Author: Deacon Nick

Thistle in Wheat

Homily

Stinkweeds and Thistles: Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we’re asked to use our imaginations and picture ourselves as wheat. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” Imagine us first as good seed, held in the hand of the Farmer. As he runs us through his fingers, he feels the potential for growth we carry within us. Just at the right time of the year, he carries us into the field, then scoops us up with his hands and scatters us onto the ground. We lay...

Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Homily

Solid and Liquid: Homily for the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

We have kind of an unusual circumstance this year. Instead of celebrating the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we’re celebrating the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which always occurs on June 29. Usually when a feast falls on a Sunday, the feast gets skipped. It’s rare that a saint’s feast would take precedence over a Sunday. And when a feast does supersede a Sunday it’s usually a feast of Jesus, or Mary, or Joseph. But today the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time gives way to our...

Colosseum in Rome

Teaching

You’ll Never Guess What a Student Sent Me Today

I was at a diocesan technology meeting this afternoon when I received an alert on my Edmodo app. That was a bit unusual, because school is out, but I thought maybe a teacher somewhere was trying to connect with me. To my great surprise, it was a direct message from a student who had just graduated. She sent me the following picture of the Colosseum in Rome where she and her family are on vacation. It made my day. Why? Because this year we read Quo Vadis? by...

Old Classroom

Teaching / Technology

Is There an Interior Decorator in the House?

This weekend I moved out of my classroom: I also moved out of the vice principal desk I used to occupy in the school office, so I’m currently homeless at school. All of my files and books are on a counter in the school library, awaiting my new space. Like most schools, we don’t have a lot of unused space, so we have to be a bit creative to come up with something new. We settled on re-purposing a storage room, which also doubles as the server room:...

Gandalf in the Classroom

Teaching / Technology

A New Start

After twenty-plus years teaching language arts in Catholic schools, I’m moving into a brand new position as Director of Technology. As vice principal, I’ve been the unofficial technology director for a number of years in addition to my teaching load. Next year, however, I’ll be leaving the classroom in order to have the time to focus on technology. One of my main tasks will be designing and implementing a technology curriculum, and I’ll also be supporting and mentoring classroom teachers in their use of technology. Though this school...

Dark Forest

Homily

The Lure of the Will-O’-The-Wisp: Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year A

In Scottish and English folklore, people tell of the will-o’-the-wisp, mischievous lights in the bogs and swamps carried by fairies and goblins that lead lost travelers to their doom. As the travelers follow those elusive and fickle lights, they leave the path behind, and when the lights are extinguished the travelers are even more lost than when they began. On our journey of faith we sometimes lose our way, following will-o’-the-wisps. We get lost, like those travelers in the woods who wander off the path, following the goblin...

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Homily

To Dance in our Woundedness: Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter – Year A

“These signs have been written that you may believe.” In today’s gospel, Thomas needs help in order to believe. He needs a sign. Who can blame him? His friends were making a pretty far-fetched claim. Jesus is risen from the dead? Thomas had seen Jesus crucified. “Prove it to me,” he says. “Show me the wounds.” And Jesus does prove it to Thomas. In his mercy, Jesus appears a week later. Thomas sees the wounds. He also sees the living Christ. And he responds, “My Lord and my...

Jesus Washes Disciples' Feet

Homily

My Feet, Lord? – Homily for Holy Thursday

Jesus asks, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” As we begin these holiest days of the year, it would be good for us to do just that: to realize what Jesus has done for us at the Last Supper. The opening lines of the gospel set the scene. First, Jesus knew that his hour had come, and second, he loved his own to the end. He knew his hour had come, and he loved his own to the end. In his darkest hour he did...

Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Homily

Light from the Mud: Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent

Today is Laetare Sunday, which is why we are wearing rose today. We are over halfway through Lent, and the entrance antiphon to today’s liturgy begins, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.” Laetare is the Latin word for “rejoice.” Today is meant to be a little more festive than a typical Lenten Sunday, and is there anything more festive than the birth of a child? So it’s very appropriate that on this celebratory Sunday we get to witness a birth. We get to witness the birth of...

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

Homily

Jesus Thirsts for You: Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

Here we are in the third week of Lent. How are your Lenten resolutions going? Mine aren’t going so great, to be honest. Last Friday, I made myself a turkey sandwich for lunch, forgetting it was Friday. I think I was just going through the motions of the day, not really paying attention. Sometimes life is like that, a series of unconscious, or nearly unconscious, actions that add up to a day. The Samaritan woman in today’s gospel is going through the motions of her daily life when...

Aged Hands

Homily

Stretch Forth Your Hand – Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

If you’ve ever looked at the hands of your grandmother or grandfather, Or at the hands of an elderly friend, Then you’ve had a glimpse of their life story. Each pair of hands has a story to tell, And the older we get, the more our hands have to say. Some hands are scarred or spotted. Others are twisted and gnarled with arthritis. A hand can have callouses or be as smooth as lotion. The fingers, too, tell a tale about our lives. Some of us have long...

Benjamin Franklin

Books and Reading

An Epitaph All Readers Can Relate To

There have been few people as wise, eloquent, and humorous as Benjamin Franklin. Evidence: the epitaph he wrote for himself when he was but a young printer in 1729 (Alas, it was not, in the end, used on his gravestone.): The Body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer (Like the cover of an old book, Its contents torn out And stript of its lettering and gilding,) Lies food for worms: Yet the work itself shall not be lost, For it will (as he believed) appear once more In a new...