Chair of Saint Peter

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!