In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother St. Joseph, my Father and Lord,

my guardian angel, and to seepul.

Early in Jesus' public life,

he speaks in an air of mystery.

And with the gospel, there's many, many layers of personal interpretation

and many, many layers of theological interpretation.

Jesus begins to define the church,

and he says, you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste,

how shall its saltness be restored? So on one hand, he equates the church as salt. What does salt do, but it converts? I hope I'll never be put on a

bland diet. Why? Because a bland diet by its very nature is a tasteless food or it's not as tasty as it would be if it were salted.

A plate of pasta with tomato sauce and no salt is a lame plate of pasta or anything.

And it's kind of a great analogy because Jesus also says that that salt could lose its taste.

And we're not going to turn this into a theology class,

but the church is a sacrament, a sign, an effective sign.

It's not just a symbol, but it's a symbol that affects its symbolism.

For example, water is a symbol or a sign of washing, and it actually does

spiritually wash and does actually spiritually purify. The church is a sign of unity. It's a sign of

life. It's a sign of conversion. It's a sign of salvation. And it actually does that.

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