02/08/2026

Do you like coffee?

I do. You know, it is like a magic potion to me. I mostly drink just black coffee. (That’s why I keep my good shape ) I drink sugar-added coffee just once in a while.

How do you like your coffee? Some might have just sugar, just cream or milk, or a Caramel Macchiato, Frappuccino, etc. There are many options.

And, I found an interesting menu that came out a couple of years ago: ‘Salted Caramel.’ I don’t know if you like it, but when I first tasted it, it was peculiar, yet I liked it, cause the salt made it sweeter.

Likewise, although we cannot eat salt as it is, as it melts in food, it makes the food tastier.

I’d like to approach today’s Gospel from this perspective. Jesus says, "You are the salt of the earth.” This is an invitation for us to ponder our role in this world as Christians.

Beyond just being 'necessary,' salt implies sacrifice. For salt to do its job, it must be broken, crushed, and dissolved into the food. We, too, have been given this vocation. We are called to be poured out and sacrificed to make the world better, to restore the world to the 'goodness' God originally intended.

By the same token, being the 'light of the world' also demands sacrifice. You know, there was no electric light in the time of Jesus, so let’s think of a candle; A candle only provides light by burning itself up. It gives itself to dispel the darkness.

In this sense, today’s gospel helps us reflect on our sacrifice as Christians in the world. But in another sense, it buckles us up to keep our holiness. Jesus warns us, “If salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” He urges us not to lose our 'original properties'—our identity as Christians, which is rooted in holiness.

Today’s parable of Jesus perfectly describes our position, who are standing on the threshold between the secular world and our faith journey:

We are called to be broken and dissolved into the world without being assimilated by secularity. Our mission is to transform the world, making it 'tastier' and brighter, without losing our own essence. And We call this evangelization.

So, I’d like to leave you with two takeaways from Jesus’s words today:

1.As disciples, we must hold onto the holiness that defines our identity.

2.That holiness is not meant to be solitary or detached; it must be manifested within the world through our willingness to sacrifice.

Let us go forth, to make a “Salted Caramel Latte.”