This homily is based on John 14:15-21.
I grew up in my father’s movie house, where I spent most of my childhood. It was there that I lost him: I was no more than 10, and when my father died, my childhood ended quite unceremoniously. I was already an adult when I lost my mother, but having been traumatized as a child by my father’s death, I had winced often enough at the prospect of being completely orphaned that when it finally happened, I was mostly numb.
