"Lord, save me!"
The fact that, of all the passengers in the boat, Peter is the one who dares to call back and ask for a command to walk towards the Lord over the waters, reveals the disposition of his heart at the time of the Passion. He alone at that time, following behind the Lord and heedless of the world's tumult – like that of the sea - accompanied him with the same bravery in despite of death. However, his lack of confidence reveals the weakness under temptation that awaited him since, in spite of daring to move forward, he sank. Weakness of the flesh and fear of death forced him to go as far as the disaster of denial. Nevertheless, he cried out and begged the Lord to save him. That cry is the groaning plea of his repentance. (...) Yet there is one thing to bear in mind about Peter: he preceded all the others in faith. For while they were still in ignorance, he was the first to acknowledge: “You are the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). He was the first to reject the Passion, thinking it to be a disaster (Mt 16:22), the first to swear he would die and never deny his Lord (Mt 26:35), the first to refuse to have his feet washed (Jn 13:8), and he was also the one who drew his sword against those who seized the Lord (Jn 18:10). The calm experienced by wind and sea when the Lord got into the boat represents the peace and tranquillity of the eternal Church that will follow the Lord's glorious return when he will come revealing himself. Genuine astonishment will cause them all to say: “Truly, you are the Son of God”. Then everyone will make clear and public confession that the Son of God has restored peace to the Church, not in the lowliness of the flesh but in the glory of heaven.