I’m not sure if you’re heard this or not, but Pope Francis is coming to the United States next week! Yeah, kind of a big deal. As a part of his three-city tour, the pope will be celebrating mass at the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception where he will officially canonize Franciscan Friar Junípero Serra. For those of you who don’t know, this is especially awesome for us friars studying at Catholic University because the National Basilica is on our campus. That’s right, the pope is coming to my school! I got my ticket in the mail a few days ago, and I will be there Wednesday for the very solemn (and as one can expect, very LONG) occasion.

In commemoration of such a historic event, I wanted to reflect on what the pope means to me. As I began to plan this a few weeks ago, though, I realized that what I wanted to say had less to do with Francis, the current pope, and everything to do with our first pope: St. Peter. Peter is a witness to all of us as Christians, but especially to all who sit in his chair throughout history. It is a marvel that Jesus would give the keys of his Church to a human being, and a miracle that it’s still standing! For me, given some of the popes our Church has seen (look up Benedict IX…), there is no clearer proof that Jesus is still the head that makes it holy, not his human leaders.

So with that said, I give you my reflection video. Some of you might be asking yourself, “Why is he posting a video two days in a row?” or better yet, “Where did he find time to film videos to post two days in a row?” These are excellent questions. All I have to say is that when the pope comes… you make sacrifices. It’s been a busy couple of days, and will most certainly get more exciting as the day approaches!

(Here is the link for those on email)

As a last note, I will be taking as many pictures as I can before, during, and after the event, which is reason enough to head over to Facebook and “like” my professional page, Casey Cole, OFM. If you have a Facebook account, just like this page and you can see all that I’m up to at once!