THE CHURCH ON THE ROCK OF CONFESSION OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST


FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF SAINT PETER

1 Pet 5:1-4; Ps 23; Mt 16:13-19

On this Rock I will build my Church

We celebrate the Chair of Saint Peter today. According to history, the feast began in Rome during the fourth century. The purpose of the celebration is to foster the unity of the Church founded on the Apostles. The celebration offers a good ending for the theme of the Church’s prayer and reflections this week: God made us in his image and is fashioning us into a dwelling worthy of His Majesty. Just as our perception and understanding of the material universe, God created for us, help us to contain the universe in ourselves and recapitulate and direct our purpose of going back to God through our self-awareness and intentions; likewise, faith enables us to see God and contain him in ourselves. Faith is the proof of the existence of unseen realities; without it, it is impossible to go to God or please him. Hence, the gift of faith is the commencement of God’s dwelling within us.

The importance of the foundation God lays in us through the gift of faith is evident in the name ‘the faithful’ we use to address the members of the Church. Faith admits us into the Church and makes us a dwelling place of the Trinity. Our faith is in God but through his word. The more faith we express in the word of God, the better we understand the will of the Father and the better we become like God. Thus, primacy in faith indicates a better understanding of the will of the Father and the greater authority we have to carry it out. The importance of the Chair of Saint Peter rests on this understanding. Saint Peter expresses this thus: “Now I have something to tell your elders: I am an elder myself, and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and with you I have a share in the glory that is to be revealed. Be the shepherds of the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, because God wants it; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it.” His deeper insight into God’s salvific mystery and the gift of faith in Jesus Christ give him authority to advise the elders and all of us in the practice of faith. Since faith makes us children of God and members of the Church, the one who received a greater share of faith holds a prime place in the household of God, which is the Church. The understanding is the foundation of our celebration.

Peter demonstrated the gift God gave him in his confession of the identity of Jesus Christ. The Lord appointed him the chief shepherd of his flock because of the gift. “‘But you’, he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’” If faith gives a vision of the unseen realities, then a better understanding of unseen realities implies greater faith in God. Based on this logic, Jesus said: “Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock, I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.” Because what we know through the senses or faith becomes part of us, the Lord gave Peter the authority to act in place of the Son of God, to whom it belongs, to open or close any door. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.” The authority is not a human one but a divine authority placed on the shoulders of a man. As the Church grows and develops, this authority has taken different administrative structures according to the will of the Lord. The authority belongs to Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, but each of us expresses it through our faith in Jesus Christ, from the Pope to the least in the Church. It is our feast and celebration as we thank God for this unbelievable gift to man.

Let us pray: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that no tempests may disturb us, for you have set us fast on the rock of the Apostle Peter’s confession of faith. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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