Friends,
today’s Gospel spells out the importance of Peter’s confession. For it
is upon this inspired confession that the Church is built. Not, mind
you, on popular opinion, which is shifting and indecisive, and not on
personal holiness, which is all too rare. It is built upon the inspired
authority of Peter—and I say, “thank God!”
We
make this troubling and extraordinary claim that it is through a
special charism of the Spirit that Peter and his successors govern the
Church. Now I realize that I have many Protestant readers and that this
text has been, between Catholics and Protestants, a stumbling block. Let
me clarify what is and is not at stake here.
What
is the focus of Peter’s confession? It has to do with who Jesus is.
This is the rock upon which the Church is built. We don’t say for a
moment that all of Peter’s practical decisions are right, that
everything he says is right. But we are saying that he is right about
who Jesus is: a man who is also the Son of the living God. And this is
the source and ground of the whole operation.
Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Lectionary: 535
Beloved:
I exhort the presbyters among you,
as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ
and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.
Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
Enshrined in the beautiful Bernini reliquary in St. Peter’s Basilica in
Rome is the relic of the actual Chair of St. Peter the Apostle,
venerated because it was from that very chair that the first Pope, the
Vicar of Christ, imparted the Christian faith which was entrusted to him
by Jesus Christ, and which has been passed on for 2,000 years through
the Catholic bishops, and will continue until Christ returns. The Chair
of St. Peter is a symbol of the authority and primacy of the first
Bishop of Rome, and, through communion with the Roman Pontiff and his
successors, the unity of the Universal Church. The feast day of the
Chair of St. Peter is celebrated on February 22nd.
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