You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. What great images we have in our Gospel today from Jesus - well known images. We are bring light to our world, especially those areas that are in darkness or shadow. We are to be the salt of the earth, a certain flavor that we can give society as disciples of Christ.
Today, marks the date that Jesuit priest Gerald Manley passed away - June 8, 1889. He was only 44 years old when he died of typhoid in Dublin, Ireland. He was born in Stratford, England to a prosperous Anglican family. He excelled in his studies at Oxford university and seem destined for a distinguished career in academia. However, as a young adult, he converted to Catholicism and then decided to become a priest. He suffered greatly during his adult life with mental health issues; it is speculated that he possibly would be diagnosed with bipolar disorder with what we know today. As a priest, he became a professor of Latin and Greek at University College in Dublin. He wrote poems off and on during the last part of his life. Though his poems were not published during his lifetime, his poems are now very widely acclaimed. He is considered to be one of the most original poets of the Victorian era and along with T S Elliot, is considered to have been an influential precursor to the modernist movement in literature and poetry. The poet laureate of California wrote this in the introduction to a book of his poetry: “If modern Christian poetry has a saint, it is Gerard Manley Hopkins.” Here is a poetic quote of his on time: “Time has three dimensions and one positive pitch and direction. It is therefore not so much like any river or any sea as like the Sea of Galilee, which has the Jordan running through it and giving a current to a whole.” We unite our prayers with the prayers of Gerald Manley Hopkins today.
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