Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter. On this day the Church honors the Office of the Pope and commemorates the selection of the first Pope Saint Peter as the leader of the Twelve Apostles and the Rock on which Christ established the Kingdom of God on earth and founded His Church. 
In the Gospel of Matthew 16:17-19 we read that Jesus and His disciples were discussing the identity of Jesus and it was Simon Peter who proclaims Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. In reply Jesus said, “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. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
In order to understand the significance of what Jesus said we refer to the structure of authority in the Davidic Kingdom given to the Prime Minister who is regarded next to only the king himself, as described in Isaiah 22:21-22 "I will clothe him with your robe, gird him with your sash, confer on him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open." From this Old Testament text we see that in the Kingdom of Israel, the office of the Prime Minister is next in rank only to the king. The Prime Minister is given authority over the entire kingdom.
From this we infer that Jesus appointed Peter as the head of God’s Kingdom on earth and leader of the twelve Apostles who were given the authority to teach, preach and safe guard the moral teachings as fully revealed by Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament promises in detail through His life, words and actions. 
​Today in our present day Pope Francis and his Bishops carry out this mandate which was transmitted to them over the centuries and are the successors of Peter and the Apostles.
On this day we not only seek the blessings of Pope Francis and the Bishops but we also pray for their ministry to bear abundant fruit!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. On Feb 11th 1858 the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette a fourteen year old who was from a very poor family, while she was playing in the woods with her friends near a stream. Her friends had crossed the stream but due to her poor health she remained back. Suddenly there was a gush of wind which made her glance towards the cave near the stream. There in the grotto she saw the Blessed Virgin Mary in white with a blue belt around her waist. She had a yellow rose on each of her feet. She experienced several  visions between February 11th and March 25th of 1858. Each time she felt an interior impulse to go to the cave near the stream to see the Blessed Mother who identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. Only in 1854 Pope, Pius IX had officially declared as doctrine of the Church the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Mother which was not well known in other parts of the world, especially by a poor fourteen year old in Lourdes, France. On one occasion Our Lady asked for "Penance" for the sins of the world by praying often the rosary and to kiss the ground as sign of penance. In another appearance Our Lady asked her to dig the ground and drink the muddy water from the ground as penance to the disgust of the onlookers. After a few hours the water became a clear spring with pure water and many healing miracles occur even today to those who drink or bathe in the water from this spring. These miracles are scientifically examined and several were approved including a man from Italy who had part of his pelvic and femur bones destroyed from cancer  and on bathing in the water the bones grew back. The x-rays of the before and after are now available as evidence of the authenticity of this miracles and similar miracles in Lourdes, France. Several thousands of pilgrim visit Lourdes each year seeking the healing touch of God through the hands of the Blessed Virgin. 
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

Today we celebrate the memorial of the martyrdom of Paul Miki and twenty-five of his companions who were of various religious congregations and lay people. Paul Miki himself was a Japanese Jesuit brother who had preached very successfully in Japan in the fifteen hundreds. He was arrested by the order of the Emperor in 1597 and was martyred in Nagasaki along with twenty-five others who were pierced with spears while hanging on crosses. How their martyrdom resembled so closely that of their savior Jesus Christ! We believe that as with their death they will also resemble their savior Jesus Christ in their resurrection on the last day. During their last moments they were full of joy even though they suffered gruesomely. It is said that they sang hymns, prayed the Psalms, invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus and Paul Miki even preached to those who had gathered to witness the executions. It is said that all of them were joyful during their final moments which is a testimony to their faith and showed forth the grace that God had bestowed on them. They had in a sense already started to experience glimpses of heaven and the beatific vision of God while on earth which is why they were joyful even in their suffering. Nagasaki is also where there were the most number of Japanese Christians until 1948 when they were mostly wiped out after the atomic bombing during World War II. 
Saint Paul Miki and companions, pray for us and especially for the people of Japan and Asia where Christians are a minority and suffer from religious discrimination and persecutions everyday!

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Blaise who was the fourth century Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia where he was also martyred for his Christian faith. On this day throats are blessed in the Roman Catholic Church by placing two crisscrossed candles at the throat. This is because tradition says that a boy who was choking on a fish bone was miraculously saved when Saint Blaise prayed over him and he coughed out the fish bone. Also the candles symbolize Christ the light of the world. We pray for all those who are suffering from illness of the throat.
Saint Blaise pray for us!