The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Monday, February 22, 2021

Matthew 16, 13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply,  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him in reply, “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.”

“Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi.”  The ruins of this ancient city lie outside of Galilee in the region of the Golan Heights.  It was here that Simon, son of John, identified Jesus of Nazareth, “the Son of Man”,  as “the Son of the Living God”.  Jesus chose the land of the Gentiles, not of the Jews, to receive Simon’s declaration and to bestow upon him the leadership of the Church.  This signifies that the Church is composed of men and women from all the nations in union with Jesus Christ.  Giving the leadership to Simon in Jewish lands, particularly near Jerusalem, would have led the Apostles to believe that the Church was meant only for the Jews.  This event is the middle term of a three part assertion in St. Matthew’s Gospel that the Faith is to be preached to Jews and Gentiles alike, and that it is to be filled with believers of both origins.  The first term is at the beginning of the Gospel when the Magi come to worship Jesus from Gentile lands, led by a star.  The Magi represent the Gentile people who are led by the star — the Church — to the Lord.  And then at the very end of his Gospel, Matthew quotes the Lord as commanding his Apostles, just before he ascends into heaven, to preach the Gospel to the whole world and to baptize those who believe it.

With today’s Feast, we celebrate the universal bounds of the Holy Church, and its unity in the office, the “Chair” of St. Peter.  The feast does not celebrate the current occupant of this chair or any past occupant.  It celebrates the unity of the Church throughout the world in the authority handed on to St. Peter and his successors.  The Church has been given the authority to besiege hell and to burst through its gates, rescuing men and women from the grip of Satan and bringing them safely into the arms of the Faith.  “I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.”  The keys of heaven are entrusted to the Church, in the person of Peter and his successors and delegated to the bishops and priests.  These “keys” may be said to “unlock” heaven for repentant sinners in the Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction, when the priest gives the Apostolic Pardon to one who is dying.  The Apostolic Pardon specifically mentions its origin in the powers of binding and loosing, as well as that the power to give the Pardon is granted by the Apostolic See upon that priest’s ordination.  But these “keys” also relate to teaching, for the Church alone can teach the true meaning of the Scriptures, and it alone, through the successors of Peter and the bishops appointed by these successors, can hand on the authentic teachings the Lord wants us to know for our salvation.  A given bishop or even pope may err in interpreting these teachings, but they reside in the Catechism and in the documents of the ecumenical councils for all to read and know.  On certain highly specialized occasions, the Pope may even speak infallibly ex cathedra on doctrine.

We pray that we may always remain faithful members of the Church, recalling that Peter’s Boat may be tossed by the waves of tribulation and persecution from the outside and seem to be filling with the water of heresy and confusion on the inside, but the Lord himself is in it, and he protects us though he remains unseen.