Tuesday: Feast of the Chair of Peter February 22, 2005 Scripture: 1 Peter 5: 1-4; Matthew 16: 13-19 Reflection: As we were growing up, was there a special chair that always brought us comfort, like our mother’s rocking chair or our dad’s lounge chair? What about the first time we saw the special cathedral chair for a bishop? Did we always yearn for a bigger and better chair that would earn us the right to sit at the grownups’ table or later in a place of authority in a classroom, office, boardroom? How did we feel when we finally sat in one of those chairs? Today’s feast does not celebrate a piece of furniture, but the ministry of leadership, guidance, and authority given by Jesus to Peter and continued down through the ages through his successors, bishops, and those in special Church leadership. Our reflection on “chairs” is an opportunity to look at our own experiences of growing into leadership roles. Our reflection on today’s readings is a reminder of the kind of leadership God is calling each successor of Peter and also each one of us to witness in a world filled with so much aggression, greed, violence, and suffering. In the first reading, Peter speaks of “tending the flock of God in your midst”and “not lording it over those assigned to you.” Psalm 23, the Shepherd psalm chosen for this feast, echoes the ministry of Jesus and the responsibility of the leader to nurture, tend, gather, and reconcile. Suggested Action: Pray for those who sit in the “chair” of Church leadership, for the grace needed to image the Good Shepherd in their ministry, especially in their efforts for reconciliation. How do we minister from our chair of leadership? Sr. Theresa Frere, IHM Carbondale, Pennsylvania