507. February 22, Chair of St Peter

Meditations no. 438 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

St Peter, Bishop of Rome.

Our predecessors gave the name ‘chair’ to the feast we celebrate today. It reminds us that the prince of the apostles received the episcopal chair on this day.

Tradition tells us that for a time Peter resided at Antioch, the city where the disciples were first called ‘Christians’. There he preached the gospel of Christ until a bloody persecution interrupted his ministry. King Herod had beheaded James, and seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also? St Luke tells us that, Peter was being kept in the prison; but prayer was being made to God for him by the Church without ceasing.

After the Prince of Apostles had been freed through the ministry of an angel, he left Palestine and went to another place. Sacred Scripture does not say where the apostle went. Tradition, however, informs us that he went to Rome, the then capital of the world, so that the light of truth, which had been revealed for the salvation of all nations, might be spread more effectively throughout the whole body of the world, beginning at its very head. In effect, says St Leo, were there not people from all countries in Rome at that time? Did anyone at that time not know what was taught in Rome? And furthermore the false teaching of vain philosophies was destined to be destroyed in Rome. The vanities of earthly wisdom were to be dissolved. The worship of demons was to be refuted and the impiety of all sacrileges to be destroyed. For all the errors and superstitions of the earth were gathered together there in Rome. And all the while you, Peter, were also concerned with the organisation of the other churches.

O blessed Peter, apostle, you were not afraid to come to this city together with the apostle Paul, your consort in grace. And here you entered into a jungle of wild beasts and onto a stormy and deep ocean. But you came with greater calmness than when you walked upon the water.

Far away were those days when Simon Peter used to go fishing on the Sea of Tiberius; when Christ asked him to abandon his fishing boat and sent him into wider seas, at the helm of a much greater ship. In order to carry out this mission, our Lord promised his divine assistance: I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail, and once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers.

He who had been a fisherman of Galilee was transformed into the foundation and rock of Christ’s Church; and he established his see in the city of Rome. From there, he continued to preach the Gospel; from his Roman chair, he governed the whole Church, he instructed all Christians; and in Rome, he shed his life’s blood for Christ.

The tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, underneath the altar of the Confession of St Peter’s Basilica, reminds us in a visible, material way, that Simon Peter is the strong, sure, immovable rock upon which the Lord built the entire Church, to last for all time.

The mission of the Roman Pontiff in the Church.

In this way the Lord named Peter the foundation of the Church. And the Church rightly celebrates this foundation on which her whole lofty structure rises up. It is fitting that the Psalm read today says, Let them exalt him in the church of the people and praise him in the chair of the elders. Blessed be God, St Augustine goes on to exclaim, who commanded St Peter the apostle to be exalted in the Church. For it is right that the Church should honour this foundation on which it is possible to rise up to heaven.

In the First Reading of today’s Mass, St Peter is acknowledged as one who bears witness to Christ’s sufferings, I who have my part in that glory which will one day be revealed. Conscious of his function as universal Pastor, St Peter in his first letter, encouraged his priests, Be shepherds of the flock God has given you. Carry out your charge as God would have it done, cordially, not like drudges, generously, not in the hope of sordid gain; not tyrannising, each in his own sphere, but setting an example, as best you may, to the flock. In this way, he concludes, your prize will be that crown of glory which cannot fade.

St Peter received from Christ the mission of watching over the purity of doctrine and the customs of his brothers and sisters in the faith; plus the power of explaining - with the special assistance of the Holy Spirit - the truths contained in Revelation. In his second Epistle, he wrote: That is why I will always go on recalling the same truths to you, even though you already know them and are firmly fixed in these truths. I am sure it is my duty, as long as I am in this tent, to keep stirring you up with reminders… And I shall take great care that after my own departure you will still have a means to recall these things to mind.

These words from the Prince of the Apostles are clearly fulfilled through all times. Actually it is by means of his successors in the Roman See - the Chair of St Peter - by which the supreme authority of Magisterium, conferred by Christ on St Peter, continues to enlighten the path of Christians. The faithful, on their part, have an obligation to assent to the authentic teachings of the Roman Pontiff. This religious submission of the will and the understanding, the Second Vatican Council teaches us, is owed in a particular way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ‘ex cathedra’; in such a way that we recognise with reverence his supreme teaching authority, and, with sincerity of heart, we adhere to his teachings.

Today, as always, thoroughgoing, filial adherence to the person and doctrine of the Pope is most necessary. Since our Lord Jesus Christ founded the Church, these are words of our founder, this Mother of ours has suffered constant persecution. Perhaps in other times persecutions were more open, while now they are often subtle. But today, as yesterday, there are those who fight against the Church. We are living in times of tremendous confusion for souls. Voices which spread confusion arise in all parts; and all the heresies which have arisen throughout history come once again to the fore. Our times resemble those of Luther. What is needed now is a personal fidelity shown in union of hearts, of minds and of wills with the Roman Pontiff, as our Father encouraged us: I thought the comment on loyalty you had written to me was very appropriate to all those moments in history which the devil makes it his business to repeat: ‘I carry with me every day in my heart, in my mind and on my lips, as aspiration: Rome!’

The spirit of the Work leads us to love the Roman Pontiff.

For twenty centuries the Magisterium of the Church has been instructing the faithful, showing them the light of God. Nevertheless, as you see, my beloved children, the Church’s teaching on topics discussed by public opinion is scarcely known; people voice, argue, attack, and defend all sorts of views, as if the Magisterium, ordinary or solemn, had said nothing or might have nothing to say. Even the most insistent and energetic clarifications by the Roman Pontiff are often passed over in silence. And this even in countries with large Catholic majorities. It seems the great media sources are practising a policy of deliberately silencing these teachings.

Just as St Peter wrote: As there were false prophets in the past history of our people, as we see happen nowadays with such sorrow, so you too will have your false teachers, who will insinuate their own disruptive views and, by disowning the Lord who bought them freedom, will bring upon themselves speedy destruction. Many will copy their debauched behaviour, and the Way of Truth will be brought into disrepute on their account. In their greed they will try to make a profit out of you with untrue tales (2 Pet 2: 1-3).

But God will not permit them to close the mouths of those who have come to announce his Word. From the Roman prison where he was enclosed St Paul exclaimed: laboro usque ad vincula quasi male operans; sed verbum Dei non est alligatum (2 Tim 2: 9). The word of God cannot be chained up. The judgment made upon them long ago is not idle, St Peter concluded in his Epistle, which we quoted above, and the destruction awaiting them is for ever on the watch (2 Pet 2: 3).

We should struggle to combat error, striving at the same time to win souls for Christ; becoming all things for all men: factus sum infirmis infirmus, ut infirmos lucrifacerem; omnibus omnia factus sum, ut omnes facerem salvos (1 Cor 9: 22); to the weak, I made myself weak, to win the weak. I accommodated myself to people in all kinds of different situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation.

Spreading the doctrine of the Church, passing on the teachings of the Pope to the people with whom we deal each day, constitutes one of the most beloved apostolates of Opus Dei. The sole purpose of the Prelature is to serve the Roman Pontiff and our Holy Mother, the Church, which, in a magnificent outpouring of love, is scattering the seed of the Gospel throughout the world; from Rome to the outposts of the earth. As you help in this work of expansion throughout the world, our Father insisted, bring those in the outposts to the Pope, so that on the earth there may be one flock and one Shepherd: one apostolate!

Let us finish our prayer, with the resolution of praying a lot for the Church and for the Pope. Go to Mary, our founder told us, who is the almighty supplicant, so that she help the faithful sons and daughters of the Church; so that all of us be docile to the clear Magisterium of the Church.