Homilies

I was confirmed in 4th grade. In those days, the bishop would ‘interrogate’ the class about what we knew about the Holy Spirit. I confess, that moment terrified me. I could NEVER remember the list of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Some of the sites in the Holy Land are pretty remarkable. The hill of Calvary, the site of the Nativity, the Garden of Gethsemane – between the physical stones where you get to touch “the spot” to the design of the churches that mark those places – there is something very powerful about them.

She should not have been that peaceful. In my mind, she should have been terrified. Born to a upper middle class family in Connecticut, a year studying abroad in Ireland sent her life on a different course to serve the poor in El Salvador, during the brutal govt. war against the poor.

Growing up in South St. Louis county, the closest I ever got to a farm was looking out the window of Our Lady of Providence school when the Clydesdales were at the near end of the fields near the fence line.

You almost miss the important part of the question that begins the threefold affirmation of Peter. You get so caught up in the “Do you love me questions” that you miss the context in which John frames the whole affair.

Hint – WHERE were the disciples without Thomas? Where were they with Thomas? Locked in the upper room. Behind locked doors. Doors bolted. Behind barriers. Safe, they thought, from anyone who might try to get to them. And even more so, they were locked in an upper room – removed from things.