“SHEPHERDING IN THE SCHOOL OF ST. PETER”

  22^th February, 2022:

Tuesday, seventh week in ordinary time (C)

(1 Peter 5:1-4); (Mtt 16:13-19)

“SHEPHERDING IN THE 

SCHOOL OF ST.

 PETER”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church gathers together to celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, an incredible festival denoting the solidarity of the Church through the administration of the incomparable Prince and head of the multitude of Apostles and his numerous replacements since forever ago up right up till the present time. Pope Benedict XVI once declared: “The Chair of St. Peter, signified in the apse of the Vatican Basilica is a immense sculpture by Bernini. It is a sign of the special mission of St. Peter and his successors entrusted by Jesus Christ to tend His flock, keeping it united in faith and charity.   Today we help ourselves to remember this solidarity we share as God's one joined people, in one run of every one of the dependable, assembled in His Presence and embrace.

We might find it peculiar that we are celebrating this Feast over a seat. What is so unique with regards to this seat that we are celebrating it in any case? What is the meaning of this Feast? As referenced only before on, this Feast is a sign of the solidarity that we as God's people, from all the entire world offer in the one Church, one initiative, with Christ as the Head of the Church, and with St. Peter and his replacements as the Vicar of the one genuine Head of the Church, the Vicar of Christ, our Popes.

The festival of the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter isn't simply a festival over any irregular seats or seats. All things considered, we need to comprehend that with regards to the Church, the Chair here is the genuine and actual portrayal of the power of the ministers as the seat of their position. This seat is recognized as the Cathedra, from which the Cathedrals got their name from. It indicates to the congregation where the Cathedra of the diocesan is situated at, as the physical and genuine image of his position as the shepherd of the unwavering in his ward.

Furthermore for St. Peter the Apostle, who is the first Bishop of Rome and Pope, it is even more extraordinary to us all, for all of Christendom since he isn't very much like some other diocesans, however he has been endowed with the exceptional job as the Vicar of Christ, as the one to lead the whole Universal Church. He and each of his replacements have this exceptional commitment and obligation as the Vicar of the genuine Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, that the Chair of St. Peter is subsequently that exceptionally strong image of the general power and supremacy that St. Peter and his replacements, the Popes have on the whole Church.

Consequently, while there is to be sure a genuine, actual seat utilized by St. Peter as a cherished artifact that is put at the Altar of the Chair of the Papal Basilica of St. Peter, however this isn't exactly the thing we are commending today. Rather, through this extraordinary Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, we recollect and commend the proceeded with solidarity of the Church, all the herd of the Lord's dedicated under the direction and the initiative of the Successor of St. Peter, our Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ, recollecting how he and his ancestors from St. Peter have devoted themselves to lead individuals of God in this frequently violent world.

Today we recall the expressions of the Lord Himself, laying out and entrusting the Church to St. Peter, whose name implies the 'Rock' so the Church He has laid out might be based upon the firm underpinning of the Rock of confidence that is St. Peter, and helped with the strength of the mainstays of the confidence of the Apostles. Along these lines, the Church is joined to the Lord, the Chief Shepherd of all, the Good Shepherd, through the many shepherds whom He had called and selected to lead and guide His kin, His run that is the Apostles and their replacements.

Presently, hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, as God's children and His Church, let us give our all in anything we can do to remain firmly joined as one individuals and one Church, submitting to God's reality, Law and precepts which He had uncovered and gone to us through His Church, through our shepherds, the Apostles and their replacements, our Pope and the numerous clerics and ministers that had loyally served Him through every one of the ages. Give us endow ourselves access the Lord always and endeavor to turn out something else for the solidarity of the Church and petition God for our Pope specifically and for different priests too.

Like what St. Peter admonished to the devoted and the older folks of the Church in our first understanding today, in one of his Epistles, we trust that our ministers will keep on serving the Lord dependably, for the more prominent brilliance of God, giving themselves submissively to give testimony regarding their confidence and to show genuine guides to all the loyal on how they should be dedicated to the Lord. Today, we as a whole should help them in their administration of the Church by our proceeded with help, supplication and friendship, to advise them that we are one local area of God's unwavering individuals, and they are our shepherds.

Allow us to give them our fullest help and give our very best in our own ability, creating utilization of anything open doors that God has given to us, so we might keep on becoming nearer and nearer to the Lord under the initiative of Francis, our Pope, the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle. May the Lord keep on gift him and the wide range of various clerics, our shepherds that they might proceed to dependably serve the Lord and be dedicated and submitted in their gutsy endeavors to declare the Gospel and the salvation in God, presently and consistently. Amen.