Feast of Chair of St. Peter

The feast of the Chair of Peter commemorates the mission of teacher and pastor conferred by Christ on Peter.

Pope Benedict XVI in his general audience on February 22, 2006 said that this celebration is “a privileged sign of the love of God, the eternal Good Shepherd, who wanted to gather his whole Church and lead her on the path of salvation.”

The members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word celebrate this day in a special way. In the morning, the novices of the Institute joined the seminarians for the solemn celebration of the Holy Mass.  Fr. José Signorelli, pastor of the St. John Baptist de la Salle parish in Chillum, MD, was the principal celebrant and homilist.  During the homily he spoke about the Biblical foundations for the chair of Peter, emphasizing what Jesus Himself said to Peter in the Gospels (especially Matthew 16:18-19; John 21: 15-17).

It was a day of leisure for the members of the Fulton Sheen House of Formation.  The seminarians and novices played basketball and soccer in the morning.  During the afternoon, the community watched a movie about the monastic life called The Island.  In addition, there was also plenty of time for more prayer and spiritual reading.

We thank Jesus for giving us His Church through which we have the “fullness of faith” and sanctification through His sacraments.