This Sunday’s Gospel (Matthew 14:22-33) continues from where we left off last week. Our Lord had just fed the crowd of five thousand with five loaves and two fish, and now it is evening. The disciples, at Our Lord’s command were passing to the other side of the lake while He remained to pray. Then in the fourth watch of the night, JESUS came to them walking on water. They were terrified and thought it was a ghost! So Peter, at Our Lord’s command, stepped out of the boat and started to walk on the water towards Him. But the miracle came to a sudden halt when Peter began to notice the wind and the waves. Fear set in and he began to sink. Then Our Lord asked that searching question: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” This prompts the question: “What is faith?”

People often think that faith is a warm fuzzy feeling, an emotion, or some vague hope that everything will turn out fine. But no! Faith is something much deeper than that. The Catechism teaches us that faith is a supernatural gift by which we believe all that God has revealed, because God can neither deceive nor be deceived. So faith is not blind. It is a reasonable and loving trust in God Who is Truth itself. And this means allowing God – not popular opinion or even my personal opinion to shape the way I think and live. This is more important today than ever.

This weekend, we have a Pastoral Letter from Bishop Patrick on the Assisted Suicide Bill which is returning to the House of Commons for debate on 11^th September. As I write this on Monday, I don’t know yet what he is going to say, but as Catholics, we believe passionately in the sanctity of all human life from conception until natural death. The Fifth Commandment is: “Thou shalt not kill.” We don’t judge a civilised society by how it treats the wealthy and the strong, but on how it treats the most vulnerable and weak. The sick, the elderly, and those approaching death should never be made to feel they are a burden and need to be got rid of.

As I have often written here, our faith sometimes requires us to stand against the general public opinion. Peter had to trust Our Lord when He called him out of the boat. Similarly, we have to be prepared to stand firm when God’s Law is challenged, even if there is pressure to remain silent or to conform. Christians cannot base their morals on public opinion. We receive this from Christ and His Church. Of course, we naturally want to relieve the pain and suffering of those close to death, but the Church has always supported the best palliative care, while also recognising that it can be right to withhold treatments that are overly burdensome or out of proportion. But she has always distinguished these from intentionally causing death. There is a huge difference morally, between allowing a death to occur naturally and deliberately causing it. And let us never forget that suffering, although never good in itself, when united with the sufferings of Christ, can become a great means of grace.

As Parliament prepares to debate this once again, let us pray for our politicians, that they will have the wisdom and courage to uphold the sanctity and dignity of all human life. Let us pray also for our doctors, nurses and carers, that they may remain faithful to their vocation of healing and caring for the sick and the terminally ill. Although we live in turbulent and stormy times, JESUS Christ is still with His Church. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Him, and never be ashamed to defend the Gospel of Life.

Fr Paul Gillham, IC