You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? - Matthew 5:13

How many times have we asked ourselves, "What is my purpose in life?" or "Why am I even alive?" Or think to ourselves, "I'm useless, worthless. I don't deserve anything good in this world." These may come out as emo or something but let's admit it, we've thought about it once or twice in our lives especially when we're going through stuff that are almost unbearable for us.

But I think it's wrong to doubt our existence just because things aren't going our way or feel useless because certain people took us for granted.  I bet you've heard this line a million times before that everything happens for a reason. It's being repeated because it's the truth. It wouldn't be a cliche if it wasn't true.

Haven't you thought about that maybe our purpose is to be in this community? To serve God through this community, to praise Him together and to be the light and salt of the earth?

Maybe we thought about it but we just forget. We forget because we are too preoccupied of the earthly things that eat up our time and attention. We forget because we worry about the things that we shouldn't worry about. We just worry and think too much about these things which will only create more problems than we should have.

If only we go back and remember that time when we joined the youth encounter or the YLSS, if we only remember how we encountered God, how He touched our lives. Through that encounter with God we now have the responsibility to share Him to others. How? Again. To be the light and salt of the earth.

We are to give taste to the blandness of our world today. We are to make it bright as we shine our light to others that are in the darkness. God is so easily lost and drowned by how busy and fast pacing our world is today. But we must take time to keep His fire burning and we must be constantly be on fire for God. We must put Him above the untamed ocean which is this world is becoming.

But what if the salt loses its saltiness?

It is said in the gospel, "It has become useless. It can only be thrown away and people will trample on it."

There was a time that I didn't feel like praying. When I prayed, I just said it without actually meaning it. I prayed by only talking to God but not listening to Him. I almost felt nothing whenever I went to mass with my family. God was one of the last things I've thought about. I don't really remember how I came up to that point. And I don't know why I let that happen.

But then I've started praying, this time actually meaning it. Slowly, I'm feeling God's presence in my life again. I don't think I'm back totally yet. But I'd get there. I realized that it takes constant work to maintain my saltiness. It doesn't mean that God is always there that we'donly take Him for granted. We need to acknowledge God's presence in our lives to keep Him within us.

Sometimes, I forget to be a salt and a light to others. I've forgotten my purpose because I've let things that happened in my life bring me down. But the amazing thing was, every time I was about to fully give up, every time I was about to let go, God would let something happen that would somehow lift me up.

He lifts me up every single time.

Lets us not let ourselves become useless. Let us not let ourselves be thrown away and be trampled on. To bring back the saltiness of salt, it has to remember what it is in the first place. All we need is a reminder from time to time why God let things happen to us, good or bad.

Because how can you give light to others if you don't have light within you? How can you be the salt of the earth if you have lost your saltiness? And how can you be strong enough to stand and lead others to God if you weren't trained by the battles you've been through?

May we not forget that God has tasked us as His disciples that we are to be the salt and the light of the earth and that that light must shine before others, and praise our Father in heaven.

- Kat Alvarado