The
weight of the call to holiness that Christ and his Church make to each and
every Christian is very, very heavy. It is the weight of glory. There are too
many, though, who stare in the face of evil, and tremble in fear or falter
under the false humility of despair. The reality of evil for Christians poses a
great responsibility, a free choice of life or death. The alternative to evil,
though, poses the possibility of the greatest heights of love, beyond any human
capability. The call to be saints is a call to trust and to hope.
In
the fourteenth chapter of St. Matthew’s gospel, we read the story of Jesus
walking on water. At first sight, the disciples were afraid, because they
believed Jesus to be a ghost on the sea. Jesus’ response, though, was, “It is
I; do not be afraid.” Peter replied, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to
you on the water.” And so Jesus called Peter out on the water, “Come.” Miraculously,
Peter could walk on water, too. Just one problem: Peter started to notice the wind,
the storm, and to look to himself. He began to sink. Suddenly, Peter called out
to Jesus, “Save me!” The Lord grabbed a hold of him and pulled him back up,
while saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (14:22-33)
We
should not read this story and think to ourselves, “If only I could muster up
enough faith, then I could be perfect or like the saints.” No, this story is to
remind us of our great need for Christ. Like Peter, we really have nothing in
and of ourselves to perform the impossible. We are often tempted to look at
ourselves and see our brokenness, our frailty or our faults. Yet, instead of
looking to ourselves, or the storm around us, we should look “to Jesus, the
pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame” (Hebrews 12:2 NRSVCE). We
must, like Peter, keep our trust in Jesus, and not in ourselves. “Jesus, I
trust in you,” should be our constant prayer, as St. Faustina taught us.
The
Church and her Scriptures teach us plainly that obedience to Christ, to love
God and to love our neighbor, are not only our duty, but also our way of remaining
friends with Jesus, to enter into everlasting life (Matt. 19:17; John 3:36). So,
Jesus could say all of the following:
“Do not be astonished at this; for
the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and
will come out – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and
those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29
NRSVCE). “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I
have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10 NRSVCE).
“You are my friends if you do what I command you”
(John 15:14 NRSVCE).
Jesus is calling us to a life of
love, a life of complete joy. He wants what is best for us, and is calling us
to our greatest possibilities.
Jesus,
despite his high calling for us, does not want us to be afraid. He does not
want us to live in fear of “breaking commandments” and “going to hell.” A lot
of Christians grew up hearing things like this: “If you don’t obey your parents
… If you don’t go to church … if you aren’t a good boy, you’ll go to hell.”
Well, we know these to be sayings to try to scare children into being good.
These sayings, though, are very lopsided. They only tell part of and a very
skewed version of truth. On the other side of these commands is a loving God,
who wants to give us all good things, now and for eternity. He does not want us to be afraid. “It
is I; be not afraid.” With his grace, all things are made possible: “for
God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of
love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7 NRSVCE).
In the
story of Peter walking out to Jesus on water, there is one other thing we must realize.
That is, Jesus calls us to hope. Before Peter even began to walk out on water,
he asked Jesus to command him to come. In his request there was hope that he
could be like Christ. Just as Jesus commanded Peter, “Come,” he calls us, too,
to a greater hope by following him. He calls us to a hope of glory, desiring us
to become like him, restored to fullness in him. So, St. Paul wrote, “I pray
that … you may come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart
enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are
the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the
immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe …” (Eph. 1:17-19
NRSVCE). Having a hope that one day we will be fully like him, St. John reiterated
the call: “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure”
(1 John 3:3 NRSVCE).
Because
God’s idea of perfection is love, this means several things for our journey. First,
we should protect ourselves against scrupulosity, being overly concerned about
minor faults, things that may not even be sinful. The Church has always taught
us that no one can live without daily faults, which are an effect of our broken
nature. We also must remember what St. John wrote, “All wrongdoing is sin, but
there is a sin that is not mortal” (1 John 5:17 NRSVCE). What we mean by being “holy”
or “saintly” is to not completely turn away from love, to not kill charity
within our souls. Being scrupulous about every imperfection will probably drive
a person out of their mind. As for our daily faults, we must leave them in the
hands of Christ, who takes away the sin of the world, while striving to become
like him. We must seek the blamelessness of the saints throughout history and
throughout the Scriptures, meaning that we fulfill the law of love towards God
and our neighbor (Rom. 13:10).
There
will be a spiritual battle, no doubt. We do not mean to say that the Christian
life is not difficult in any way. The Catechism teaches us that “the way
of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without
renunciation and spiritual battle” (CCC, 2015). But if God, who did not spare
his own Son in order to justify us, who has given us the Most Holy Sacrament of
the Eucharist for nourishment on our journey, who has given us the sacrament of
reconciliation for healing and peace, for strengthening and for forgiveness
along the way, and especially who has given the outpouring of his Spirit into
our hearts upon our Confirmations … if He is for us, who or what can be against
us? We must hope, then, in Christ and trust him who is Love itself. For he has
great plans for us.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to
make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to
the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty,
power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen” (Jude 24-25
NRSVCE).
