In Your Presence (Eric Nicolai)

A meditation at Kintore College, Toronto by Fr. Eric Nicolai on March 29, 2021. St. John the Evangelist gives us the account of Jesus' arrival at Bethany with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. He felt at home. Mary took this alabaster jar and broke it open. She did not carefully pry open the vessel, and simply offer a few drops. She was not stingy. She did not hold back. She did not keep any for herself, or for a future occasion. She gave it all. She is an example of generosity, magnanimity, and magnificence in the way she humbly anointed the Lord’s feet. The hole room was filled with the aroma of that perfume.

Music: Matt Maher, Abide with Me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIuC9-4aB7Q

Thumbnail: Detail from Bernardino Luini, Mary Magdalen c. 1525 (National Gallery of Art Washington, DC)

Acts 1,3: Tells us about those absolutely luminous days that our Lord spent with the disciples. He was teaching, they were learning everything they needed to know for their mission. He was entrusting them. He was opening their horizons. With Jesus there are no improvisations. Success comes from careful planning, and then rigorous and constant execution. They were being prepared for Pentecost.

Matt 5, 43: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike.

We make friends by loving them.

The answer to our loving others is almost always a deep and abiding friendship. No matter who they are, or what they believe.

The example of the healing of the centurion's servant in Luke 7.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, June 15, 2022 at Lyncroft Centre.

Music:  Ave Verum Corpus II

Thumbnail: Healing the servant of the Centurion, fresco, Dionysiou Monastery, Holy Mountain, 1547

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Mt 13:1-9: “A sower went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

With the different types of soil that the seed falls on, Jesus sums up the various types of people in the world. Different hearts. This is the real meaning of the formation we receive: it is meant to be an ongoing self-cultivation, like the irrigation of a field, or arable land that will lead us out of ourselves, out of the shell of our own selfishness, like a seed that breaks out and brings forth a plant: as we grow and mature, we thus grow in a capacity for sorrow, and for joy.

The ancient church took up the practice of the adoration of the cross. Then added the singing of the Reproaches  (Improperia), an ancient and haunting chant that the Church does on Good Friday. "My people, What have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me!" (Popule meus, quid feci tibi? Aut in quo contristavi te? Responde mihi.)

Fr. Eric Nicolai helps us to prepare to live Good Friday in this meditation on the Cross, preached at Ernescliff College, on April 10, 2022.

Music: "Ave Verum Corpus" by William Byrd (c.1539/40--1623) Public Domain.

Thumbnail: Follower of Jan Mostaert, 1520 (National Gallery London).

For more meditations, check my channel:

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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on the feast of Saint John Paul II, who in his inaugural homily on October 22, 1978 spoke about how to overcome fear in our life. He had a daunting task ahead of him, and with God’s grace overcame fear. What are your fears?

Music: Handel, Rinaldo Opera, Lascia ch’io pianga, played by Bert Alink

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, February 4, 2023.

In the death and burial of Lazarus Jesus watched the long procession of mourners from the first to the last, and the reason of it all. He understood the very reason for all those mourners. He knew deeply, in its essence how death came into the world with the sin of Adam. He wept for Lazarus, but he weeps for you and me too, because we too will die.

John 11, 38: "Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said."

Martha does not think it is a good idea. She says: “Lord, by now he must smell, for it is four days.” Iam fetit. (Jn 11, 39)

Makes sense, since sin and death always give off a bad smell. Bad smell of pride, the high odour of vanity. We must now remove the stone and smell out the bad odour of sin in our life, not to simply cover it over, but to get rid of it. Not simply perfume it.

Thumbnail: The Raising of Lazarus, from a codex prepared in Reichenau, during the reign of Otto III, year  1000, now in the Munich National Library.

Music: Bert Alink, Tears Keep Flowing, 2015.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation to a group of diocesan priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, near Montreal, on February 1, 2024.

Easter Vigil Gospel: Mark 16, 1-7 The women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, had an important task.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

What are the things that are stressing us, and what are the stones in our life that are impeding our faith from moving forward?

Photo: Fra Angelico, Fresco of the Holy Women ant the Tomb.

Music: 'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.

Fr. Eric Nicolai gives this meditation to High School boys that are part of the OneUp program of Ernescliff College. It was preached on September 9, 2023.

Luke 5:17-26 The account of the paralytic lower down the roof by his friends. The Lord was moved by their faith. They asked him for the healing of another. Not simply for themselves. A group of friends that ask for their friend. Who took the initiative?

My sense is that one loved him especially, and had more faith, and then he led others along with this power request, that he had the initiative to open the roof. How can we help our friends?

Music: Tears Keep Flowing Tarrega lagrima, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink, 2015.

Thumbnail: Christ healing the paralytic at Capernaum, engraving by Bernhard Rode 1780

Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, the church offers the passage from St. John about the man born blind. It is here that the Lord begins to speak about himself as being the Light of the World, and that the apostles too are the light of the world when united to him.

The apostles tell Jesus about this man, stumbling around, not able to advance, and thinking it was a generational problem. His father or grandfather must have been pretty bad, so he inherited this moral evil now in form of blindness.

John quotes Jesus in front of the apostles asking about the blind man:

‘As long as the day lasts

I must carry out the work of the one who sent me;

the night will soon be here when no one can work.

As long as I am in the world

I am the light of the world.’ (John 9, 2)

The meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft centre, March 19, 2023.

Music: Bert Alink, Tears keep Flowing, guitar arrangement, 2015.

St. Bridget was a native of Finsta in early 14th century, in Sweden. She married at age 13 and bore 8 children. 28 years of happy marriage, her husband died.

When she was just a child, St. Bridget received a vision of Christ scourged and hanging on the Cross. In sorrow, she asked him who had treated him like this.

Christ answered, "They who despise me, and spurn my love for them." From that time on, the young St. Bridget had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ. How do I meditate on the wounds of Jesus? Here Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at the Manoir de Beaujeu, where he tells pf the example of St. Josemaria's experience in 1938. Meditation was preached on July 23, 2021.

Music: Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

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A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai on rest, preached at Lyncroft centre, Toronto, on July 2, 2023.

Mark 6, 30-32: "The apostles came back to Jesus. They told him all they had done and taught. Jesus said to them, `Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.' Many people were coming and going. They could not even eat. So they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves."

This articulates the promise of Jesus. Matt 11, 28: “Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest”.

It was important that they not stay with his teaching superficially, or remain on the surface. He wanted them deeply formed. To make the Good News truly deeply integrated. They will later have to transmit it to others.  They have to be good transmission lines. What really is the significance of rest? Are we habitually resting? And do we do it well in a way that restores us truly? When burnout is so prevalent, we need to see the true meaning of rest and leisure, and examine its relation to work.

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink

Thumbnail: Masaccio The Tribute Money, 1424, Brancacci Chapel, Florence.

Saint Josemaria did his first communion April 23, 1912, at the age of 10. By a decree issued in 1910 by Pope Saint Pius X, the age requirement was lowered to when the use of reason is acquired, "which is at about the age of seven.” He was well prepared. He learned the prayer of spiritual communion, which did not keep to himself, but transmitted to thousands of others.  The spiritual communion can be memorized: "I wish my Lord to receive you with the purity, humility, and devotion with which your most Holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervour of the saints".

Music: Guitar: Anonymous romance : Jeux interdits (Pierre Laniau)

A meditation preached in Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on Oct 1, 2021 by Fr. Eric Nicolai.

We begin October with the feast of St. Therese. She inspires us because she had such deep desires for sanctity. For living out the call from God in her life. This does not mean that it was easy for her, or that she even found it easy to discern her vocation. She came to discover that she could be like the beating heart of the church.  

Josemaria discovered the beauty of sanctity in the ordinary. God gave him a light one day. This month we will examine this and give thanks.

Music: Claude Debussy,  Suite Bergamasque L75-3 Clair De Lune Played by Peter Frankl (1962). Internet Archive.

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In this meditation at Ernescliff College, Fr. Cris Graas helps us to consider how we are to respond to evil that we see around us. Referring to the parable of the cockle that was sown in among the what, he opens horizons for us, as we meditate on how to understand evil in this world.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this recollection at Hawthorn School in Toronto on October 23 2024.

We are preparing the centennial of Opus Dei, founded on October 2, 1928.

It was a shower of grace, that Saint Josemaria received on that day. We must ensure that we maintain the beauty of this charism, to ensure that it never go stale, or lose its vibrancy.

Music: Choir of the Roman College of Holy Mary.

Thumbnail: Cover of The Way published by Doubleday.

With this global marathon of prayer during May, in union with Pope Francis, we ask our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, for an end to the pandemic.  Josemaria Escriva would say we are under the mantle of our Lady.  She is also spouse of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches during the monthly recollection during the month of May.

Music: Claude Debussy, Reverie. Played by Simone Renzi

https://musopen.org/music/4505-reverie/

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A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on the occasion of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 2024.

The cross is the instrument on which the Lord was executed. It was a Roman instrument of torture, state-sponsored terrorism. Jesus gave an explanation in mysterious words. Enigmatic, somewhat cryptic, evoking an image, a movement, a veiled, almost dream-like quality. 

John 3, 13-17: Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’

What does this mean for those who look upon the cross?

Music: 'Life In Motion' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

Thumbnail: Apse mosaic from San Clemente Romano, Rome. 

Numbers 21:4-9: Tells us about the Israelites left Mount Hor. They are in the wilderness and complain to Moses about their food, about their discomfort. God sends these fiery serpents and they are bitten. Moses intercedes for the people, but God asks him to fashion a bronze serpent and put it on a standard. Then a connection with the Gospel of John, 8, 21-30: They failed to understand that he was talking to them about the Father. So Jesus said: ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself.

So why does Church choose to veil crosses in Passion week?

Music: "Ave Verum Corpus" by William Byrd (c.1539/40--1623) Public Domain.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on th Solemnity of All Saints, November 1, 2024.

St. John the Apostle tells about his tremendous vision: After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (Rev 9, 9-10)

The uncountable throng represents the spiritual offspring of Abraham, i.e., those who imitated his faith (Rom 4:11-17).  The Lord had promised to make Abraham the father of many nations (Gen 17:5) and to give him progeny too numerous to count (Gen 15:5). He made him look up to the sky, and look at the stars. These same stars still lok down upon us, and invite us to look up.

Music: Carlos Gardel (1890 – 1935), Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, Museum of Modern Art.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto, September 25, 2024. Today we evoke the courage and resilience of these men and women who came to evangelize the New World: Jean de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues. They arrived in Quebec after a treacherous journey from France. They travelled to Georgian Bay and established a community among the Hurons.

Music: 'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

A meditation preached to High School boys at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario. It was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, focused on the earthquake in the history of humanity, the watershed moment, that shaped the fate of our species: original sin, as recounted in Genesis 3.

https://www.cedarcrestcc.ca

Music: Handel, from the opera. Rinaldo, aria Lascia ch'io piango. Arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt engraving of Adam and Eve, 1638.

This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at the end of a retreat for priests to the Manoir de Beaujeu, near Montreal, on February 3, 2023.

Easter Vigil Gospel: Mark 16, 1-7 The women: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, had an important task.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

We can think now what is the stone in my way to see the real truth about Jesus? What stone stops me from testifying? Stone could be our fear. Stone could be our lack of readiness to give of ourselves. Our anxiety.

Thumbnail: Piero della Francesca Resurrection 1460s in the Palazzo della Residenza in the town of Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy.

Music: Mossy Garden by Bert Alink.

In the Church of Jerusalem two men were proposed to the community, and then lots were cast for their names: "Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias" (Acts 1: 23). Precisely the latter was chosen, hence, "he was enrolled with the eleven apostles" (Acts 1: 26). The apostles understood firstly that they absolutely needed to be 12, in line with the 12 tribes of Israel. To have been chosen by lot means he was not chosen for his qualities, that he could maybe have vented about. Let's meditate on how well anchored we are in the virtue of humility, especially now when the main emphasis is always gaining in self esteem. Preached in Kintore College by Fr. Eric Nicolai, May 14, 2022.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink

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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on March 19, 2020 in Toronto, on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, who intercedes for us as protector, and helps us to overcome the paralysis of fear. He intercedes for us to protect us in our divine vocation and to give us a supernatural sense of our mission, of that covenant that God made with us.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation to families at Kintore College in Toronto, on December 22, 2023.

But today we get the explosion of joy in her Magnificat: Hearing such praise from her cousin, Our Lady replied with words which have become that most beautiful hymn of jubilation: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour. 

Magníficat ánima méa Dóminum. It is such a rich canticle about God’s intervention in her life, that the Church mandates all priests to recite or sing this beautiful canticle. My soul magnifies, that is, it increases in me, it is a grace-filled moment of joy and anticipation.

Truly a holy moment.

Music: 'Moonlight' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

Thumbnail: https://rosaryapp.org

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches Easter Sunday at Lyncroft Centre. 

Yesterday we talked about the dark, materialistic dialectic of poets like Bertold Brecht and philosophers like Nietzsche, who said God is dead. We killed him. Very dire and sad visions. But now we have come out of that dark night. Against this background I think we can hear the message of Easter in a new way. Christ is risen! There is justice for the world! There is complete justice for all, which is able retroactively to make good all past sufferings, and this is because God exists, and he has the power to do it. 

For more about the resurrection in art:

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Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria Lascio ch'io pianga, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Isenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the ordination of Saint Josemaria, which took place on March 28, 1925 in the chapel of San Carlos, a 17th-century baroque gem attached to the seminary of Zaragosa. Fr. Eric Nicolai recounts the history and invites us to examine our own readiness to do God's will. Preached at Kintore College, March 28, 2022.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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Jeremiah 26, 11-16: First reading is from a sermon by the prophet Jeremiah in the temple. He’s warning them that the temple will be destroyed. So there is this confrontation between Jeremiah and the authorities of Judah. He declares his innocence like Christ and is eventually saved by the intervention of the king. 

In the Gospel of the day we have the account of the death of John the Baptist (Matt 14, 1-12). Now Herod is in his own party, so he is in his own element. The wine is flowing. He has nobody to guide him. He has already a pretty hedonistic attitude, and this leads to the beheading of John the Baptist. Titian has a spectacular painting of the moment when Salome gives the head of John the Baptist to her mother, Herodias. It dates to around 1515 and I remember seeing it with excitement in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. Lord, let me not be afraid of the cross, or what people call the cross.

The seal of Opus Dei: the Cross at the heart of the world. It is not like a medal that encircles the cross, or restricts its extent, or where it ought to be. The circle is not just a circle. It is a globe.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Jesu, meine Freude", BWV 227.

Thumbnail: Titian, "Salome with the head of John the Baptist," 1515, Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome.

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St. Josemaria would be moved deeply when he said with faith that part of the Creed, that produced a pause, when he prayed:

Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam! I believe in one Holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.  — I can understand why you pause to relish your prayer: I believe in the Church, one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.. (The Way 517)

It is as though he wanted to savour something to taste its beauty. Savour it, like a good wine. To re-acknowledge the mystery, which he well understood that he did not understand.

Today is feast of Thomas More and John Fisher. Both are stellar examples of love and fidelity to the Church, during times of great confusion in the 16th century.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, June 22, 2022.

Music: Franz Schubert Impromptu no. D899 by Chiara Bertoglio.

Thumbnail: Hans Holbein, The Younger, Sir Thomas More 1527 Frick Collection(Google Art Project)

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2 Cor 6, 1: As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says: “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

The reason of our life is that we exist for one single reason: to be the best version of ourselves. Not a low grade. High definition movie. This is the one were you can really see all the details, even on a large screen. This is the nature of sanctity. Not a B&W photo, low density, or without all the colour potential.

Saint Josemaria had this intuition. He had this ability to read into the Gospel all the potential that was locked inside those divinely inspired lines. 

What jumped out at him was a single word (in Latin) that opened up for him a whole world of possibilities, of enthusiasm, and generosity in serving God. He was so struck by this one word, that he had it embroidered on altar cloths, written out in stone, and even he would write it out as an aspiration on a piece of paper and use this as a bookmark in his breviary. That single word was Possumus. We can. What does this mean for our sanctity, our holiness? Can we do it? A meditation at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, September 18, 2022.

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: The Majestat Batlló is a 12th century Romanesque wooden crucifix, now in the National Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona.

Luke 1:26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,  to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Luke expressly points to her virginity. He uses the Greek word parthenos, twice. He’s stressing that she is a young woman and that she was a virgin.

Gabriel appears to Zecharia. Formal setting of the temple. Here in Nazareth, he is sent to Mary. She does not have to leave where she was. The angel enters the house. There is like an inversion here. It means that in the incarnation God comes to men and enters the house. Previously men had to go out of their house and go and find him in the temple to enjoy the presence of God and venerate him there. Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on the meaning of Mary's vocation and our vocation.

Music: Adrain Berenguer, Fall (2017)

Thumbnail: La Anunciación, by Fra Angelico (between 1430 and 1432), from the Prado Museum in Madrid. Wikicomons.

Luke 6, 39-42: Jesus first speaks of the blind leading the blind.

Strong emphasis on the character of his followers. The virtues that he wants you and I to acquire. These are a series of sayings or aphorisms that are not merely what you are meant to do, but the kind of man or woman you're meant to become.

The issue is one of character and commitments issuing forth in action. Hence it is so essential for us to destroy even the minimal possibility of hypocrisy. We’d be like the blind leading the blind. The first vision we need is the nature of our own wretchedness. Our dominant defects. Those character flaws. Maybe we haven’t even been fighting against them because we haven’t even considered them.

In what way am I truly blind?

Music: Handel Opera Rinaldo, aria “Lascia ch’io pianga”, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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Thumbnail: The blind leading the blind, by Dutch painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1568

From a meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, November 12, 2021. 

Today's Gospel is filled with apocalyptic language: the story of Noah and the ark, the image of Lot fleeing from Sodom and his wife perishing as she looked back; and how the Son of man will be revealed. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it. (Luke 17, 27)

Music: Handel Opera Rinaldo, aria “Lascia ch’io pianga”, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects at Kintore College. In the 1650s a Spanish priest from province of Navarre, Pedro Auxular, wrote a book in Basque titled Gero, which means Later. A book about the practice of the Christian life. The title is striking: later. He warned his reader of the danger of leaving for later the most important aspects of life.

So we want to speak today of that Later, but in a different sense, not simply as later, but as the hereafter. Gero is really about the eschaton. The last things, which the church wants us to reflect on now, not later.

Music: Mozart, Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink. In Openmus.org

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation to a group of young men at Ernescliff College in Toronto, on December 9, 2023. The Gospel of Mark 10, 17-31 tells the account of the young man who presented himself to Jesus and asked what he must do to obtain eternal life. A challenging exchange ensued. To dig into this, we must have a deep understanding of what a vocation is. Here's one definition: "The vocation is the providential thought of the Creator for each creature, it is his idea-plan, like a dream found in God's heart, because the creature is found in his heart. God the Father wants this to be different and specific for each living person."

Music: Komm, süsser Tod, BWV 478, Guitar arrangement by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Cyprien Tanguay (1819-1902) portrait by Antoine Plamondon, painted c. 1832, Quebec, Canada.

A meditation preached on April 1, 2024 by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Serra House in Toronto. Serra House accommodates seminarians for the Archdiocese of Toronto in the initial stage of formation.

Music: A. Vivaldi_ Nisi Dominus, RV 608 - IV. Cum dederit (128 kbps)

Today, January 18 to January 25 is the Octave of Christian Unity. It finishes with the feast of the conversion of St. Paul on January 25. This Octave was first conceived by Father Paul Watson a Franciscan friar of the Atonement, of Graymoor abbey in 1907. This leads us naturally to pray about the Church in her essence.

CCC 760: all that vast array of creation had really one basic purpose: to have a place of communion, brought about by a convocation. Ecclesia means call, vocation, convocation. The world was created for the church, for this assembly. Even for the mystical body of Christ.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto.

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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St. Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) was from Sudan, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. She was sold as a slave and beaten frequently, but eventually she found her way to Venice where she discovered a new master, kind and forgiving, Christ, the true "paron", the "master" who knew her and loved her. She was able to make her scars into an opportunity to love. Today we call this reframing.

Optimal work website about reframing:

https://www.optimalwork.com

See Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Spe Salvi (2007)

http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20071130_spe-salvi.html

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Singularity, 2017)

This same meditation is available on YouTube with images and short clips:

https://youtu.be/DOOyycPzPUE

Matthew 12:46-50: While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Picture now the Lord stretching out his arms in a gesture of inclusion, as though he were embracing everyone in the family, as part of that covenant, as though he were saying that his followers are part of an intimate family, and can really feel at home, feel welcomed, feel together.

The people of Israel too felt themselves to be part of a family. There were foreigners, outsiders, but also those of our family. A chosen people, the apple of God’s eye.But now the Lord extends that inclusion in the family, by referring to God’s will, not to blood, not to the people of Israel.“For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Music: Una rosa me diste, by the Choir of the Roman College of Holy Mary in Rome. 

Thumbnail: 1940s Belgian art deco holy card of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary by Jos Speybrouck.

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The Beatitudes Matt 5, 1-12: Today we want to enter and look at the foundations of our faith. What kind of woman does God want you to be? Let us go back to that hill, that mount, that grassy slope where our Lord stood, and transmitted to us what we have to be through the paradoxes of the beatitudes.

The most noble words, the most magnetic and powerful words that our Lord proposed to these massive crowds on the hills of Judea were the beatitudes. They are made up of beautiful ideals, yet at the same time hold deep paradoxes: They are paradoxes because they reflect the completely different way in which God sees things, as opposed to the way the world sees them. Samuel says: God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16, 7). Maybe we too have been infected by that human way of seeing the ideal man, the ideal life, the truth about what it really means to be happy, to be serene, to be satisfied. Yet our Lord says no: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

If you and I really live the beatitudes, if we truly incorporate into our lives those divine words from that hill, we will be light of the world, we will be salt of the earth, preserving it from corruption.

Thumbnail: Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners, 1857. Musée D'Orsay, Paris.

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Singularity, 2017)

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A meditation preached in the Madawaska Valley at Camp Caribou for Boys, August 20, 2024.

Jesus invited the young rich man to follow him, but he turned around and left, sad. Here's Jesus' response.

Matthew 19:23-30: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ When the disciples heard this they were astonished. ‘Who can be saved, then?’ they said. Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he told them ‘this is impossible; for God everything is possible.’

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Thumbnail: Halfway Lake, Camp Caribou.

In Today's recollection at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on how we can really pray properly, deeply, effectively, and piously, in a way that shows abandonment, and real love. It is our essential means of communication and union with the Blessed Trinity. The Gospel often speaks about the Lord withdrawing: "He withdrew to the wilderness and prayed" (Lk 5:16): it was prayer and recollection, both interior and exterior. This is our model.

Music: Carlos Gardel, "Soledad" (1890 –  1935) arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: King David in Prayer. Book of Hours M.53 fol. 99v Bologna, 1497 Morgan Library and Museum, New York City.

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Matt 14, 12: John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

Jesus was deeply affected by the sad news of John the Baptist's death. So he wanted to be alone, to pray. But people came after him, so he cured them and taught them.

Then came the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish. At Herod’s banquet, we see false pride, arrogance, victimization of the righteous, the misuse of power, and murder. At Jesus’ banquet there is compassion, healing, trust, and sharing.

The disciples didn't think they could be up to the task, but Jesus showed them it was possible with his help.

Music: Soledad by Carlos Gardel, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink

Thumbnail: Mosaic "Burnt Church" in Hippos, Israel.

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Today, November 28, is the anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution “Ut Sit” from 1982, in which Pope John Paul II establish Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature. It was the definitive canonical suit that Opus Dei needed in order to have that new energy in the mission of the church. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches on this 38th anniversary in Lyncroft centre and explains its significance.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singulairty) from Musopen.org

A meditation preached deep in the Ontario woods to counsellors at Camp Caribou on a lake near Barry's Bay, August 25, 2023.

It is based on the three commandments of love mentioned in th Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 22:34-40: When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees they got together and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question, ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’

On Youtube, see all the visuals:

https://youtu.be/AHba7XdIDjg

Fr. Eric Nicolai peached this meditation at Lyncroft centre in Toronto on April 6, 2024. What is God’s will? Before the Lord was arrested, the apostles were with him, ostensibly to protect him, but they couldn’t stop the soldiers from arresting the Lord. Judas came with the chief priests. But the Lord was praying, and abandoned entirely to the Lord. Jesus is kneeling, he is sweating blood of anguish. But he said yes to God's will. When I work, I must be acting out of love and confidence on God’s will for me.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1809: Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will's mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. Fr. Eric Nicolai speaks about how we can live this virtue.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Cardinal virtues painting in Holy Rosary Parish, Toronto.

The opening prayer for today’s feast has to squeeze the spirit of Saint Josemaria and all his dreams into one simple and brief Collect.  It is hard to reduce something you love and have dedicated yourself to just a few words. But this collect is like the directors cut, approved and vetted by our holy mother the church.

"O God, who raised up your priest Saint Josemaría in the Church to proclaim the universal call to holiness and the apostolate, grant that by his intercession and example we may, through our daily work, be formed in the likeness of Jesus your Son and serve the work of redemption with burning love."

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, on June 26, 2022.

Music: Lauda Jérusalem (Psalm 147) - Choir of Blessed Pier Giorgio – Aumônerie de Nantes, France. Mélodie : Théodore DECKER. Harmonisation : Pierre BAGNERIS. Director : Cécile DUVIVIER. Sung online on Palm Sunday 2020.

Thumbnail: From a children's book by Miguel Ángel Cárceles; Isabel Torra, "Historia de un sí. Vida de San Josemaría Escrivá". (Rialp, Madrid 1993).

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But we cannot really experience the mercy of God without true conversion. We see this in the beautiful account of the father with two sons in Luke 15. There was the younger one who left in an escapade of sensuality, and then there was the older brooding one who stayed behind in his own resentment. Are we the younger one or the older one?  A virtue that brings us together is hospitality.

Heb 13, 2: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 

Music: Gymnopedie No 1 - played by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt Van Rijn, Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of the Prodigal Son in the Brothel, 1635 Dresden art Gallery.

King David was chosen by God, because Yahweh knew his heart.

Fr. Eric Nicolai invites us to imagine Jesus saying these words to the Pharisees: "woe to you pharisees, you hypocrites…" (Matt 23, 23-26).  I don’t know what it sounded like in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. But the tone was important.  Sternest words of condemnation that ever came from our Lord's lips. There was also tone of deep sorrow. This is an invitation to examine how often we seek to ingratiate ourselves with others. To win applause. Or am I somehow sad when I am forgotten? When I am passed over? Let's often rectify, to do everything for God the father. We have the example of Dora del Hoya who worked in the domestic administration of the centres of Opus Dei in Rome. She served all her life, and was ready to disappear. That is one of the main reasons her cause of canonization was opened in 2012.

A meditation preached on July 8, 2024 by Fr. Eric Nicolai at a camp for girls in the Collingwood area, Ontario.

Matthew 9, 18-26: While Jesus was speaking, up came one of the officials, who bowed low in front of him and said, ‘My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.’ Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him. Then from behind him came a woman, who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.’ Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, ‘Courage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.’ And from that moment the woman was well again.

Michael

Since the most ancient times the Church of Rome has celebrated the Solemnity of the Great Apostles Peter and Paul as a single Feast on the same day, 29 June. It was through their martyrdom, that they became brothers; together they founded the new Christian Rome. (Pope Benedict XVI June 29, 2008). A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College on June 29, 2021.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca (Arranged for guitar by Guitar Bert Alink) 

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches about the nature of joy, expressed as cheerfulness. This can be an obligation of charity, a duty to light up the house around us. Here are some examples about how to bring this about in our life.

Mark 12, 14-17: Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay, yes or no?’ Seeing through their hypocrisy he said to them, ‘Why do you set this trap for me? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.’ They handed him one and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they told him. Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’ This reply took them completely by surprise.

In response to this trap, set between the pharisees and the Herodians, on the delicate question of taxes to Caesar, Jesus responds with this phrase: Hand me a denarius and let me see it.

Music: Francisco Tárrega's "Lágrima" performed by Pepe Romero on an 1888 Antonio de Torres.

Thumbnail: Julius Caesar 44 BC. AR Denarius was minted at Rome by moneyer M. Mettius 44 BC.

In 1944, Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri (1916-1975) attended Mass in Madrid and had an experience of the closeness of God. With time, she came to know Saint Josemaria Escriva, and ended up dedicating her life in Opus Dei as a numerary. She served Madrid, Mexico, and Rome. She was cheerful and always full of enthusiasm for love of God. Fr. Eric Nicolai gives an account of how this happened in her life, and how we too are called to real sanctity and must reject any complacency in our life. Her memorial is celebrated on May 18.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College, May 18, 2021

Music: Andrien Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

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A meditation on the nature of freedom, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft Centre, November 2022.

We have been called to freedom (Gal 5:13). By letting Christ reign in our heart we acquire true freedom and conquer the slavery of sin: If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (Jn 8:31-32). 

What is this freedom that we are meant to have? We know that it is good, but what exactly is it? Let's reflect more deeply on this. The Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Ocariz spoke of the freedom of the children of God. “True freedom of spirit is this capacity and habitual attitude to act out of love, especially in the effort to follow what God is asking of us in each circumstance” (Pastoral Letter, 9 January 2018, 5).

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink

Thumbnail: Peter Paul Rubens Christ's Charge to Peter, 1616, Wallace collection, London.

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This is a meditation originally posted on Youtube in August 2021. Here it is re-broadcast in audio form. It was preached at the Manoir de Beaujeu, near Coteau-du-Lac, near Montreal, Quebec. The original with video clips of the Manoir, its surroundings and Rembrandt's painting, can be viewed here:

https://youtu.be/tFdA8gPxBtE

Music: Handel Rinaldo opera Aria "Lascia che io pianga" arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, The Storm of the Sea of Galilee, 1633, whereabouts unknown since 1990.

St. Josemaria had a sense of excitement about what the Christian family could be like in the modern world. It was like an oasis that was nourished by this powerful underground source of fresh water, a human and divine love coming from the sacramental grace of matrimony. Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on November 12, 2022 in Lancemore centre in Toronto.

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Pieter de Hooch, The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658. National Gallery, London.

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Luke 6:39-42: "Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the splinter that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the plank in your own? Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.’"

This image of our Lord shows the importance of self knowledge. And that can't go anywhere if we are not humble. Josemaria said that we might become very good in something, but if we lack humility, were like building our temple on sand. Do I really know myself? My biggest defect. The gifts I have received? What area do I have to work on? What is your Achilles heel? Dominant defect. Something you’ve been struggling against. Perhaps today our self-knowledge is fragile, or superficial because we’ve become experts in presenting our best side in social media, in Instagram and Facebook.

Music: Recordações do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged by Bert Alink. Not monetized.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, The artist in his studio, c.1629 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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This meditation was preached on June 19, 2024 at Hawthorn School for Girls in Toronto. Josemaria opened his homily saying "we must realize all the richness hidden in the words, “the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”

Let’s not lose sight of these riches. Like all the feasts and solemnities, there is something here to enrich us. There are many layers we must tap into in order to discover the love of Jesus.

Music: Original soundtrack by Michael Lee of Toronto, with birds from pixabay.com, SSPsurvival.

Thumbnail: Pompeo Batoni, Sacred Heart of Jesus, 1767 in The Iesu church, Rome.

A meditation at the Manoir de Beaujeu, preached to a group of priests on January 30, 2023, by Fr. Eric Nicolai

So many Catholics have been baptized, but not transformed. We lament this as due to secularization of society, lack of formation. Bad example, etc. We too must be conquered. What is our soft underbelly? That most vulnerable part of our perseverance. It is the lack of total surrender to Christ in our vocation. The lack of real rectitude of intention in everything.

Music: Bert Alink, Tears Keep Flowing (2015)

Thumbnail: easyimages.net

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May 12 is the memorial of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994), who was the Prelate of Opus Dei and first successor of Saint Josemaria. He was beatified by Pope Francis on September 27, 2014. The prayer card for his intercession reads: O God, merciful Father, you granted your bishop Blessed Alvaro, the grace of being, with our Lady's help, an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the Founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I also may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Here are some reflections to help us bring about greater fidelity in our life.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College in Toronto on May 12, 2021

Music: Andrien Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

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Groucho Marx in the early silent films would say that to have a happy life,  we must have good humour have a bad memory. Of course we have good humour, but I don’t agree that we should have a bad memory.

We have to have good humour and good memory, but selective memory for all the good in life. This was the purpose of the transfiguration, in which Jesus showed the apostle the luminosity of the good. It was so that they should remember the good, when things were bad and dark. A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre in Toronto on March 9, 2023.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca, arranged for guitar by Guitar Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Raphael Sanzio, Transfiguration 1520, Pinacoteca Vaticana.

In her book "Maybe You Should talk to someone" (2019), Lori Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients’ lives.  We too are like patients, with all these inner chambers. These are chambers that we must prepare to open up, so that we can be helped to see how all the machinery is working. Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre on July 6, 2022.

Music: Andrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

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Today, January 31, 2021, we start the seven Sundays of St. Joseph, that just and upright man that God entrusted Mary and Jesus to. We do this in the Year of St. Joseph. We meditate on the joys and sorrows of St. Joseph. Like when he saw Mary pregnant. He was going to divorce her privately to make it look like he was the problem. It was a difficult decision, but then he went to sleep. That’s when God spoke to him. He went from a great sorrow, to a great joy. Pope Francis has a statue of the sleeping Joseph, he uses it when he has to make an important decision. He places a piece of paper under the head of the sleeping Joseph. Joseph was truly a man of peace. 

Yesterday we saw how Jesus was sleeping in the storm at sea. He rose and told the sea and the wind: Be quiet, be still. (Mk 4)

But now today this expression, to be silent, to be quiet, comes back. 

Mark 1, 21-28: It is in the synagogue, and it is not to the sea and the waves, but to the devil himself, possessing a man. It is early in the ministry. He has just chosen his collaborators.

Mark, 1, 25:  “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!”

Et comminatus est ei Jesus, dicens: Obmutesce, et exi de homine.

Lets see how we can have that calm, that serenity, that peace over the temptation of anxiety and worry.

This is a meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai, at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto.

For other meditations, see: https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall, Album Multiplicity 2017

A Meditation by Fr. John Lopez Agundez from Calgary on how to educate our heart, and channel our passions for the true, the good and the beautiful. God promises the prophet Ezekiel that he will give him a heart of flesh (Ezek 11, 14-20), one that will replace his heart of stone. Let us meditate on what God asks of our own heart.

Thumbnail: Prophet Ezekiel, by Michelangelo, Sistine chapel, Rome.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria Lascia ch'io Pianga, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfzyssUBG7XmFL84cWqjxw/videos

Today, August 9, is the 80th anniversary of the death of St. Edith Stein, killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz along with thousands if other Jews.

She was a profound and an intense woman. Just look at her photo as a Carmelite, with those penetrating eyes. It is said she was always an over-achiever. Born in Germany in 1891, she studied under Edmund Husserl, and converted to Catholicism, and eventually known by her religious name, St. Teresa Benedicta of the cross. How beautifully she embraced the cross that God sent her, and her people. Here is a meditation to help us deep in the meaning of humility. Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Copper Ridge Conference Centre, north of Vancouver, BC.

Music: Bert Alink, Mossy Garden.

Thumbnail: The so-called "passport" photo taken in the doorway of Cologne Carmel. A passport picture that Edith Stein (1891–1942) had to have taken for her passport (ca. December 1938-1939) before moving to Echt, Netherlands.

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Lk 24, 35-48: The disciples on the road to Emmaus had realized that their hearts were burning within them. It was afire of longing to be with the master, to stay with him. Mane nobiscum Domine, was the prayer that expressed that inner fire.

But in that moment of agitation, he comes among them and says peace be with you. Shalom. A common Jewish expression. But here it has the sense of salvation.

We must seek to be like a calm lake, where the sun is easily reflected. But if we are agitated, we are like a lake with waves, ripples, the sun glistens, but is not truly reflected like in a mirror.

Before you make any decision, you must be at peace. You must be tranquil. You must be serene.

Anxiety seems tone growing. It can be stifling, almost paralysing. Even in small things. Some saints were as prone to worry and anxiety as the rest of us are. But, by placing their trust in the Lord's presence and care, they were able to overcome their fears.

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre, Toronto, April 18, 2021

Music: Andrien Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

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This is a summary of a talk given by Juan Luis Lorda during the 23rd Day of Priestly Encounters, in Valladolid in 2015. We are made up of intellect, will and affectivity, or, in more general terms, we have a heart. But what this exactly means is somewhat opaque and hard to define. How does the heart help us in our decisions? There is a fascinating discussion of classical and modern authors, in particular Dietrich Von Hildebrand's book, The Heart (1965). Also I try to examine the essential relationship between the heart, and our affinity to virtue, or how one ought to live an upright life.

Thumbnail: Auguste RODIN (1840-1917), Plaster bust of Camille Claudel (around 1882).

A meditation preached at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on September 29, on the feast of the three Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.

Today’s Gospel from the 26th Sunday of Ordinary time does refer to a man casting out devils, and these spirits are bad angels. They too were created by God, but then they disobeyed, freely, they chose wrongly, out of pride.

St. Josemaria evoked them for the first time in October, 1932 while on retreat in Segovia. He established each one to intercede over the apostolates of Opus Dei.

Music: Original music by Michael Lee, of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Archangel Michael Vanquishing Satan, painting by Raphael Sanzio 1518, in the Louvre.

The passage in today’s first reading from the book of Daniel is the account of Suzanna who is falsely accused by two corrupt elders (Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62). The drawn out account of Suzanna who was spied upon by two elders taken over by their lust for her. The reading uses a fascinating turn of phrase about the temptation of these two men: it says “they suppressed their consciences and would not allow their eyes to look to heaven”. To suppress one’s conscience is a serious thing to do.  Another translation says: they perverted their own mind. So that means not listening to the gentle call of the conscience within us is a form of perversion. We would turn away from you and rupture something within us.

Eric

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September 29th is feast of the Archangels. From Kintore College, Fr. Eric Nicolai invites us to consider the role of the archangels in the history of salvation. When were they created by God? What happened to Satan in the battle with Michael? Each Archangel was invoked by St. Josemaria when he was on silent retreat in Segovia in 1932. They would protect the different apostolates of Opus Dei: St. Michael would watch over celibate numeraries, St. Gabriel would be in charge of supernumeraries, and St. Raphael of young people.

Music: Handel, Lascia ch'io pianga (1711), guitar by Bert Alink.

For other meditations see www.youtube.com/ericnicolai

Matt 25, 14-30: You have been faithful in small things: come and join in your master's happiness.

In this 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the last of the liturgical calendar before Christ the King, the Church presents us with the Gospel of the talents. The story of the master who settles his accounts with his servants. We all love to hear these words: ”well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibility." Or I will entrust you with much.

Good and faithful servant. For what? For being faithful, dutiful in little things. This includes your abilities, but also all the amazing apostate you can do. Your example with friends, to help them to pray. Your good works with them. Peace and fraternity at home. Ability to work. To teach them to work.

But even among successful people with house and family and job, it is always sad to see wasted talent, since people never plan to squander their talents. They may fail to use them, usually not because they decide to ignore them, but because they never decide to make them fully fruitful. 

God does not want us to do shoddy work, but this can be confused with a fruitless perfectionism. Have I fallen into the trap of perfectionism?

Music: Mozart: Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt Van Ring, Parable of the talents, drawing in reed pen and bistre, c. 1652, Louvre collection.

More meditations on www.youtube.com/ericnicolai

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of High School students at Ernescliff College on April 24, 2023.

Today's Gospel is about Jesus walking on the water: as the apostles imagined he was a ghost, he said do not be afraid.

Jn 6:16-21: When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca (Arranged for guitar by Bert Alink).

Thumbnail: Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, Jesus walks on Water, 1849 St. Petersburg.

We have just begun today the novena to the Immaculate Conception. It starts with the feast of St. Andrew, the brother of Peter. The two became the most effective apostles ever, and they remained faithful to the end, both of them dying by crucifixion. Peter in Rome, Andrew in Greece. The novena has this tone of apostolic zeal. This sense of fervour that we want to be faithful apostles, and truly evangelize. Bring souls to Christ. Today it starts with the most iconic phrase from Jesus: I will make you fishers of men (Matt 4, 19). He did not say you will do certain things. You will do certain apostolic activities. Meetings, and invitations, clubs. No, you will be apostles, in every moment.

This is a shot meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College, Toronto, November 30, 2023.

Music: Handel, Rinaldo Opera, Aria "Lascia che io pianga" Arranged for guitar by Bert Alink. 

Thumbnail: Raphael cartoons of the miraculous Draught of Fish, 1515 in Victorian Albert Museum.

From the Gospel of Sunday 20th Week in Ordinary Time: Ignem veni mittere in terra, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur? I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! (Lk 12:49.)

Like Moses standing before the bringing bush, let us now take off our shoes, our sandals, because we are on holy ground, we are close to the love of God. In this oratory, we are used to coming in here, and we may forget that it is a truly holy place.

In the Bible, fire is often used to describe God’s burning love for men. St. Maximilian Kolbe is an example of a saint whose heart was on fire with the Love of God. How can my love of God spread like a wildfire?

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, Sunday, August 14, 2022.

Music: Calos Gabriel (1890 – 1935), Soledad, arranged by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Sébastien Bourdon Moses and Burning Bush 17th century Hermitage Museum.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Kintore College.

Luke 16:1-8: Jesus tells the parable of the shrewd steward:

‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” (...) ‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.’

In saving our soul and spreading the Kingdom of God, our Lord wants us to apply at least the same ingenuity and effort as people put into their worldly affairs or their attempts to attain some human ideal. 

Josemaría Escrivá wrote in The Way 317: "What zeal people put into their earthly affairs: dreaming of honours, striving for riches, bent on sensuality. Men and women, rich and poor, old and middle— aged and young and even children: all of them the same.

When you and I put the same zeal into the affairs of our souls, we will have a living and operative faith: and there will be no obstacle that we cannot overcome in our apostolic undertakings."

Well, where do you put your greatest energy and zeal? Where do you put the greatest efforts?

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Thumbnail: Der ungerechte Haushalter (The Unjust Steward) by Virgilius Solis 1534-1562, copper plate German Digital Museum. 

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John 14: Jesus said to his disciples: "If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words."

Yes, you are a living house, a home for God. But you should allow Him to do what He pleases to shape you into the person you need to be. This is applied to how faithfully we live our vocation.

A meditation preached on Sunday May 22, 2022 in Lyncroft Centre, Toronto.

Music: Andrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

Thumbnail: Gian Lorenzo Bernini St. Peter's Baldachino in Rome, the Holy Spirit, dated 1623-1634.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached today November 11: at the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month in 1918, the bugle sounded to announce the ceasing of all hostilities. Today we remember the fallen.

Now Poppy is emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields" written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row, 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the Dead.

Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie 

In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 

In Flanders fields.

A meditation preached at Kintore College by Fr. Eric Nicolai on October 27, 2022. Today is the Father’s birthday, born in exile in France in 1944. So that makes him 78. Still young in spirit. Since 2016 he has been the Prelate, but known to all of us as the Father. Since Pope Francis’ motu propio, Ad charisma tuendum, on 14 July 2022, his elevation to the episcopacy is no longer an option. What does all this mean for us?

Music: Tan Buen Ganadico, originally composed by Juan del Encina (1469-1529), here sung by the choir of the Roman College of Holy Mary.

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Catherine Labouré was a nun in the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity on Rue du Bac in Paris.  On November 27th, 1830 Our Lady appeared to her and entrusted Catherine with the task of forging of the Miraculous Medal. The Virgin said that the medal would be a sign of love, a pledge of protection and source of grace for those who would trust in it. The Virgin herself showed Catherine what the medal should look like. This medal started being circulated in France. She really did everything she could to get it into as many people as possible. Even the back side had an M for Mary, and a cross, and stars, and two hearts. Took on great popularity. She was canonized in 1947.

What is the role of popular piety in our life? Does a medal help? (A meditation preached at Lyncroft centre by Fr. Eric Nicolai)

Music: Handel Rinaldo opera, aria, Lascia ch’io pianga, arranged by Bert Alink.

Yesterday we had the passage from Luke about the blind man who is healed by Jesus also in Jerico. From Matthew we know the blind man’s name, Bartimaeus. Today Luke 19 tells us about another man, also in Jerico, but on the opposite side of the social spectrum. Not a poor blind man without power, money or standing. But a publican, a tax collector who worked for the Roman occupation, and his named is Zacchaeus. Both could not see Jesus: Bartimaeus because he was blind, Zacchaeus because he was too short. To be able to see Jesus he took initiative. This is an analogous to taking our formation more seriously.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Ernescliff College on November 21, 2023.

Music: Handel Rinaldo, Aria Lascia che io pianga, adapted for guitar by Bert Alink.

Bishop Alvaro quoted from an old letter of Saint Josemaria: The Father advises his children: "Endeavour to be in Mariano's school always. It is the school of little things." Saint Josemaria would sometimes sign his letters, "Mariano", as a way to honour our Blessed Mother. But the School of Mariano is all about the delicate drive to put love in the small things of everyday. Here is a meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at the Manoir de Beaujeu describes the heights of this school, and the dangers of getting a failing grade, like scruples and perfectionism.

St. Luke, evangelist and apostle, responsible for the Gospel and for Acts of Apostles.

A native of Antioch in Syria and a physician, and one of the early converts from paganism. He accompanied St. Paul on a considerable part of his missionary journey. He was also his companion while in prison at Rome. He was in the thick of it. He saw the growth of the Church. He saw the drama. But he remained faithful because he had converted to Christ. It had deep roots in his soul.

Luke's Gospel is, above all, the Gospel of the Merciful Heart of Jesus. It emphasizes the fact that Christ is the salvation of all men, especially of the repentant sinner and of the lowly. He also preserved some of the most touching of our Lord's parables, for example those of the lost sheep and the prodigal son. We thank him for having left such a beautiful witness of the life of Jesus. He wrote it down, with exquisite detail, especially about the infancy, also the prodigal son account.

Luke felt that one of the most powerful events in the Bible is a response to God’s call.  What does man say? Simple: Here I am, Lord. Mary said: ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. This is a word he expects to hear from all.

Thumbnail: Detail of St. Luke Drawing the Virgin by Rogier van der Weyden, 15th century; in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Music: Recordações do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged by Bert Alink.

Today Pope Benedict XVI turns 94. He was baptized on the very day that he was born. Re-born in the Holy Spirit. He affirmed in 2012 that he could say that life is good: "It becomes a true gift only if, along with it, we are given a promise that is stronger than any evil that could threaten us, if it is immersed in a power that ensures that it is good to be human, that there will be good for this person no matter what the future brings. Thus, with birth is associated rebirth, the certitude that, truly, it is good to be alive, because the promise is stronger than evil. This is the meaning of rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit: to be immersed in the promise that only God can make — it is good that you exist, and you can be certain of that whatever comes. With this assurance I was able to live, reborn by water and the Holy Spirit."

Today’s Mass is about going beyond human calculations.  John 6:1-15: Multiplication of loaves and fish.

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Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches a meditation from Lyncroft Centre on October 20, 2021.

Luke 11, 1-14: When the apostles saw the Lord go off to pray, I’m sure they wondered what he was talking about. They could see he was not in some sort of private monologue, just thinking things to himself, much less stewing over something that the pharisees had said. He was not brain storming on his own. He was clearly in conversation with someone. So they asked him to teach them how to pray.

Now he gives them a new name, that God is “our Father”, he is close to us, we can trust him.

Years later Paul would use Jesus’ own word for God: Abba.

Music: Mozart, Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink. www.museopen.org

Thumbnail: 15th-century French miniature (Courtesy of New York Public Library)

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this Introduction to a retreat for High School Boys at Cedarcrest Conference Centre, north of Toronto, January 20, 2024.

Saint Fabian and St. Sebastian. Two early Christian martyrs.

Luke 5, 12-16: The story of the leper. He lived in isolation, cut off from normal contact with others. Unable to interact normally. Looked down upon because of his contagion. He was forced to do weird things, like wear bells, and holler out warnings to others, unclean, unclean…Many thought he was like this because he must have sinned. He was getting his just rewards.

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean”.

Jesus stretched out his hand before even answering. Of course I want you to be clean. Of course I want you to be part of the community. He is not afraid of him. He is filled with mercy and compassion.

Thumbnail: J. Kirk Richards Christ among the lepers.

Music: Adrift among the infinite stars by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

It's the month of May, the month of Mary. Josemaria said: Our Opus Dei was born and grew up under the mantle of our Lady. She has been a good Mother, comforting us, smiling at us, helping us in the difficult moments of the blessed battle to bring forward this army of apostles in the world". It is amazing to see that when she appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in 1531 to Juan Diego. How can we increase our devotion this month? What can we do?

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College, May 7, 2022

Music: Iniquitates by Arnold den Teuling. from https://imslp.org. Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 

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Thumbnail: Piero della Francesca, Madonna del Parto, 1457. Museum of Monterchi, in the province of Arezzo, Italy.

The Victimae Paschali is an ancient sequence dating to the 11th century. It is an option to sing it or recite it during the Easter Octave. Fr. Eric Nicolai dives into this profound and ancient sonnet about the discovery of the empty tomb. Preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on April 1, 2024.

Music: Chant of the Easter Sequence by Sisters of Aquinas Victimae Paschali Laudes.

Thumbnail: Convento di San Marco, Resurrection and Women at the Tomb, fresco, Fra Angelico (ca 1400-1455). Photo taken by Catherine Pawluch.

In the Gospel of the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jesus takes the deaf man aside, away from the crowd. By the finger of God a real connection is made, and he can now hear the Word of God. It is by the finger of God that Jesus will write something in our hearts during prayer. This meditation was preached on September 8, 2024 at Ernescliff College in Toronto.

Music: Original music by Michael Lee.

Thumbnail: Orans figure from the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome.

A meditation preached at Lancemore centre in Toronto on November 4, 2024. In 2017, the Prelate of Opus Dei said this: “the current situation of evangelization makes it more necessary than ever to give priority to personal contact with people. This relational aspect is at the heart of the mode of doing apostolate that Saint Josemaria found in the Gospel narratives.” (Pastoral Letter, 14 February 2017, no. 9.)

Personal contact leads to friendship, and friendship is an expression of charity. That charity in Opus Dei gives us strong bonds. We live this charity through real fraternity. Like the phrase from Proverbs: Frater qui adiuvatur a fratre quasi civitas firma. A brother helped by his brother is like a strongly walled city. (Prov. 18, 19)

Music: Choir of the Roman College of Holy Mary in Rome.

Thumbnail: Nicaea in the Nuremberg chronicles.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft centre about Luke 14, 1-6, where Jesus asked whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

“Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. There in front of him was a man with dropsy, and Jesus addressed the lawyers and Pharisees. ‘Is it against the law’ he asked ‘to cure a man on the sabbath, or not?’ But they remained silent, so he took the man and cured him and sent him away."

By "lawful" they meant obligation. Whether the law permitted you or not. Sunday obligation during the pandemic. Do we have to go to Mass? What time do you have to go in order to fulfill the Sunday precept?

What if I arrive after the homily, before the creed? At the offertory? But could it be that with such questions, we don’t go there out of love, out of desire to be with you, Lord, but simply to fulfill an obligation? It seems to be forged in guilt. As though I had to only do things out of obligation, to ensure I pass, like an exam at school. Not really out of generous love.

Music: From Handel’s opera Rinaldo, Lascia ch’io pianga, played by Bert Alink

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, 100 Gilder Print, 1649.

Today, May 12, is the feast of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994). He was the first successor of Saint Josemaria Escriva. He was an engineer who became a priest and worked closely with Saint Josemaria Escriva until his death in 1975. His life was imbued with that "charism of normality" which characterizes all those humble people who reach the summit of perfection without doing anything out of the ordinary. Fr. Eric Nicolai preached in Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on May 12, 2022.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on August 29, 2024 at Kintore College, Toronto.

Matt 14, 1-12: The account of Herod’s court, with the trendy crowd, an atmosphere of sensuality, a mood of decadence, the latest fashions, everyone vying for attention and positioning themselves in the right place to be noticed. Naturally alcohol was predominant for everyone. Certainly no self-restraint, and as a result, all judgment was disordered, immature, uncontrolled and even abusive.
He was blinded by his own passions, because of what he saw. One of the greatest services we can render to people today is to awaken in them the desire for personal prayer, that silent, interior prayer of the heart so recommended by all the saints in the Christian tradition. 
London)

Music: 'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

July 26th is the feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim, parents of the Blessed Virgin. Anne is the Patroness of the Province of Quebec, and big celebrations take place today at St. Anne de Beaupré. Especially because of her relics there. Fr. Eric Nicolai outlines the origin of the devotion to Anne, and how we can become sons and daughters God, modelled on the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Preached July 26, 2021 at the Manoir de Beaujeu.

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Singularity, 2017)

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Thumbnail: St. Anne de Beaupré

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College on December 16, 2022.

In the first of his Infancy Narratives, Pope Benedict XVI places us at the very end of Jesus’ life as he stands in front of his accuser, Pontius Pilate. Jesus has already been beaten, one eye is swollen, he is bruised all over, and already has a crown of thorns. It's a sad sight for a king.

While he was interrogating Jesus, Pilate unexpectedly put this question to the accused: “Where are you from?”.

That was the question that was placed to him by his accuser at the end of Jesus’ life, and yet we can start to see an answer right now at the beginning as we consider his coming into this world.

Music: Die Schonsten Deutsche Weihnachtslieder, from YouTube.Berliner Mozartchor  Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. Berliner Mozartchor  Kling, Glöckchen, Klingelingeling.

Thumbnail: Gerrit Van Honthorst, Adoration of the child, 1619, from Uffizi Museum, Florence.

Matt 13, 44-46: The parable of the hidden treasure, and the fine pearl.

If we found a great treasure, we would do everything possible to safeguard it. Our vocation is like that hidden treasure, but also like that pearl, it is unique to us,  and we were allowed to find it. God has been working at it for years, just like a tiny pearl in its shell. Fr. Eric Nicolai describes the beauty of our life in Christ.

Music:Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink 

Thumbnail: Base of the Medieval Chalice of Abbot Suger (1081 – 1151). Now in the National Gallery in Washington DC.

Meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College: The dimensions of our apostolic task are outlined by two fishing scenes from the Sea of Tiberias, which offer a glimpse of the way Christians navigate through history. One is the Master’s forceful invitation to be daring – “Put out into the deep!” (Lk 5:4); and the other is the words of the Beloved Disciple, “It is the Lord!” (Jn 21:7), reflecting the attentive, perceptive faithfulness that enables us to recognise Jesus.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: KB den Haag 76 F 5, St. Bertin Bible abbey (France), c. 1190-1200.