A Feast for a Chair

When I was ordained to the priesthood, there was no Pope: "Sede Vacante" (vacant chair). No, His Holiness was not on vacation - there was literally no Pope anywhere. Pope Paul VI died one week before I was ordained. The period of mourning was underway and the gathering of the world's Cardinals was only in the planning stages. Little did I know that the next Pope, John Paul I, would reign for only one month before his death. I began to wonder, "Is it something about me?" Someone once asked, facetiously I assume, "Is your ordination valid?" Well, after more than 30 years I can say, "It certainly feels so." Perhaps that is the point of this Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Not my ordination but the continuity and the unity of this world wide body of the People of God we call the Catholic Church. Without the Pope, and the vacant chair was only temporary, there is no Catholic Church as we know it, nor as Jesus himself intended. So, this really isn't so much about a "chair" or about an individual man who resides at the Vatican in one particular historical period, life will go on beyond Benedict XVI, but rather about the unity of our faith. The "chair" of Peter, the position of the Pope is not about domination, though we could question that from certain interesting papal intrigue of the past, but about the voice of faith and morals. Is the Pope perfect? No, he isn't. Are all his decisions without flaw? Well, let's be honest. Is he infallible? At specific times, his decisions, carefully weighed, are. But that is indeed another discussion. So, today is a day to prayerfully celebrate our unity, with Peter our shepherd, a sign of unity to the Church from Christ himself. Imagine for a moment where we would be had we been left to our own devices - in the dust bin of history long ago. Thanks be to God we have not been left orphans but we are assured of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit who is infinitely patient with our human foolishness and bumbling.