Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, apostle

A night at Knight Arena

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.

Often throughout the year the Church celebrates our apostolic tradition. Despite two thousand years of tendentious history, the Catholic Church has survived with its leadership intact. We can rightfully claim “apostolic succession” for our pope, bishops and priests. By that we mean Jesus appointed certain leaders to carry on in his place; and those leaders appointed others who appointed others in an unbroken succession to this day. Despite the Great Western Schism when there were two and then three rival claimants to the papacy – a dispute which was settled at the Council of Constance in 1417 – the integrity of Apostolic Succession has been maintained. The Roman Catholic Church is truly the world’s oldest organization, which is no mean feat.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1087, says:  Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of sanctifying: they became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they entrusted this power to their successors. This "apostolic succession" structures the whole liturgical life of the Church and is itself sacramental, handed on by the sacrament of Holy Orders.

Today’s feast, “The Chair of Saint Peter,” celebrates the authority of the pope. Recently, in The Record, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Louisville, there was a question about receiving communion in the hand. A questioner wondered, If Pope Benedict XVI insists upon giving communion directly to every communicant on the tongue, shouldn’t the whole church conform to his way? 

The columnist responded: Pope Benedict XVI has explained that large crowds of people often attend the Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica, and not all of them are devout. Some people will receive the Eucharist on the hand, slip it in their wallet, and keep it for a souvenir of “The Pope!” That is a sacrilege almost beyond comprehension; prudence urges the authorities in that shrine to take reasonable steps to avoid such behavior. 

The author also reminded the readers the pope neither wants nor claims to set policy by his own personal preferences. Every priest knows the Mass belongs to the Church and is not a personal expression of his own beliefs. He cannot rearrange its elements, skip some passages or rewrite others to fit his style. Not even if he's the Pope.

The Chair of Peter is the presider’s chair of the whole church, just as every basilica, cathedral, church and chapel has a chair where the priest presides over the liturgy. As the presider calls the whole congregation to worship, the Holy Father calls the entire church together in prayer. As he listens attentively to the word of God while sitting on his chair, the whole congregation listens attentively to the Voice of God in their pews. As the presider speaks from his chair to the congregation (an option not often used but available) so does the Holy Father speak to the entire church from the Chair of Saint Peter. It is another powerful and beautiful sign of our unity before the Throne of our beautiful, all-powerful God.