Take a virtual tour of St. Peter's Basilica. This is the heart of Vatican City and the site of beginning of the Jubilee, when Pope Francis opened the Holy Door on Christmas Eve. Millions of Catholics will make a pilgrimage to St. Peter's this year. Today, you can take a virtual pilgrimage by clicking on the digital experience below. Enjoy!

Next Saturday, February 22, we celebrate the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, a day when we celebrate our Church's papacy. Peter was the first person that Jesus appointed as a leader. He was a trusted apostle of Jesus who became our Church's first pope. In the photo, the actual "Chair of St. Peter" sits below the image of the dove. This is in the basilica you took the tour of, above! Every diocese has a "cathedra" which is the "seat of the bishop," that sits in a diocesan cathedral. We have one at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the Bishop of Rome, who is also the Pope, has one at St. Peter's. The Cathedra represents a bishop's authority as a successor of the Apostles. The Bishop is our shepherd designated to protect the faithful, known as his flock. A bishop's main role is to teach, sanctify and govern the people of his diocese.

What can we learn from St. Peter? Peter was a human who sometimes got scared and didn't always fulfill his duties as expected. He was not perfect. God chose someone human, imperfect and capable of mistakes to lead us. We do not need to be perfect to follow God and we don't need to be perfect to lead others to Him. God will always love us despite our flaws.

Image by Volker Glätsch from Pixabay

St. Albert the Great was a German scientist and Dominican bishop who is known for being an instructor of St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. St. Albert enjoyed working in many sciences and was a proponent of introducing science into the curriculum at many universities. He studied plants, animals, and insects and established the study of nature as a legitimate science. He also wrote about and studied mineralogy, meteorology, navigation, psychology and physics. St. Albert the Great is the patron saint of scientists and students who study science. St. Albert the Great, pray for us!

AlasdairW, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Study plants like St. Albert the Great! Below are some fun plant experiments you can try with your kids! Just click on the paragraph to bring you to the site!

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,

like you we are members of the Father’s family. We pray that our family love may reflect his love on its openness to all people. May we forgive even when not forgiven, and be patient with others’ weaknesses....

FIND THIS ENTIRE PRAYER AT THE LINK BELOW

There is likely no other setting than the family in which the spiritual work of bearing wrongs patiently becomes an extremely important skill. This very short video by Fr. Mike Schmitz helps us to think about how we can live out this work of mercy in our homes and communities. How might we seek understanding in our homes and help our children to do the same?

Please watch below!

Maybe, like many families, your family is blessed with having an extra day off from school and work and are ready to spend some quality time together but you don't know what to do?! Want to stave off a day filled with screens? Why not create a yearly tradition that your family will look forward to. Kids typically love the structure of knowing that on a particular day, they will have something to look forward to. Maybe it will be a daily Mass and out to breakfast with grandparents tradition, or a stay in jammies board game-day tradition. Perhaps it will be the day you take an annual winter hike or it will be the day you always try cooking food from a different culture or a baked good you've never made before. Whatever it is, it can be something that you return to from year to year! Enjoy building your new family tradition!

Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester

Editor: Leslie Barkin leslie.barkin@dor.org

Debtor in Possession

Email: oec@dor.org
Website: oec.dor.org
Location: Diocese of Rochester, Buffalo Road, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: 585-328-3210

See them all here!