Strengthen Your Brothers and Sisters
The Chair of Saint Peter
“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16: 19
PEOPLE “CHAIR” MEETINGS. College professors are promoted to “Chair of the Department.” A wealthy person might (in England, at least) “endow a chair” in some field of study he or she wants to perpetuate. It’s all about teaching, and learning – for which one sits down in a chair.
This feast celebrates the teaching authority of the Holy Father and the other bishops – the Church – given by Jesus himself, who astonished his contemporaries by “teaching with authority.” In a society in which “anything goes” – in which the values often seem to be convenience, personal desires, and what “everybody is doing” – it is easy to lose track of what is “right”. In matters of faith and morals, the successor of Peter speaks with the very voice of God. The Church continually calls us back to real values, to clear thinking to truth.
Do I have the humility to be instructed? Do I examine my values? Do I dare to be better than my society – and even challenge it? Do I support those who do? Do I sit before that awesome chair?
Accept with favor, O Lord, we pray, the prayers and offerings of your Church, that with Saint Peter as her shepherd, she may come to an eternal inheritance, for it is through his teaching that she holds the faith in its integrity. Through Christ or Lord. Amen. (Prayer over the Offerings of the Mass.)
Sister Paula Gero, CPPS
Sisters of Precious Blood
Dayton, Ohio