STRANGE CHAIR

Today’s liturgy is called the “Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.” The feast is as strange as the choice made on who first sat on that “chair.”

The first to sit on the chair that we honor today is Peter, an uneducated fisherman from Bethsaida. He was an unlikely choice for a president of a country or a chairman of the board for a global organization, but he was God’s choice to be the prince of the Apostles and the visible head of the Church. Such choice was easily evident to Jesus as He Himself said, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of hell can never hold out against it….”

The chair of Peter is not Peter’s. It is God’s chair on which He made Peter sit, not bought by Peter for himself. Just as the choice of Peter was God’s, so does the chair we now remember is His.

The Chair of St. Peter symbolizes two of the tasks that Peter and his successors, the popes, have. The pope should be an effective agent towards dialogue and a tireless teacher of the truths of the Kingdom. Sitting on the Chair of St. Peter is to be the servant of all, a servant of dialogue, a servant of the Truth, a servant of the Lord. A priest from Bukidnon told me a funny story. When Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales became bishop of Malaybalay, Bukidnon, he tried

to speak some Cebuano to the local faithful during one of his first Masses. He said, “Ani-a ako aron maglingkod kaninyo.” For half a second there was silence in the cathedral; then, laughter accompanied by a warm round of applause. The good archbishop spoke in Cebuano but mixed it with the Tagalog word, maglingkod. Maglingkod in Cebuano means “to sit down.” Thus, when translated, his words literally meant, “I am here to sit down on you.” Certainly, it was not what he wanted to convey. But the good archbishop served the Diocese of Malaybalay well, even risking his life in the fight against illegal logging, not sitting down, but moving about and bending low on several instances as he dialogued and taught. Fr. Bobby Titco

 

Reflection Question:

A chair is such a strange symbol of service. But perhaps not, if we think of service as the real meaning of being chosen by God to occupy His chair.

 

“Make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. And let the prayer of my heart always be ‘make me a servant today.’” Amen.

 

St. Raynerius, pray for us.