August 2nd, 2026: Walking on the Sea: Fr. Damian Kuolt

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Since today we commemorate

the Holy Apostle, protomartyr, and Archdeacon

Stephen, actually the translation of his relics,

I wanted to mention him because he was martyred

for preaching the gospel and fearlessly standing

up to the Sanhedrin when they brought him before

them to judge him. He boldly proclaimed the gospel

with his life unto death and life eternal. But

unlike Peter, who was yet young in the truth,

Stephen had received the grace of Pentecost.

And by the indwelling spirit, he literally ignores

the nature of this world to proclaim the truth.

And he walks into a storm, much like the apostles

found themselves in a storm on that lake in the

gospel. He walked into the same storm that we

face. We face it one way or another, and that

is that it's a world in denial. And he was boldly

able to stand before them with no fear, no doubt,

full of the Holy Spirit and testify to the reality

of the kingdom of God and to the literal desecration

of the temple and the people of God that they

were living as the rulers and judges and priests

of the time. While the Lord bid Peter come to

let him grow in the faith, when he stepped out

on the water, he asked, can I do this? The Lord

said, come. It let him grow in faith. But Stephen,

fearlessly and faithfully, had one foot in the

kingdom of heaven. The other one was on a stormy

sea or dirty tile. It didn't make any difference

because he had a foot firmly in the kingdom of

heaven that was open to him. As we hear in Acts

Acts 7:55

7, verse 55, who being full of the Holy Spirit

gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and

Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said,

look. I see the heavens opened and the Son of

Man standing at the right hand of God. Peter

was bid come, the Lord reaching to him. For Stephen,

the kingdom of God was opened and he saw his

Lord. Stephen's called the converser with angels.

He was at home with the heavenly realm. and becomes

the protomartyr of the church. What a wonderful

way to go from this life to the next. But we

have a gospel that helps us along the way. Before

I read it, I was inspired by the words of St.

Nikolai Vilomirovich. In the introduction to

his interpretation of this passage of scripture

this Sunday, St. Nicholas says, what do you think,

you who are followers of Christ and are baptized

in his name, what do you think? Do you not feel

every day that you are following the greatest

victor since the beginning of the world and of

time? that you are all baptized in the name of

him who knows and can do all things, who adorns

all creatures with his beauty, caresses them

with his mercy, and vivifies them with his life.

If you don't feel this, it will be of little

help to follow him. I'll say that again. If you

don't feel this, it will be of little help to

follow him and call yourself by his name, Christian.

Only through the Lord Jesus can you, without

doubt and the least hesitation, believe in the

utterly victorious power of the living God over

every creature, every element, and of all evil

in the world. Only the Lord can give you the

courage to live and to pass through death. And

only he can arouse in you a love for all that

is good. For he is God's incarnate victory over

the world. Saint Nikolai goes on to say, Be,

he quotes Christ, be of good cheer, I have overcome

the world. From John 6, 33. Said Christ to his

disciples, and he says it through them to each

of us. Everyone here. Be of good cheer. I have

overcome the world. And he ends the selection.

Let us therefore approach the interpreting of

today's gospel with no shadow of doubt. For it

describes the tremendous victory of Christ. And

with those words of encouragement, I want to

take us into today's lesson. But remember this

admonition of St. Nikolai every time you hear

scripture or read it at home. Today is a continuation

of last Sunday. We find ourselves in Matthew

14, beginning at verse 23, right after he had

fed the 5 ,000. It's just a continuation. There's

really no break. And what happens next in this

continuation will catch the apostles astonished,

amazed. Their eyes were on him. As an instrument

of the almighty. They were transfixed on his

teaching. Everything he taught in his new gospel.

And the way that he was amongst the people. Especially

the healing. And the care and compassion. Even

the words. Your sins are forgiven me. They had

never heard a gospel like this. Never seen these

kind of miracles. But they were not prepared.

for the miracle they had just come from, the

feeding of the 5 ,000 when they had made no provision

for this crowd. And he took the most common thing

that they would see and touch every day and from

it feed the 5 ,000. I speculate it might have

been 10 or 20 ,000 because there were 5 ,000

men plus women and children. And in those days,

that didn't mean one kid followed their parents.

It could have been a whole passel of them, a

whole gaggle of little kids there too. So whether

5 ,000 or 10 or 20, this miraculous feeding from

these few loaves was mind -blowing, astonishing.

They weren't prepared for that. And especially

they weren't prepared for what was happening

next. So let me read this part again. A couple

pieces of it anyway. And when he had sent the

multitudes away, he went up into the mountain

apart to pray. And when the evening was come,

he was there all alone. The last one ended with

this, but it's repeated. Even though it sounds

pretty straightforward, what is he doing? He's

sending the apostles away. He's sending the people

away. He's climbing a mountain. He's up there

alone, and he's praying in the darkness of night.

A reunion, so to speak, with the Father because

of the triumph of what had just happened in the

feeding of the 5 ,000 and what was about to happen

in his actions that night. But there's more to

it than just saying he did this, this, this,

and this, and then we go to the lake. You see,

it has a deeper meaning. It is a meaning for

us and for how we must view how we pray. There's

the sending away, the people and the apostles.

We separate ourselves from the cares of this

world. We have to send them away, all the cares

of the world, things that bind us, things that

worry us, things that give us anxiety. We send

it away. And we go up to the mountain too. For

us, it's lifting up our hearts and minds to be

closer to God. And then we remain in solitude

during prayer to eliminate the distraction of

the light of this world so that we can have the

true light given to us. Send away. Go up to God,

remain in solitude, and stand in darkness is

what Jesus did. And in some way, even with a

simple instruction like going into your closet

to pray, all those things happen. All those ingredients

are there. So a reunion after one event and before

what happens next. But the ship was now in the

midst of the sea, tossed with waves. For the

wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of

the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the

sea. They were tossed about by wind and waves.

And it was dark. And then comes Jesus, walking.

How would they see him? Have you ever been out

where it's pitch black, no moon, no stars, no

lights? If you're walking in the woods, you're

going like this so you don't just go head first

into a tree. How do they see him coming walking

on the waves? Interesting question. There's no

reflected moon or stars. There's not harbor lights

to outline his silhouette. Now, it was something

not of this world they were experiencing. He

appears. And they, because this appearance was

so not normal in those conditions, they feared

a spirit or a ghost. But it wasn't. It was Jesus

Christ. What they're seeing may be a little taste

of the light of Tabor. That light that radiated

from the Lord himself. So they could see this

walking silhouette. And then there's a sequence

of events. A sequence that has a lesson for us.

The fear of the storm, the darkness, the unknown,

even the spirits. Christ dispels it all when

he gets close. He says, be of good cheer, it

is I. Do not be afraid. They couldn't even recognize

him until he said this because this illumination

was not only not expected, but it was not what

they normally saw. Think of that. In our storms

of life, we need to turn to him and remember

this consolation. Remember, he's always there

waiting to say to you, be of good cheer, it is

I. no matter what you worry about, no matter

what has you down or hurting. Peter lets his

love and faith lead him, but he carries a combination

of joy and doubt. He says, Lord, excited as can

be when he is told who it is. But his doubt is

there too when he says, if it be thee, he loves

and asks to come to him. To come to thee is how

he says it. So Jesus bids him to come. Peter,

then with love and faith, comes down and walks

on the water. Not because it was cool to walk

around. He didn't go, ooh. holding me up. This

is cool. He tests it a little bit to make sure

it's all okay. Nothing like that. No. All he

cared about was the Lord had said come, and with

all of his heart, all of his soul, there was

nothing that could keep him from the Lord, including

having the audacity to just step out and go.

But Peter in doubt, he lets the winds shake his

faith, kind of like the winds shake our faith.

We can be inspired about something. We can attend

our best friend's baptism and be all excited

for them and everything. And then we go home

and we let the winds of life toss us around a

little bit. Then we find ourselves later kind

of down or distracted. Or worried again about

that thing that we finally put out of our mind

for a whole day. Whatever those things are. But

he does do the one thing important as he sings.

He says, Lord, save me. And that's what the Lord

and the fathers and the whole church teaches

us to do. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

Lord, save me. God, have mercy on me. So our

Lord stretched out his hand and he catches him

with all the love and compassion that only he

who loves all mankind can give. And he conveys

this, what sounds like an admonition, but it's

done with every bit of kindness and love that

can be mustered. Oh, you of little faith, why

did you doubt? Just as we as parents, Or we as

children of elderly parents or to best friends,

we have a twinge of compassion when we see that

someone is in need. And Jesus pinpointed it.

It was doubt. It was a little faith. And this

passage ends with them. recognizing that everything

that happened means only one thing. This is their

Lord God and Savior. And for the first time,

we hear the apostles gathering together to affirm

the faith and the truth of who Jesus Christ is,

just like us here today. It doesn't matter what

had you sinking yesterday or last night or last

week. It doesn't matter how much you doubted.

Come, always come, to reach out to one another

in love and compassion, holding one another up

in the light of Christ. To pile on a bit about

the words of St. Nikolai, I want to repeat something.

Let us therefore approach the interpreting of

today's gospel with no shadow of doubt that it

is meant for us to apply to ourselves. This isn't

just some phenomenal story of something that

happened that the Lord Almighty could do. It's

meant to apply every bit to our own lives and

to our life together, especially as we are in

this boat in a storm -tossed sea of the world

to comfort one another and to claim Him, recognize

Him. and invite him into our life. We see in

Peter what we need to find in ourselves. A heart

that yearns for him. Because if you allow it,

if you seek it, if you cultivate it, he will

cry to you, come. Glory to Jesus Christ.