“Be yourself.” “Just do it.” “If it feels good, do it.” “I get to do whatever I want to do.” These slogans apparently encourage and inspire us to be who we are. They seem liberating and sound good. But this consoling advice can also be a trap and can lead us into selfishness.

Becoming ourselves means a process of searching and becoming who we are as God wants us to be. Thus, the first thing to do is to know our truest self as the beloved sons and daughters of God. The Beatitudes that we heard in the Gospel last Sunday reveal to us this truth: that we are loved and blessed by God. We need to claim this blessedness in the midst of our noisy world, allowing the Spirit of God to find a home in our hearts. You and I are built to be at one with this presence. Becoming myself means becoming what I was built to be: a home for the Spirit of Jesus, for God.

In the Gospel today, Jesus didn’t say, you are like the light of the world or like the salt of the earth. He says, you are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Be what you are. If you are salt, then don’t lose your flavor. If you are a lamp, then don’t put a basket over yourself so that no one can see your light. Give savor. Give light.

The question is: in what ways does our life fulfill its purpose as light and salt? The first reading gives us a hint. It says to share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked, and not turn away from your own. This is how you let your light shine in the darkness. This is how Jesus enlightened the world. He even went to death for it. Isn’t this the meaning of “becoming yourself”?

As Christians, we are called to let our faith shine. Our light is not meant to be put under a basket. Our faith is not a treasure or wealth to be kept for personal satisfaction. It is not enough to attend Sunday Mass and fail to let our faith impact the lives of people in society. The call to be light becomes even more relevant today because of the injustices brought about by economic and political systems that promote the well-being of some while leaving the majority to live in poverty and suffering.

Have my faith and my life shone? This question calls us to reach out from our places of retreat where we feel comfortable, while others struggle for social justice. “Inwardness has detached us from the oppression that surrounds us… Our aim is perfectly worthy: to be serene and good. The danger is that such an aim has so often become reductionistic. The religious community that sees itself as ministering predominantly to the ‘spiritual needs’ of its people often becomes a kind of religious therapeutic center concentrated in upon itself.”

The Gospel of this week challenges us to be prophets whose mission is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Prophets are “people who speak out when others remain silent. They criticize their own society, their own country, or their own religious institutions.” “If you are really praying, you can’t help but have critical questions about the great problems the world is grappling with, and you can’t get rid of the idea that a conversion is not only necessary for yourself and your neighbor, but for the entire human community.”

Let your light shine by becoming what you are, as God wants you to be.