“Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter…What we actually celebrate today is the great gift that Christ left His Church: the continuity of His teaching in the ministry of Saint Peter, which continues through the ages. Today the Church celebrates the same chair that called councils, declared saints, confirmed the Order of Preachers in 1216, and proclaimed dogmas like the Immaculate Conception.
How does the Church accomplish this teaching ministry? She follows the example of Christ the teacher. Portraying Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, Saint Matthew recalls the particular detail that Jesus sat down before he taught the Beatitudes. This action of sitting expresses the stability of Jesus’s teaching that does not vary depending on the time or season, nor is shaken by worldly distractions or selfish interests. The mount on which Christ preaches the sermon foreshadows Him ascending the hill of Calvary and His Crucifixion, which itself is a stable school of love. Stat crux dum volvitur orbis as the Carthusian motto reminds us—the cross stands firm while the world turns.
Christ has given the world a stable source of truth and love, as stable as the cross. He promised that upon the rock of Peter He would build His Church, and this Petrine rock took form on the Vatican Hill in Rome when Saint Peter shared in the sufferings of Christ and was crucified for his faith and preaching. Today, his ministry continues, firmly built upon his very bones. Saint Peter’s example shows us that belief in Christ’s stable teaching requires a faithful commitment that, as his martyrdom shows, is not always easy.
The teachings of Jesus Christ, however, are always true and for our own good. Still, our own sinfulness can keep us from realizing this and lead us to strike out on our own in search of something other than what Christ already presents to us. By recalling the traditional seated posture of the teacher, today’s feast is really an opportunity for us to reflect upon our own lives. We can ask ourselves if we are gathering at the feet of the seated Jesus to listen to His words, or if we are chasing after one unstable teaching after another that continues to run dry and leave us disappointed.
Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, as we heard in today’s Gospel, and with these keys came the authority over matters of heaven and earth (Matt 16:13–19). Throughout the ages the Church has concerned herself with the right and clear teaching of the things of heaven, not for its own sake, but out of love for Christ. She echoes Saint Peter’s confession “Lord, you know that I love you,” and Jesus’s response to Peter was the command to feed His flock (John 21:15–17). This interrelated mission of love for Jesus and care for His people is what gives the Petrine ministry its purpose. The nourishment which Christ commands Peter to carry out certainly includes the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. But today’s celebration especially highlights the Petrine ministry of teaching the Gospel message as a means of caring for Christ’s flock who so desperately thirst for the water, that they may never again be thirsty (John 4:15).”
Love,
Matthew
Summa Catechetica, "Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam." – St Anselm, "“Si comprehendus, non est Deus.” -St Augustine, "Let your religion be less of a theory, and more of a love affair." -G.K. Chesterton, “When we pray we speak to God; but when we read, God speaks to us.” -St Jerome, "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so, on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy thoughts and good desires." -St. Alphonsus Liguori, "And above all, be on your guard not to want to get anything done by force, because God has given free will to everyone and wants to force no one, but only proposes, invites and counsels." –St. Angela Merici, “Yet such are the pity and compassion of this Lord of ours, so desirous is He that we should seek Him and enjoy His company, that in one way or another He never ceases calling us to Him . . . God here speaks to souls through words uttered by pious people, by sermons or good books, and in many other such ways.” —St. Teresa of Avila, "I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious, but men and women who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not, and who know their creed so well that they can give an account of it, who know so much of history that they can defend it. I want an intelligent, well-instructed laity… I wish you to enlarge your knowledge, to cultivate your reason, to get an insight into the relation of truth to truth, to learn to view things as they are, to understand how faith and reason stand to each other, what are the bases and principles of Catholicism, and where lie the main inconsistences and absurdities of the Protestant theory.” (St. John Henry Newman, “Duties of Catholics Towards the Protestant View,” Lectures on the Present Position of Catholics in England), "We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions and in our doubts, but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the divine will.” —St. Alphonsus Ligouri, "The harm that comes to souls from the lack of reading holy books makes me shudder . . . What power spiritual reading has to lead to a change of course, and to make even worldly people enter into the way of perfection." –St. Padre Pio, "Screens may grab our attention, but books change our lives!" – Word on Fire, "Reading has made many saints!" -St Josemaría Escrivá, "Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you." —St. Jerome, from his Letter 22 to Eustochium, "Encounter, not confrontation; attraction, not promotion; dialogue, not debate." -cf Pope Francis, "God here speaks to souls through…good books“ – St Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, "You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress.” -St Athanasius, "To convert someone, go and take them by the hand and guide them." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP. 1 saint ruins ALL the cynicism in Hell & on Earth. “When we pray we talk to God; when we read God talks to us…All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection.” -St Isidore of Seville, “Also in some meditations today I earnestly asked our Lord to watch over my compositions that they might do me no harm through the enmity or imprudence of any man or my own; that He would have them as His own and employ or not employ them as He should see fit. And this I believe is heard.” -GM Hopkins, SJ, "Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book." — St. John Bosco, "Why don't you try explaining it to them?" – cf St Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church, Doctor of the Catechism, "Already I was coming to appreciate that often apologetics consists of offering theological eye glasses of varying prescriptions to an inquirer. Only one prescription will give him clear sight; all the others will give him at best indistinct sight. What you want him to see—some particular truth of the Faith—will remain fuzzy to him until you come across theological eye glasses that precisely compensate for his particular defect of vision." -Karl Keating, "The more perfectly we know God, the more perfectly we love Him." -St Thomas Aquinas, OP, ST, I-II,67,6 ad 3, “But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered." —St. Teresa of Avila, "Let those who think I have said too little and those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough thank God with me." –St. Augustine, "Without good books and spiritual reading, it will be morally impossible to save our souls." —St. Alphonsus Liguori "Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?" -St. John Bosco " To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer." —St. Thomas Aquinas, OP. "Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading." –St. Isidore of Seville “The aid of spiritual books is for you a necessity.… You, who are in the midst of battle, must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.” -St. John Chrysostom
