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Hey there, Sprouts.

Today is February 22, 2021.

Today is also the feast day of the chair of St. Peter.

That's right.

Today we are celebrating a chair.

Now, why are we celebrating a chair? Well, it's because a chair,

especially when we refer to a bishop's chair, has special symbolism. If you walk into a cathedral,

which is the most important, the central church in a diocese or archdiocese, you will probably

notice a very important chair. And when the bishop is there celebrating mass, the bishop will

sit in that chair. For as long as the church has existed, a bishop's chair symbolizes

their teaching authority. So why are we celebrating

St. Peter's chair? Well, we all know that when Jesus was here on earth, he called St. Peter to be

one of his closest followers, but he also singled St. Peter out for special work. At one point, he turns to

St. Peter and says, you are the rock upon which I will build my church. By saying this, he tells Peter

that he will be his personal representative, the leader of his church,

once he has left and gone back up to heaven. So Peter is our first pope. And even since the

very beginning of our church, Peter has been recognized as the leader and the one with the

teaching authority. Now, throughout all of these years,

since Jesus went back up into heaven, the church has endured. There has been an unbroken

line of popes from St. Peter all the way up to Pope Francis today. And if you go to the basilica in Rome, St. Peter's Basilica, St. Peter was, of course,

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