February 22—The Chair of St. Peter the Apostle

How is it that a chair gets a feast?  As with many things in the Catholic Church, there is symbolism behind giving a feast to a chair.  Chairs can represent many things:  a role in a discussion as in, “pull up a chair”; the authority of a judge as in the judge’s bench; the responsibility of a monarch as in the king’s throne.  But for the Church, a chair represents the role of the bishop as priest, prophet, and servant.  Each bishop has his cathedral.  Cathedra is Latin for chair.  And in the cathedral is the bishop’s chair where he presides.

The Chair of St. Peter the Apostle then stands for the authority of the pope, a singular mark of the Roman Catholic Church.  “The Chair represents [the pope’s] mission as guide of the entire People of God.  Celebrating the ‘Chair’ of Peter means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God” (Pope Benedict XVI).  He has many titles which indicate his roles and duties:  Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Primate of Italy,  Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the Vatican City State, and Servant of the servants of God.  The pope has been given this authority for the sake of the Church, for the People of God.  His authority as pope is one that, ultimately, is meant for our salvation.  And so we pray for our pope, Pope Francis, that he may guide us by the Spirit of God to walk in the way of Jesus to become united with the Father in heaven.

February 11—Our Lady of Lourdes

What would you do if someone told you to dig in the ground and drink water?  Would you do it?  Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year old girl, did precisely that at a grotto a mile from Lourdes, France.  A spring did come from the ground and many have been healed by its waters.  But it is not the waters that are important.  "One must have faith and pray; the water will have no virtue without faith,” as St. Bernadette herself said.  What is more important is the person who told her to do the digging, Mary, the Immaculate Conception.

The Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette numerous times, starting on this date in 1858 and eventually called herself the Immaculate Conception.  Only four year earlier, Pope Pius IX dogmatically defined that Mary was conceived without original sin.  This dogma holds that Mary was never touched by original sin, which is the lot of the rest of humanity since the time of Adam and Eve.  God chose her to be the Mother of God and she accepted that calling when the Archangel Gabriel proclaimed to her, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you,” (Lk. 1:28) or as we say in the Hail Mary: “Hail Mary, full of grace.  The Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

St. Bernadette prayed the rosary with Mary when they were together.  We invoke Mary’s intercession when we complete each Hail Mary:  “Holy Mary, Mother of God.  Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”  We know that we need God’s grace in our daily lives and we pray for the grace of final perseverance so that we may eventually be with Jesus, and Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, in heaven.

February 3—St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr

“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, may God preserve you from throat troubles and every other evil.”  This is the blessing we receive on this day when the priest blesses our throats.  It goes back to an ancient legend that St. Blaise, who was martyred in the early fourth century, healed a boy with a fishbone stuck in his throat.  Other legends ascribe amazing cures to his intervention, perhaps due to the belief that he was a physician.  There is not much else known about him, except that he lived in Armenia.  Nonetheless, he has been a popular saint in the West since the early Middle Ages.

God cares about our every need, whether we are near death or we have a nagging cold.  All our worries and pains, our joys and delights matter to him.  We have a God who loves us in all of our states of life.  We may be rich or poor, educated or illiterate, happy or sad.  God gives us the sacraments for our souls and for our bodies.  Anointing of the Sick is ministered to those who are near death:  “Is anyone among you sick?  He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).  Jesus healed the sick, the lame, the blind, and forgave sins.  And he also changed the water into wine so that the wedding feast at Cana could continue without embarrassment.  We are graced indeed to have a God who gives us a blessing of throats through his saint, Blaise.

January 31—St. John Bosco, Priest

Fr. Flanagan dedicated his life to helping orphaned boys to become good men:  “There are no bad boys. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking.”  He may have taken his inspiration from St. John Bosco, an Italian priest who died in 1888.  St. John Bosco also went around Turin and gathered boys after their days in the factories to his night schools to teach and train them in the basics of the faith.  He faced many obstacles, including opposition from the community and even an attempt to commit him to a mental institution.  Nonetheless, he persevered and was able to open a home for the boys, technical schools, workshops, and even a church to supply for their needs.

St. John Bosco founded an Oratory, or a place of prayer, and a religious order, the Salesian Society, named after St. Francis de Sales.  The purpose of the Oratory was to teach the boys about God.  He would use many techniques to gain their attention:  games, juggling, tricks or walks to various places around town.  On Sundays he would say Mass, teach them about the Gospel, give them breakfast, and play games.  On Sunday afternoons he would lead them in prayer, teach them a lesson from the Catechism, and pray the Rosary.  The Salesians would continue his methods and spread the faith throughout the world.  There are more than 20,000 Salesians in over 2700 houses.  It is the third largest missionary order.  The Salesians’ mission is “the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood.”

Fr. Flanagan once said:  “A boy or girl given the proper guidance and direction – kept busy and constructively occupied during their leisure or free time – will prove my statement that there is no such thing as a bad boy or girl.”  St. John Bosco would have been proud.