Twice in the first reading from Acts chapter 4 St. Luke refers to the apostles speaking boldly.
We should be careful not to confuse bold and brash. St. Luke is very careful in his choice of words. He borrows a word that would have been known from Greek philosophy.
The boldness of which St. Luke writes has three characteristics:
1) it is dedicated to speaking the truth. The truth for Christians is grounded always in Jesus who is The Truth.
2) it is spoken for the common good, not for the benefit of the speaker.
3) it is spoken at some risk. The speaker places himself in danger to speak the truth for the benefit of others.
To be truly bold in this sense requires that we Christians examine carefully our motives. Many Christian preachers, Catholic and other, have claimed to be speaking boldly when all they were really doing was playing to their base, as it is called in politics. Their so-called boldness was never directed against their major donors.
As Christians our starting point is always one of love. We never speak for the shock value, to wound or offend. On the other hand we must be willing to risk losing position, power, privilege, or even our closest relationships if necessary to be true to the gospel. (The chance that as 21st century Americans we will risk our lives is slim.)
Our starting point, and perhaps the most difficult challenge, is letting the gospel speak boldly to us. What are those possessions and pleasure that each of us needs to sacrifice to live a more authentically Christian life.
