Jesus is forming his disciples; he is not just merely flattering them with titles of “salt” and “light”. The Church underscores this by giving us the fruits of this salt and light in the practice of the Corporal Works of Mercy in the first reading. A solid connection between the theology of fasting and stealing from the poor could be considered further. St. James’ attributes are the three sea shells (coquille: scallops) which he carried on pilgrimage, because when he begged for his food, the amount to fill the shell was all that he would accept. Pilgrims used this as model for fasting on their long prayer journeys to a holy site.
OT5 A Lectionary Catechesis
