1. PRAYER

A Prayer to Be Salt and Light (Inspired by Matthew 5:13–16)

Heavenly Father,
You have called us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Help us to live in a way that preserves truth, adds grace, and brings out the beauty of Your goodness in a world that hungers for hope.

Let our lives shine with the light of Christ, not for our own glory, but so others may see Your love in us and glorify You in heaven.
Keep us from hiding our faith or dimming our light.
Give us courage to be visible in kindness, bold in justice, and humble in service.

May our words bring healing.
May our actions bring peace.
May our presence reflect Your presence,
so that in all we do, Your name is honored.

In Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.

2. MEDITATION 

https://youtu.be/fuXtI2Elcwo?si=zlRk8kDlHVpn6S4o

3. SONG

v8hwit5TtZQ?si=2VD-84X_BF_NciBe

4. NARRATIVE

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/dissolving-into-love/

Dissolving into Love

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

CAC core faculty member Carmen Acevedo Butcher speaks of how we can become agents of transformation and healing by giving of ourselves like salt and light:

We human beings are forgetful. We need reminders of important things, including the gospel that feeds the soul and illuminates the divine loving self within. Mindful of the world’s beauty and violence, let’s steep for a moment in these encouraging and inspiring words:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has become insipid, how will it be made salt again? It’s no longer good for anything then, except being thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill can’t be hidden and people don’t hide an oil lamp under a two-gallon basket. They put it on a lampstand where it gives light for everybody in the house. Give light for other people. Live so they see your compassionate acts and praise your divine Father (Matthew 5:13–16).

We all need the nourishment of the gospel’s good news so that a dire news overload of despotism, division, and moral outrage doesn’t glut and dictate our inner lives and our outer kind actions. In our screen-heavy days, it’s so easy to forget how potent salt and light are. So let’s remember together.

Salt ultimately comes from the ocean by the action of light. So, in this Gospel, Jesus is saying poetically, you all are, in essence, the ocean, one made by and of love. May we remember our shared, stable, divine center and that, when by deep listening, we honor the sacred worth of our own and of another’s life, our empathy dissolves into transformative compassion. Salt has power to disinfect wounds. May we remember that accepting ourselves and each other—both—as imperfect and “unshakably good,” as Father Greg Boyle reminds, is strong medicine that creates a community of cherished belonging. Small kind acts are never small. Salt can also melt snow and ice from roads and walkways, making clear passage. May we remember our kind divine parent, and may this awareness melt the iciness of perfectionism, the illusion of separation and anxiety, steadying our steps together.

Obviously salt and light look different on the surface, but they both fulfill their powerful natures by giving away or losing themselves. “You are salt and light” is a counter-cultural revolutionary statement, rich with psychological and embodied, empowering wisdom. May we remember that like the wise self-emptying of kenosis, being salt and light reminds us that no matter how broken or broken-hearted by the world’s suffering, we are love and are most ourselves when giving ourselves away, embracing grief’s salty tears.

May we remember we are God’s children. As Howard Thurman writes: “[Whoever] knows this is able to transcend the vicissitudes of life, however terrifying and look out on the world with quiet eyes.” [1]

May you and I see the world and everyone in it with quiet eyes and may we act in the world with kind hearts, being salt and light. Amen.

References:
[1] Howard Thurman, Deep River; and The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death (Friends United Press, 1975), 12.

Adapted from Carmen Acevedo Butcher, 2025 Daily Meditations Theme: Being Salt and Light, Center for Action and Contemplation, video, 11:41.

Image credit and inspiration: Zach Lucero, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Like this flame ignites another, contemplative action spreads quietly yet powerfully, igniting hearts to brighten the world with love.

5. MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/7RWDKXQgU6Q?si=7Y-ghL8KfuV6_s1f

6. SHARING

7. INTENTIONS AND PRAYER

Lord, thank You for making me salt and light in this world, reflecting Your love and grace with every step I take. May I bring a fresh taste where there is sorrow and shine amid darkness, guiding others to You. Allow Your light to be seen by those who do not yet know Your goodness.

Help me to hear Your voice and follow Your ways with courage and humility. I am chosen and set apart, a child called to share the unconditional love I receive from You, my Father. May this identity in Christ grow stronger within me each day, that I may be a living example of Your faithfulness, mercy, and grace.

8. SONG

https://youtu.be/8aDf9Ug8gIs?si=1WJgTtCeV5RA6Omk