By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted February 6, 2026

(See the readings for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Two days before Christmas in 1975, the Parsons were in their home when there was a knock on the door. Rob opened the door. A man standing there, looking homeless said to him: “Do you know who I am? I’m Ronnie Lockwood.” It was apparent that he had not shaved in a few days. He seemed to be carrying all his possessions. Then he held out a frozen chicken and gave it to Rob and his wife Dianne. They asked him to come in.

There was something about him that Rob could not pinpoint. Then he had remembered a boy from his youth named Ronnie. He first met him at Sunday school. The teacher had told the children he was “special” when she introduced him. Today he might be diagnosed with some degree of autism. The first thing Ronnie did at the school was to hold another student in a head lock and then took the teacher’s handbag. When he was 11 Ronnie disappeared. Rob later found out that he was removed from his parents and sent 200 miles away.

Rob asked Ronnie: “What’s the chicken for?” “Someone gave it to me but I can’t cook it,” was the reply. Rob and Dianne prepared a meal and the three ate together. Dinner was mostly silent except for Rob and Dianne’s questions. After dinner Ronnie watched some television while they cleaned up. They decided to give him a place to stay until after Christmas. He ended up staying 45 years until he died.

In this Sunday’s Gospel passage, from the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus uses two images for us, His disciples. He tells us that we are “salt” and “light.” Salt is used to preserve food which provides nourishment necessary for life. It is also used to enhance flavors that lie hidden, so to speak, in the food. Light enables us to see. It dispels darkness. Light is often used in a symbolic sense to express knowledge, wisdom, care, concern and good living. Jesus applies these images to those who walk in His ways.

Jesus encourages us to be like “salt” and “light” in the world. When we do so, the life that He has offered can be “tasted” and “seen.” Jesus shows us how this is done by the way He, who is the “Light of the Word,” lived and died. He teaches us in His preaching and instructs us in His teaching. Some of His teaching echoes Isaiah’s words from the first reading in much of His ministry:

“Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own” and “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday.”

St. Paul, in the passage from First Corinthians that serves as the second reading Sunday, speaks of his ministry of “proclaiming the mystery of God.” The mystery of which he speaks is the life-giving death of the Lord. Jesus empties Himself in love and is crucified.

Paul, following in the Lord’s way, takes on the life of the crucified one. In his own account, his preaching is not so much in words but in the “demonstration of Spirit and power” for he came to them “in weakness and fear and much trembling.” Paul takes on the cross by emptying himself in love. He does this “so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

Perhaps this is what lies at the heart of being “salt” and “light,” emptying ourselves in love. I ran across the story of Rob and Dianne Parsons in a newspaper article at Christmas time. I suppose the story was running because of how Ronnie knocked on their door so close to Christmas in 1975. The kindness, compassion and hospitality they showed to someone they barely knew was extraordinary.

The article spoke of some of the experiences they shared. The Parsons helped Ronnie find a job as a trash collector and they took him shopping for a new set of clothes since the ones he had were from his teenage years. They spoke of how he would empty the dishwasher every morning and put everything in its place. When they originally took Ronnie into their home, they did not yet have any children but when they came along Ronnie was there to help. They also spoke of his gambling habit and the difficulties that brought.

Rob would leave for work an hour early every morning to drop Ronnie off at his job. On a funny note, Rob was sitting one day and Ronnie was smiling a lot. He asked him if he was amused about something. Ronnie responded that the men at work asked him who it was that dropped him off every day? “So I told them, ‘It is my solicitor.’” (Ron is a lawyer.)

The Parsons’ genuine act of love for Ronnie is the way they became “salt” and “light.” Their love and compassion were so woven into their lives that they did not have to try to be “salt” and “light;” it just flowed from within.

Jesus invites us to bring that love into neighborhoods and communities. In doing so we become “salt for the earth” and “light for the world.”

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Penndel and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. Read more reflections by Msgr. Prior here.