Adventures In Google

A few weeks ago, as I sorted through my morning email before sitting down to write, I took a look at the daily readings from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The first reading was from the book of James 4:13-17 and began,”Beloved: Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit’– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.”

Suddenly I heard the voice of Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller saying, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I instantly connected his line, delivered as BueLler breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the audience, to the daily reading.

I took that as the sign I needed to start writing about the quotes of John Hughes, creator of the movies that so shaped my 1980’s childhood.  However, as I started my Google search, I discovered a different John Hughes than the one I was expecting.

Archbishop John Hughes was the fourth Bishop and first Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York, serving between 1842 and his death in 1864, founding what is now Fordham University.

He was not exactly beloved.  His nickname, “Dagger John,” stemmed from both the practice of preceding his signature with a cross as well as his aggressive personality. Known to not take guff from anyone, he wore a sharpened, stiletto-like crucifix and a bad toupee.

Reading that led me to search Fordham University, which led me to the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, which led me to Ignatius of Loyola, who shut himself in a cave to pray and do penance for a year during a formative period of his life.

Which, of course, led me to search “saints that lived in caves” and brought me to a page about Saint Jerome, the great scholar who lived in a cave for 32 years, and the patron saint of librarians and students.

I wondered how Saint Jerome, famously known for his translation of the Bible, would feel about Google.  

And in the midst of these searches, I thought to myself, wouldn’t this be a fun way to teach students how to use Google?  That led me to look at the calendar and come to the realization that school starts in less than a month….

Life moves pretty fast. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.

Time to get up from the computer and live it.