There echoes throughout all the elements of our Mass today a theme of audacity or boldness. Consider the collect which we prayed at the beginning to prepare ourselves for this particular day: Almighty ever-living God, whom ... we dare to call our Father. Another example which we hear quite regularly comes from the introduction to the Our Father: At the Savior’s command, and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say. The readings for this Sunday also echo with the examples of holy and unholy audacity as a regular part of our spiritual life. Let us dare to open the Scriptures and see where Christ is leading us.
In the Gospel story of the Lord walking on water, one sees an example of audacity in the actions of Saint Peter. The disciples, upon seeing Christ walking towards them on the water, believe it is a ghost or a vision. But our Lord calms their fear and assures them that it is really Him. When Saint Peter beholds all this, he makes a very bold request. He cries out to Christ: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Why does Peter dare to ask for this? We must remember that it was Peter who was privileged with the divine insight into who Christ really is: God the Son become incarnate. Perhaps he is desiring to be certain that it is truly his divine Master who stands amidst the thrashing waves.
Notice also what specifically Peter requests. The great ancient commentators see in this question the audacity which emerges from true humility. Peter is always next to Christ, ever serving Him, ever listening to Him. Peter asks to be with Christ as he is wont to do on land so as to be at his natural position. We should take from this how often we should boldly ask God to be with us in our endeavors. If we can truly claim to call God our Father, then why would we ever be afraid to ask Him for our needs? Do we feel that our needs are inadequate in talking with God? Do we feel that we have no right to ask for anything because we are already blessed? Or do we feel embarrassed petitioning God in prayer?
Brothers and sisters, we should never feel inadequate or embarrassed before God. We should certainly feel humble, realizing our weakness in comparison to the almighty God, realizing our littleness compared to the ever-living God, but that should only makes us more audacious in making our needs and desires known to God. God wants to help us be what He has created us to be: the adopted children of the heavenly Father, the new heirs to the magnificent inheritance promised from the very beginning of time. Christ elsewhere encourages us to be bold in asking God for our needs when He tells us: “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened.” (Mt 7:7) No matter the time, no matter the situation, no matter the feeling, we should never be afraid to pray and ask God for all that we need, both natural and supernatural gifts, so as to nearer to Christ and nearer to God.
Yet there is also a caution within this Gospel story about the limits of audacity. Note that Peter, emboldened by the command of Christ, gets out of the boat and walks towards Christ for a while. The great tossing of waves does not frighten him, but when he sees the strength of the wind, Peter begins to sink. How often do we seem daring to do great things or believing ourselves capable of doing great things yet do we seem far less daring to take up the task of doing the little duties. Holy audacity must not exist only for the great events of our life, but for every little moment also. That is what the saints practiced: not being holy in one moment, but exhibiting in every moment possible the boldness to live their lives completely focused on Christ or on removing as much as possible whatever distracts them from Christ. It is the same with us.
Most of us are not called to be great and famous nor are we called to do great things, but all of us are called to sanctify our lives by entrusting ourselves to the grace of Christ, the help of Christ, and by living Christ-centered lives which echo in all of our actions. Peter exhibits this trait when he cries out to Christ to save him. Even in his moment of weakness, Peter is emboldened to appeal to Christ to help him. And Christ does so, certainly rebuking Peter for his lack of firm faith, but also showing us that we cannot rely on ourselves alone to succeed. It is Christ who dares us to be holy, and it is in Christ that we must continue to find that holy audacity.
The Church herself also offers us a witness of this audacity throughout history. Founded by Christ, maintained by Christ, she continually marches out into the world and proclaims for all the truths of salvation. Undeterred by threats or compulsion, the Church continues the mission that Christ gave her: to go out and make disciples of all the nations. The continual presence of the Church shows us what it means to be audacious without becoming arrogant.
In fact, there is a special class of saints who are held up for us as the ultimate examples of audacity: the martyrs past and present. All the martyrs were given a choice: reject Christ, reject all His teachings and His authority, or face torture, imprisonment, exile, even death. The martyrs, hanging on to the truth, remained bold in proclaiming that they would rather die than reject their Savior. That is why the Church holds them up as some of the greatest saints of history. That is why, whenever we pray the Roman Canon, we hear the Church enumerate so many holy martyrs, including the Apostles and the virgin martyrs who died for love of Christ.
And even today, we should be strengthened by the example of the Christians suffering in Iraq and the Middle East. The Muslim oppressors even today threaten these Christians to either convert to Islam or pay the consequences. Many of these people are fleeing their homes and even dying in the streets because they refuse to reject Christ, they refuse to reject their identity as a Christian, they refuse to reject their salvation. Certainly, we must pray for them and seek to help them as best as we can, but we should also be inspired by their witness so as to be courageous in the face of all the challenges that await us here at home. And make no mistake, we are being challenged similarly to the Christians half a world away with the world trying to force us to admit evil is good and to reject Christ as the only Savior of the world.
Let us then pray that we may have the boldness to live Christ-centered lives, lives which radiate the holy audacity of the saints in entrusting their every need to God and His loving kindness. Let us dare to cry out to our heavenly Father to show us His mercy and to grant us our salvation. Let us be like Saint Peter and cry out to Christ to command us to follow after Him no matter the cost and to strength us to do so. Let us pray most fervently for all this, so that we may dare to merit, through God’s mercy and grace, the heavenly inheritance which awaits those bold enough to ask for it.
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