Today we celebrate the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Saint Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians tells us that if we do not believe in the resurrection of Christ and consequently of the dead our faith is pointless: “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins”. This fundamental truth of our faith should be always proclaimed and taken seriously. In Christ we are born, in Christ we live and in Christ we die and have life eternal and the forgiveness of sins.
This Friday, February 22nd we observe the Feast of The Chair of Saint Peter. This feast has an interesting history and a valuable meaning. Early martyrologies (accounts of lives of martyrs) indicate that in Rome two liturgical feasts were celebrated in honour of the chairs associated with St. Peter, the Apostle. One of them was kept at the baptismal chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica and the other one at the catacomb of Pricilla. The feasts were held in January and February to honour two places associated with St. Peter’s stay: Antioch and Rome. Today no surviving chair has been identified with either of these chairs. Obviously, the Church did not honour a piece of wood. The chair of St. Peter signifies the episcopal office of the Pope as Bishop of Rome. In the present we observe one feast of The Chair. In 2012 Pope Benedict XVI described the chair as a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his successors to tend Christ’s flock keeping it united in faith and charity. On that day let us pray for Pope Francis as the 266th successor of St. Peter!
This Friday at 7 pm in the church hall there will be the next part of the series ‘Let’s Talk About Our Faith’. This time we will be reflecting on the Sacrament of Baptism. Everyone is welcome.
This Saturday at 7 pm we are invited to watch a movie about Saint Peter, the Apostle on the occasion of the Fest of The Chair of St. Peter that falls on Friday. Everyone is welcome.
The lights on the both sides of the main altar (the angels’ lights) are again lit! We are happy to have them back working.
St. Peter – pray for us!
God bless,
Father Peter