My dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ, a week ago I had the opportunity to meet two young women who expressed an opinion that is not uncommon: “why bring another life, an innocent life, into this ugly world?”
How was I, Catholic, and priest, supposed to respond? My immediate response was that their opinion demonstrated a lack of hope, perhaps because these young women lacked faith. Unsurprisingly, these two young women agreed with me, they did not believe.
I request your prayers for these young women, and the many millions of youth across the world like them, who live without faith and consequently without hope. Tossed around the stormy sea of life, without the anchor of faith, they will have no opportunity but to submit to the cynicism and hedonism that marks the contemporary world. We are flush with funds - and dare I say opinions! – but lacking in meaning!
It is, providentially, precisely this situation that the Gospel today speaks to us about :
… the boat, already a few miles
offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them walking on the sea.
My dear brothers and sisters, the boat can be interpreted variously as us individuals, or all of us as members of our Holy Mother Church; the barque of Peter. Tossed about and threatened by the stormy sea of life, it is precisely when things seem darkest – the fourth watch of the night – that Our Lord comes walking to us, and he says to us:
“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
There is no doubt that our world is facing a particularly dark time. The response of the young women I met is not a bizarre, but a perfectly comprehensible, response. However, it is not a response founded on Christian faith. It is also a response that is based on a fear of commitment. Getting married, birthing and raising a child, saying yes to the priesthood and religious life; these are grave commitments, and, as Pope Benedict XVI observed “each of us was created to make, not provisional and reversible choices, but definitive and irrevocable choices which give full meaning to existence.” But we live in a time marked by the fear of commitment.
At a purely natural level, it is when we make these commitments that we are more committed to changing the status quo and enhancing the common good. On the supernatural plane, we must remember that when we are sinking into the waters and call out to Our Lord, He will stretch out His hand to save us. For remember the words of the Gospel according to John (3: 16):
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The words are God so loved the world. He loves the world in its entirety, the people, the animals, plants, fish, rocks and stones. All of which he has created so that it speaks of His love. The boat, that is the world, may be buffeted by the waves born of diabolical action, but as He has also promised us “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). And remember, as has often been pointed out to us, this statement is not about hell attacking us, but the Church attacking hell itself. We are intended to be the offenders! And we will prevail, because when Our Lord is with us, when things are at their bitterest, the winds will calm down.
The lectionary for the past two weeks has given us the opportunity to reflect on the moral virtues: prudence, and temperance. Today, we are offered the privilege to think about the theological virtues: faith, hope and love. These virtues enable us to participate in the divine life of the Most Holy Trinity (CCC 1813). Faith and hope we have spoken about, but in the words of the apostle Paul, the greatest of these is love (1 Cor 13: 13).
God has already demonstrated that He loves us (1 John 4: 19), and he has planted the desire for Him in our hearts. It is now for us to demonstrate our love for Him. And there is no better way that doing so, that going to His Son. Like St. Peter, we too must cry out:
“Lord, save me!”
But this will only happen if we make a practice of going to Him regularly. Like one goes to one’s lover, to one’s best friend. Meet Him in the daily reading of the lectionary, in long visits to the Blessed Sacrament, through an encounter with the sacrament of confession, and finally, the Eucharist – His testament of love.
And so, my dear brothers and sisters, I make my own, the words of Pope St. John Paul II, who at the start of his papacy encouraged us: “Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power…. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ.”
Without loving Him there is no faith in Christ, and without faith, there is no hope, and so I urge you, brothers and sisters when faced with doubts, when you hesitate to commit, repeat these great words of St. Paul to the Philippians (4:13):
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end; Amen!
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the parish church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Caranzalem on 9 August 9, 2026.)
(Image reference: Allegory with the three theological virtues faith, hope and love, Okänd Konstnär, 18th/19th century, via Auctionet.com.)
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