Photo was taken at Drishane, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)

This is Clara mountain, which overlooks Millstreet. It looks so picturesque and beautiful, covered in snow and taken by Geraldine Dennehy

Thought on Saturday – February – 11/02/2017

Thought For The Week

Jesus said to the disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by people.” ~Matthew 5:13


Salt is a remarkable thing and is all around us. Salt is a natural mineral made up of white cube-shaped crystals composed of two elements, sodium and chlorine. It is colourless, odourless and has a distinctive and characteristic taste. It can be found underground and on the earth’s surface in the dried up residues of ancient seas. But our biggest source of salt is in our seas and oceans. With an average of 26 million tonnes per cubic kilometre, sea water offers a seemingly inexhaustible supply which if extracted, would cover the world’s total land mass to a depth of 35 metres. It is well known that small amounts of salt are essential for our health. Adults need less than 1 gram per day and children need even less. But as a nation we eat approximately 8.1g of salt per day, far more than we need.


If we roll the clock back to the time of Jesus, we know that salt was at the centre of daily life. Galilee had a big fishing industry and we know that lots of fish were exported to many parts of the Roman Empire. To keep them fresh they were covered in salt and with lots of salt of available this was an easy thing to do. So when Jesus used the image of salt, it would have been a relevant image to the people who were listening to Jesus.


Jesus calls us to be ‘salt of the earth’. What salt does for food, we are called to do for the world, to give life ‘taste’. We do this by doing our best, finding the right balance in what needs to be done and when to step back and rest. If too much salt is sprinkled it can be harmful and deadly. Likewise with life, if there are extremes of anything then it becomes counter productive. Our faith is an essential part of life. It adds something unique and essential to our everyday lives. Too little faith and we will be short and too much faith could be simply too much. Jesus encourages us to be ‘salt of the earth’. We bring flavour to life through all the good things we do each day. If life becomes tasteless, it can be a difficult challenge to bring its taste back again. Getting the balance in what we bring to each day is so important and is something we can never take for granted.


(Next update of Thought For The Week will be Monday Feb 13th)