Worship is something that I would argue makes up very little of most people’s prayer. Our prayer is usually dominated by intercessions of one kind or another, and that’s alright as Jesus told us to ask after all. But this week, let us be intentional to worship the King. Let us imagine how we would have felt back in 1945 to have heard the war is finally over; to see ourselves on those streets as the soldiers returned home after having fought for us; to know this all happened for us, and to pour out our praise and honor to the One who is Lord and who has triumphed by His love.

The Church is supposed to be a sign of unity and communion for the world, the means by which the human race, scattered by sin and more, is not only reconciled to God but to each other. In fact, nothing else can accomplish this end, so desperately needed right now in a culture and world that is so prone to demonize “the other.” When Pope Leo says that the Church is to be “a small leaven…within the world” he means that  disciples are supposed to interact with and touch the world, just as leaven interacts and touches the dough, making the world “rise” and become more genuinely human. 

Peter must have been aware of the whispers behind his back about his denials, concerns about his past, and various other attacks on his character. Not just from the anonymous crowds, but especially from within the small group of the Apostles. He might even have expected Cornelius to question him about his lack of loyalty. Instead Peter is free because he is the recipient of God’s version of the ”cancel culture.” Unlike the one we currently live in, where people get canceled because of past failures and indiscretions, God’s version cancels the failures and indiscretions — not the people who committed them — thereby enabling us to begin again. 

As we await, then, the white smoke that will announce the latest successor to St. Peter, let us pray fervently for the cardinals and for that man known only to God right now. But let us also pray fervently for ourselves, our marriages, our families, our parishes, our dioceses and our apostolates. May the Holy Spirit use us to turn the world upside down, to give hope, to draw others to the only One who can satisfy the ache in us individually and collectively as a human race.