Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle

I saw this at Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction so I borrowed it to share with you. After reading the article check out their website by clicking here; Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction

February 22, 2014 by Liz Estler  
Filed under Feast Days, Featured, Liz Estler, Praying Through Art

“I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder;

when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.”[1]

The Church has celebrated this Feast of the Chair of Peter, in Rome, since the 4^th century, as a sign of the unity of the Church founded upon Saint Peter, the Apostle, when Jesus said, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell 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.”[2] “How great and wonderful is this sharing in his power that God in his goodness has given to this man.”[3]
Christ entrusted the apostles with their mission just as he had been sent by the Father (cf Jn 20:21) and willed that their successors be shepherds in his Church until the end of the world.  But, so that the episcopate might be one and undivided, he put Peter at the head of the other apostles, and in him set up a lasting and visible source and foundation of the unity both of faith and of communion.[4]
Jesus’ words to Peter do “not mean that the Church and the office of Peter will not be attacked from all sides but rather that it will be the magnetic pole that attracts the darkest powers of world history…”[5]  Yet, we should not be surprised.  We’ve seen this over and over again.  But, God is no foolish builder.  The rains fall, the floods come, the winds blow and buffet this House, this Chair of Peter, but it does not collapse.  It has been built on solid rock.[6]  If the Church, the Body of Christ, were not of divine origin, She would have been destroyed long ago.  Rather, we see Her hardened through suffering yet sheltering the tender and sweet fruit of the Spirit exhaled on the Cross.[7]  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.[8]  As members of His Body, let us pray for our Holy Mother the Church, and our Holy Father, echoing Christ’s prayer for unity that all may be consecrated in the truth[9] and be made one.[10]