The Chair of St. Peter the Apostle
1 Peter 5:1-4  +  Matthew 16:13-19

“Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ….”

The older a person gets, one of the things that’s harder to think about is the fact that more and more people turn to you.  Just by virtue of being “old”, you become the presumed expert on all sorts of topics.  You’re supposed to have wisdom if you’re old, and no one wants to disappoint another person when he or she turns to you for counsel and insight.

At the same time, as you grow older, there are fewer people older than you around.  As the years go on, the mentors whom you always could count on and turn to go before you in faith.  You have fewer and fewer people whom you can turn to for the sort of wise counsel that each of us needs from time to time.

In both of these regards, it’s no wonder that, as people grow older, they turn more and more to their Faith.  Through our Faith, we can be nourished, strengthened, counseled and comforted by God, who is our Loving, Wise and Compassionate Father.

Our Father’s Plan for mankind included sending us His Son.  His Son Jesus, while on this earth, planned to leave this earth, but not without laying the foundation for a Church that would lead God’s people in His Name.  This is what we hear in today’s Gospel, as a fisherman named Simon is chosen by God to lead this Church.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of Peter.  In ancient times, teachers taught students in a setting just the opposite of what we grow up with in our modern age.  We’re used to the idea of students sitting in their chairs or desks, while our teacher stands before us and speaks to us.  (This is even the case regarding a preacher who teaches his assembly.)

But in ancient times, it was the students who would stand, while the teacher would sit before them.  The teacher would speak from His chair, and over time, the teacher’s chair, whether a simple wooden chair, or an ornately decorated throne, came to symbolize the teaching authority held by the one who sat there.

This is why a “cathedral” is called a “cathedral”:  the word comes from the Latin word cathedra, which simply means chair.  The Bishop’s chair or throne, which only a bishop may sit in, is the symbol within the cathedral of his authority as bishop.  Likewise, in St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome you will find the throne of His Holiness, the Pope:  the cathedra in which only he may sit, and from which he may preach, and teach the faithful.

On this feast, we pray especially for His Holiness, the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter:  the man given us by Jesus to lead us and to guide us towards Heaven.  In this season of Lent, we ask God to help us turn away from our sins, and to be more faithful in listening to the shepherds whom God has given us.