).

Being the light of Christ in the world is to bring Jesus Christ himself, not ourselves. It is being one in Jesus in his Cross where there is more of inner fulfillment and joy than mere success and happiness.

Being the light of Christ in the world is more than having all those quotable quotes and lofty proses and poetry nor of those grand plans and visions and programs left on paper but never materialized in reality.

Bringing the light of Christ in the world is being wounded and scarred by the Cross, always fading from the light so that only Jesus remains.

Like John the Baptist his Precursor, may his words be our prayer always: “Jesus must increase and I must decrease. Amen. Have an enlightening and illumining week ahead brothers and sisters in Christ!