Almost 81 years ago, a 61 year old man walked some 241 miles in ten days. He was joined along the way by thousands of others and when they reached the shore of the sea, seeking world publicity as a "battle of right against might" he picked up a tiny lump of natural sea salt and changed the world. This simple man, not wanting to intentionally harm anything that lives, much less other human beings - not even those who may do him and his companions the greatest wrong - preached non-violence in his struggle for freedom. The initial symbol he chose for the struggle was salt. Salt! We may easily take salt, cheaply available in shakers everywhere around us, for granted and miss its significance. And so we may well miss the message in the Gospel today when Jesus calls us as his disciples to be the salt of the earth.

The Gospel is efficacious without any of our embellishments. To be salt for the world we only need be ourselves to the best of our ability, we need only love as we are loved. If we desire our lives to be full we must have and be salt; we must season the world. We must share our bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless and clothe the naked when we see them. By acting thus our lives are seasoned and enriched by these people and by God. Like Mahatma Gandhi, may we recognize the significance of salt and with God's grace may God season our communities through us.