One Catholic Life Blog

Rembrandt - Christ Calming Storm

Homily

The Message of the Sea – Homily for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I love a good historical novel about ships and sailing, especially stories set in the Napoleonic era, when England and France battled on the high seas. But, though my mom and dad were both in the Navy, I’m not much of a sailor myself. The first and only time I sailed on the ocean was twenty-five years ago, when Brenda and I took the ferry from Seattle to Victoria, British Columbia, on our honeymoon. For a short period of time—only about 15 or 20 minutes— land was out...

Cloud Computing

Homily

Into the Cloud: Homily for the Ascension

On this Solemnity of the Ascension, the Scriptures describe Jesus as being lifted up into the cloud. We hear a lot about “the cloud” these days. We can put our documents in the cloud. Or we can keep our pictures in the cloud. We can even put our music and books in the cloud. It’s really convenient having our music or all of our books at our fingertips. But for many of us, switching to the cloud can be a difficult transition. We’ve probably got file cabinets full...

Pope Francis Washing Feet

Homily

Sacrifice and Service: Homily for Holy Thursday

What if, at communion, after receiving the Body and Blood, after consuming the consecrated bread and wine, we were handed a consecrated towel? What if we came forward with arms held out, and the priest or deacon or eucharistic minister said, “The Body of Christ,” and handed us the host, and then, “The Blood of Christ,” and handed us the cup, and then “The Service of Christ,” and gently placed a white towel in our hands? And what if we took that towel walked out of this building...

Isenheim Crucifixion by Matthias Grunewald

Homily

The Isenheim Crucifixion – Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

Do you remember the first picture of Jesus you ever saw? Was it a picture in a children’s Bible? A coloring book page from Sunday school? The actor Robert Powell in Jesus of Nazareth? There are many famous images of Jesus, and some of them hang on the walls of our homes. There’s the famous Warner Sallman painting of the Head of Christ, which has sold over 500 million copies. There’s the familiar Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Divine Mercy image. Another popular painting of Jesus is...

Ice Skating Rink in Lloyd Center, Mall, Portland, OR

Travel

Ice Skating in the Mall

Happy Feast of St. Joseph! I’m back at the conference after another beautiful walk from the hotel, and I’m excited about today because the exhibition hall opens up this morning. The exhibition hall is where technology vendors come to display their gadgets, software and services. Hopefully there will be some cool things to take pictures of and learn about. Today I plan on attending some sessions on Google Apps, game-based learning, and (if there’s room in the workshop) coding with Scratch. If you’re reading this during class today,...

NCCE 2015

Technology / Travel

First Day of Workshops

I’ve attended three workshops today so far, and they’ve all been excellent: Extend Learning Using Online Discussion Forums – In this 2-hour workshop I learned all about using Schoology and Edmodo to extend learning beyond the classroom. This is something I will definitely be trying with some classes when I get back. Make Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Programs Work – This was another two hour workshop about how some schools are having students bring their own devices to use for schoolwork, instead of the school providing them...

Oregon Convention Center

Photos / Travel

Oregon Convention Center 

It’s a beautiful morning in Portland, and after a brisk 10-minute walk from the hotel to the Oregon Convention Center I was greeted by this statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Trimet Light Rail

Photos / Technology / Travel

Light Rail

Found the light rail terminal and took it all the way to my hotel. Pretty impressive (and inexpensive) way to travel. A smooth 25-minute ride, and only $2.50.

On Board

Photos / Travel

Empty Seats

Sitting on the plane, a Bombardier Q400. Small, but lots of empty seats, so I ended up getting two seats to myself.