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“You are the salt of the earth…..:”   -Matthew 5:13

We were playing cards one evening during our block time, when we’re allowed out of our cells to watch a 20″ TV for 45 Minutes.    The TV is so old that its plastic shell is the fake wood grain pattern.   How long has it been since you saw one of those?   Regardless of the day,   there’s usually a TV movie running on FX, something we’ve already seen 50 times,  like Transformers.   Sometimes FX changes things up and shows an X-Men movie 12 nights in a row.  But it amazes me how the inmates sit and stare at the TV, desperate for a glimpse of anything that is not prison.

I choose to play cards, and my card-playing repertoire has grown significantly:  hearts,  spades,  palace,  rummy, 5000, euchre,  pinochle.  We play for fun, while some guys bet snacks as their games.   We also talk while we play cards, sharing news about our families,  prison gossip,  and news we have heard on our little AM/FM radios.  Nobody cares who wins the card game, as long as the conversation is good.  People who are too serious about their cards are encouraged to go find another table to sit at.

So we were playing cards, and I announced that I had been classified that day.   Classification is a number they assign you to indicate the risk you are to staff, other inmates, and the possibility of escape.   The highest is a 5; the lowest a 2.   I was assigned a level 2, which means I can follow rules and remain relatively calm, cool and collected.   Classification is the next step to being sent along to another prison where I will reside for possibly my entire sentence.

One of the guys I play cards with,  D—, said that I wasn’t allowed to leave yet.  I had to stay here as long as he did because, he said,  I brightened things up.  “Seriously,” he said, “I enjoy your company,  not in a gay way or anything.   You’re just cool to have around.”  The other guys at the table agreed, and one said he would talk to the block counselor to keep me here longer.

Being in prison means walking that fine line of being yourself and playing it safe.  I cannot be the person I am on the outside, at least not completely.  For example, a friend sent in a program for a musical that she had gone to see -“South Pacific.”  And as soon as I saw the program, the music started in my head for “Nothing Like a Dame.”  On the outside I probably would have been singing  “There is nothing you can name that is anything like a dame.”  But in here there’s not a whole lot of show tune singing.  Rapping on your gate is routine, but no Rogers and Hammerstein.

But enough of me gets through my prison persona that I’m able to be an agent for good in these black days.   This weekend I was listening to early Sunday morning NPR radio, and there was an interview with a philosopher talking about love as an intentional positive interaction with another human being.  And with enough of these positive interactions you can impact another’s health, well-being, and mood.  Equally, negative interactions have a negative impact on the other person.

It just so happened that Sunday’s Gospel lesson was the Matthew passage on being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  It ends with Jesus saying, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  Being salt and light means reaching out to a bland, dark world with good works, with love, with intentional positive interactions.  And when you live as salt and light, people notice the impact you have on their lives,  which can be expressed as simply as “You’re cool to have around.”

Another dimension of being salt comes from St. John Chrysostom’s “Sermons on Matthew.”    He says: “What is the purpose of salt?  To restore what is rotten?  No, salt does not help what is already rotten.   But to what has already been restored, the disciple of Jesus is to add salt and to preserve it in its restored life.   It is the power of Christ that frees from the corruption, the rotteness of sin;  the disciple’s zeal and good works help it not to revert to its former state.”

In other words, we are called to be salt and light to encourage others in their Christian journey,   We don’t save people.   Christ saves people.  We just help others to be refreshed, renewed, bolstered in their faith.   Our attitude, our joy,  our patient endurance in suffering,  and our good works keep those around us moving forward as they become more of what God wants them to be.   And then our brothers and sisters in Christ encourage us when we are in danger of falling back.

So today think about getting a little salty – not in a bad way — but by looking for those opportunities  for positive interactions with those around you.  A smile, a kind word, some encouragement, sharing with someone in need–these are all ways that you can be salt for those around you.   A little salt goes a long way!!!