Be peculiar

A strange local television host used to wear a button that said, "Be peculiar."

Peculiar this onscreen character certainly was (may he rest in peace), but his peculiarity was built around puns and bad movies, leaving this persona little more than an oddity doomed to obscurity.

In today's Gospel (Matthew 5:13-16), our Lord calls us to be peculiar, but it is not the humdrum peculiarity of eccentricity or of bizarreness for its own sake, rather it is the bold peculiarity of fidelity to truth in the midst of a world that has turned against both faith and truth.

Ultimately, everything in this world is temporary.

Lasting happiness and truly endless love comes only from God, not from this passing world.

And so, we must be different. Otherwise we are just sand.

Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted?
it is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out,
and to be trodden under foot of men.

We must stand out. Otherwise we slip into the Darkness.

Ye are the light of the world.

A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle,
and put it under a bushel,
but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We must stand out.

We must be different.

We must be peculiar.

We must be Christ's.