Word to the Wise
Thursday, February 22, 2007 - Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle
[1 Peter 5:1-4 and Matthew 16:13-19]Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. Also I way 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.
This feast is not dedicated to a piece of furniture nor to an institution (even if some folks consider the papacy an institution). It is a feast dedicated to a service performed by an individual called to a great power and responsibility - a power that can be used for immense good and irresponsibly for immense damage. Both results have occurred at various times in the history of the humans who have held the position of Bishop of Rome. However, the survival of this ministry in the church down through all the centuries is a testimony to its endurance and truth. Those who focus their attention on the "infallibility" of the papal office do it a great disservice since that aspect of the office arises out of only one particular and narrowly defined aspect of the ministry. Take a few moments and visit the Vatican website and click on the Vatican information service (VIS). It will give you a day to day schedule of the pope. The variety of things that is expected of that one person is immense. Every word and gesture is analyzed by moral, theological and political spectrometers down to the very last punctuation mark! The long papacy of John Paul II provided a full view of the various dangers of the office. He was shot by an assassin, operated on for cancer, suffered a broken bone in a bathroom fall, and suffered from Parkinson's disease. His infirmities were writ large in the public eye. Mind you, he was 58 when he was elected. The current pontiff was 78 I believe. It is a crushing burden. History tells us that the full range of human frailty has been displayed in the office of the papacy - from saint/mystic to scoundrel/lecher. However, our faith teaches us that "grace builds on nature" and God has managed to "write straight with crooked lines" in the ministry of the papacy. In celebrating this feast, our prayers should be for the man who holds the office now, Benedict XVI, and should include gratitude for his service. AMEN
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