a chair

Today we celebrate the feast of the chair of Peter. If you go inside the St. Peter’s Basilica you will see at the back of the altar a chair made of bronze suspended midway. It was designed and made by Bernini, the same person who designed the magnificent baldachin of St. Peter’s. That bronze chair is encasing a very sacred relic. It is the chair which Peter sat on when he was the bishop of Rome – a simple wooden chair.
A chair is an important symbol used even now. The throne of the monarch is an overly decorated chair which does not only serve a practical value but above all symbolizes sovereignty and power. He or she who sits on the throne, rules.
There is the so called professorial chair in universities occupied by eminent experts in their field of study and teaching. Because of their expertise and studies they are considered authorities on that field and their teachings are therefore authoritative.


Even in the intimacy of our homes not all chairs are equal. I am not just referring to daddy’s or mommy’s favorite chair but a chair whose occupant is looked upon as the cabeza, the head of the household - thus the cabizera. In the seminary where I grew up from an elementary graduate to what I am now, the occupant of the cabisera in the refectory is the only person allowed to stand in order to serve the rest. That early we were taught that to be looked upon as the cabeza, the head, occupying the cabisera is not just a figure of prominence but of one who serves the rest. Authority after all is service and the one who serves is the greatest among you.
In the church a chair is more than just a practical furniture. It is above all a symbol and is accorded special respect and reverence not simply because of its practical use but above all because it is the symbol of the authority of the bishops and priest which they exercise as a form of service to the people. They have the power to govern God’s flock. And they are given above all the authority to teach the teachings of Christ.
In my seminar with caretakers of the liturgy of the parish I would sometimes point to them with some amusement as to how they treat the chair of the celebrant priest in their barangay chapels. Most often as the most beautiful chair in far flung barangays, it is also used to sit the reigning Barangay fiesta queen, and some priest can be so privileged even as to sit for the mass on a chair used the night before by the reigning Miss Gay. How lucky can you get?
The chair in the church used by the presider is sacred. It has its own specific and unique blessing. It cannot be used for any other purpose. There are even liturgical prescriptions as to it’s design and proper placement in the sanctuary. Present norms for example prohibit the use of chairs that resemble a throne, for the authority it symbolizes is an authority rooted in service to the truth and not to power. In the same way it would be out of proportion to use a plastic chair.
This is true to the presider’s chair we see in churches and the Bishop’s chair which we see in the cathedral. In fact a cathedral is called a cathedral because it is where the bishop’s chair is located. It may be a small church or a big church. IT may be beautiful or ugly. But for as long as the bishop’s chair is located there it is a cathedral. The word cathedral after all comes from the Latin word cathedra which means chair.
Today’s feast reiterates our veneration not just of the physical chair of Peter but to what is symbolizes for us. The successor of Peter, the pope, seats on his chair as successor. Because of this the pope like Peter represents Christ in our world today. He teaches with the authority of Christ. He governs with the authority of Christ just as Peter had done when he was sitting as the first bishop of Rome.
Thus it is important that we listen to the pope. It is important that we obey the teachings of the pope just as we would if Christ is physically with us today.
This feast today has several implication in our lives as catholics. Let me just remind you of one thing. Let me remind you specifically of our original sin. Adam and Eve were prohibited to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. The devil in tempting Eve said, “God knows that when you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you will be like god’s who know what is good and what is bad.” By eating, the devil said, you will come to know what is good and what is bad. Now what is bad about knowing what is good and bad? In fact we educate people so that they will come to know and distinguish good from bad.
But the point here is not in the knowing but in the manner of knowing, in the way we acquire such knowledge - and the manner of knowing was by eating. Eating here is a symbol. By eating we appropriate to ourselves the knowledge of good and bad. We let what we want, we let what we desire, we permit our appetites to decide what is good and bad for us and for all. We ourselves define what is good. We ourselves define what is bad. That is original sin.
Adam and Eve, and every man and woman for that matter would always seek to define for themselves what is good and what is bad. But the bible is telling us that it is not within our authority to do that. God alone can define what is good and what is bad. God alone and not our appetites will distinguish for us what is good and what is bad. God alone will teach us what is good and what is evil.
It is not within our authority for example to define gay marriages as good. God alone can do that. It is not within our authority to define abortion as good. It is not within our domain to define what a family is. It is not within our authority to define graft and corruption and gambling as acceptable and therefore moral behavior. This is the domain of God and only God can define for us what is good and what is evil.
This for us catholics is the service of the pope and the bishops with him. This is the meaning and significance of a chair, the chair which symbolizes the teaching authority of the pope - that whatever he binds on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever he loses on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
We honor the pope not because he is an honorable man or because he is a holy person. But we honor him because he succeeds Peter on his chair and as such he represents Christ to us in our time. The pope is there to guide us, to strengthen and affirm us in our faith. And today we celebrate the feast of the Chair of Peter – we celebrate his authority to govern us and to teach us, we celebrate his faith that affirms us even now.