From the Pastor
Fr. Mike Comer shares his thoughts on Scripture, spirituality and the challenges of living the Gospel.
you are the light of the world
Feb. 8, 2026
In the 8th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world.” But in this week’s Gospel, from the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Him proclaim to the motley crew of disciples, “You are the light of the world.” This is immediately after He has told His listeners, “You are the salt of the earth.” These are very strange words to say to such a gathering.
When we think of Church, we usually envision a group of well-groomed people in a beautiful building. That is not what we would have seen on that mountainside. Jesus’ followers tended to be made up of former tax collectors, prostitutes, those who have been healed of leprosy, blindness, deafness, lameness, and other infirmities. They would have been what the Pharisees and Scribes and Roman officials would have considered the dregs of society. They would have been those who do not count in the eyes of those who truly matter, as the world sees things.
When we think of Church, we usually envision a group of well-groomed people in a beautiful building. That is not what we would have seen on that mountainside. Jesus’ followers tended to be made up of former tax collectors, prostitutes, those who have been healed of leprosy, blindness, deafness, lameness, and other infirmities. They would have been what the Pharisees and Scribes and Roman officials would have considered the dregs of society. They would have been those who do not count in the eyes of those who truly matter, as the world sees things.
And yet Jesus says that they do matter to God, and they do matter to the world, even though the world does not know it. These are the poor in spirit whom we heard about last week, who will inherit the Kingdom of God. Pope John Paul II taught that God has made a preferential option for the poor. Psalm 34 tells us that “God hears the cry of the poor.” And now He tells us that the poor are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “God must love the poor. He made so many of them.”
In the poor we see the face of Jesus Christ Himself. We are offered the opportunity to serve Him in them. What a blessing, what an honor that we are given. As we look into the eyes of the poor, however they present themselves, we encounter Jesus Himself. The poor remind us that we are all poor, no matter our material possessions, if we do not know Christ. The greatest poverty that we can know is to be without God in our lives.
—Fr. Mike Comer
In the poor we see the face of Jesus Christ Himself. We are offered the opportunity to serve Him in them. What a blessing, what an honor that we are given. As we look into the eyes of the poor, however they present themselves, we encounter Jesus Himself. The poor remind us that we are all poor, no matter our material possessions, if we do not know Christ. The greatest poverty that we can know is to be without God in our lives.
—Fr. Mike Comer
