A long way to go

Before Christianity, Rome celebrated today as Ancestors Day. The community remembered their deceased parents and anyone who influenced them in their lives. Christians in Rome adapted the day to celebrate the memory of the person they considered their founding parent, St. Peter, whom Jesus called "blessed" and changed Simon bar Jonah's name to Peter (rock), on which Jesus would build his church. (Mt 16: 13-19)  Peter was the first bishop of Rome, where he had come because of Rome's location as the center of the Roman empire and the new Christian faith. 

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates today as a feast, The Chair of Peter. Each bishop seats a chair in his own diocese from where he preaches and presides. In Rome, that chair belongs to Rome's bishop, the pope. When Pope Francis I greeted the crowd immediately following his election from the balcony of the Vatican, he referred to himself not as a pontiff but as the Bishop of Rome. 

In St. Peter's Basilica, the chair of the Bishop of Rome, the bishop's chair is wooden and ancient and believed to belong to St. Peter. In Latin, the bishop's chair is cathedra, where the Church derives its word "cathedral," the home base for each bishop in his own diocese. The Feast of the Chair of Peter commemorates the "chair" as a symbol of Peter's role that united the whole church and speaks to the heart of the Gospel, which is clear in its priority of the poor.

Today, Pope Francis I who currently fills the Chair of Peter issued a message on the 50th anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), which was the first document released by the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis called Sacrosanctum Concilium a cause for "gratitude for the profound and wide-ranging renewal of liturgical life."

At the same time, the pope urged both ordained and lay people to commit to welcoming and more fully implementing the teachings of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Pope Francis encouraged "a renewed willingness to go ahead on the path indicated by the Council Fathers, as there remains much to be done for a correct and complete assimilation of the Constitution of the Holy Liturgy on the part of the baptised and ecclesial communities. I refer, in particular, to the commitment to a solid and organic liturgical initiation and formation, both of lay faithful as well as clergy and consecrated persons.”

Today, on the Feast of the Chair of Peter, Paul H. Colloton, OSFS posted a reflection on Pope Francis' statement highlighting a section on being fully immersed in Christ and the transformation by the whole church that includes the head and all members. The pope reminded us that there is still a great deal of work ahead of us.

Paul Colloton writes, "I'm reminded of what Francis de Sales says about prayer: "We talk to God and God speaks to us, we aspire to God and God inspires us...and what do we talk about, like lovers, only he beloved, only God." If we let God inspire, in-spire, breathe in us, we will be one with God and the whole Christ, the rest of the Body. How different we would be and our world would be then. Yes, thank you Pope Francis, we still have a long way to go." 

We agree and we're in for the long haul. But we can't do the work without prayer, community and commitment. Just as Jesus called Peter to build a church, Christ continues to beckon us to give thanks to God what has been possible to achieve through these 50 years of effort since the launch of Sacrosanctum Concilium and to commit to “a renewed willingness to go ahead on the path indicated by the Council Fathers, as there remains much to be done for a correct and complete assimilation of the Constitution of the Holy Liturgy on the part of the baptised and ecclesial communities. I refer, in particular, to the commitment to a solid and organic liturgical initiation and formation, both of lay faithful as well as clergy and consecrated persons.” Pope Francis I, Address, 2014-02-21 18:33:46 

We do have a long way to go.