“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Christ gives this name to the apostles above all others, because preaching the Gospel was committed to them and to the pastors of the Church. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor a lighted candle concealed; they must live as if all eyes were upon them, for the more eminent a man is, the greater injury his bad example does.
AI summary
The apostles are salt of the earth because they carry the doctrine of the Gospel, penetrating, cleansing, preserving, to all the world. Though few and weak, this salt diffuses its savor far and wide, working insensibly and irresistibly as leaven, reaching the heart where force of arms could never reach.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 5:13-16
What the sun and moon are to corporal light, the apostles are to spiritual light in the world, spreading the Gospel through lands wrapped in darkness of ignorance and error. Christ applies to them what the Jews claimed for their Sanhedrim and learned doctors, but far more truly belongs to His apostles.
AI summary