Author: Deacon Nick

Vineyard in Burgundy

Homily

Why Teach in a Catholic School? – Homily for Catechetical Sunday

Today is Catechetical Sunday, a day we pray for and bless those who instruct our children in the faith. Some of them do this for a living, as teachers at our parish school. Some of them do this as volunteers in the religious education program, giving up hours of their personal time each week. We might ask ourselves, why would someone choose to do this? Why do the school teachers work for less than they could make in a public school? Why do the volunteers spend their own...

Paul Harvey

Homily

The Last Case of Henri Latour – Homily for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Some of you might remember radio personality Paul Harvey who used to come on in the evenings and tell The Rest of the Story. He once told the story of the last case of the great French detective Henri Latour. Latour was the Sherlock Holmes of France, but unlike the famous English detective, Latour was a real person, an actual police detective. And he was a living legend when it came to tracking down criminals. In his last case, a terrible crime had been committed: an elderly couple...

Catholic School Classroom Desks

Humor / Spirituality / Teaching

Genesis of the Catholic School Year

This year I was asked to lead our school’s retreat. This was the opening I wrote for it. Genesis of the Catholic School Year In the beginning God created the school year. The school year was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the classroom; and the Spirit of God was moving over the summer vacation. And God said, “Let there be fluorescent lights”; and there were fluorescent lights. And God saw that the light was good. And there was evening and there was...

Syrian Refugee

Homily

Boxed and Labeled: Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

This summer Brenda and I did a lot of cleaning and reorganizing around the house. Our two older boys have moved out, we’ve done a shuffle of the girls’ bedrooms, and we’re trying to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff that we’ve accumulated over the years. One thing that helps us to organize is to put things into boxes and label them. It makes it easier to remember where you’ve put things. We’ve got boxes with the boys’ names on them, we’ve got boxes labeled “Christmas,” and...

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...