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.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on October 18, 2024 at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto. Luke the Evangelist was born a Greek and a Gentile from Antioch in Syria. Luke is symbolised by the ox, a symbol of strength and of sacrifice. But also Luke wanted to preserve the face of Mary for us. He is the painter of Mary: Tradition says he produced the first devotional icons of the mother of God. He preserved her yes to her vocation. He'll help preserve our yes to the vocation to Opus Dei.

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

Thumbnail: Luke Painting the Virgin, by Giorgio Vasari 1565 Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence.

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

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches a meditation in Kintore College on May 13, 2023. We are unique with are own personal stories. Yet we have a lot in common, a series of bonds that holds us together with a common vocation, a common faith in which we are united. There is real communion among us, we are not isolated verses. Compendium: 194. What is the meaning of the “communion of saints”?

This expression indicates first of all the common sharing of all the members of the Church in holy things (sancta): the faith, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, the charisms, and the other spiritual gifts. At the root of this communion is love which “does not seek its own interests” (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Music: Francisco Tarrega, Lagrima, played on guitar by Pepe Romero.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches to Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on May 6, 2023. We can ask him to stir up the fire of our faith. Put little twigs and branches into the fire. The best twigs to get that faith raging is the devotion to our mother, as Mother of God.

It may be small now, but little aspirations, glances at images of our Lady are there to awaken something within us. Josemaria would as to “Stir up that fire of faith. Christ is not a figure that has passed. He is not a memory that is lost in history.” Mary seems to stir up devotion in us. She awakens our faith and makes us strong.

Thumbnail: Abraham Bloemaert Virgin and Child 1625 Art Gallery of Ontario

John 14, 1-6: ’Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father’s house;

if there were not, I should have told you.

I am going now to prepare a place for you,

and after I have gone and prepared you a place,

I shall return to take you with me;

so that where I am

you may be too.

You know the way to the place where I am going.’

Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:

‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.’

The Lord Jesus understands the internal upheaval of the apostles. He sees clearly that they are troubled, that they are anxious and nervous. I may not even have shown externally, but he could read their hearts well. Now he reads our hearts and invites us to be men and women of peace.

Music: Tears keep flowing by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Mission of the Apostles. Byzantine ivory plaque. Paris, Musee du Louvre 10th century. From article by Robert Bergman, "A School of Ivory Carving in Arnalfi", Metropolitan Museum of Art Journal (v. 9 1974).

John 10, 11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai at the start of a university retreat at Kintore College in Toronto. On the theme of the good shepherd, whether we actually hear his voice.

Thumbnail: William Holman Hunt Hunt light of the world, 1851, Keble College, Oxford.

Music: Ernesto Nazareth, Confidencias, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on April 26 2023. The message “Be perfect...” might cause us to wilt. How can I be perfect even as a human being, much less “as the Father is perfect” – the Infinite, Omnipotent God whom I cannot see, whom (it seems) I know only from a distance? This is an impossible vocation! Indeed it is... if I am relying only on my own efforts. This is why a Gospel reduced to mere human moralism is always either oppressive or watered down to a purely human proposal.

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.

Preceding the account of the washing of the feet, St. John says: John introduces this gesture. It is not present in the other synoptics: “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1).

He loved them to the end. We should reflect on the meaning of such a phrase, whether in my life, in your marriage, it can be said I have loved, and served to the end of my abilities, or 80% or 50%, or if I have given a lot but then seek out compensations in giving myself extra comforts or other forms of compensation. Or maybe it’s 90% at work, but only the leftover at home.

This is a meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Ernescliff College at a recollection on April 12, 2023.

Thumbnail: Christ Washing the Feet of the Apostles by Meister des Hausbuches, 1475 (Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).

Music: Ernesto Nazareth, Confidências (played by Bert Alink) Museopen.org.

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We are in a dark world, but the light of heaven streams in like a beam of luminosity, and hope, represented by that Easter pillar of light. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto about the meaning of the Easter Candle and the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians: Death, where is thy Sting? (1 Cor 15, 55).

Thumbnail: The Harrowing of Hell, Russian 15th century icon, St. Petersburg.

Music: A heart that knows its Jesus is living, BWV 134 - II Aria: Auf Gläubige, singet die lieblichen Lieder, open source, from museopen.org.

Holy Thursday includes two important celebrations. The Chrism Mass where all the priests renew their priestly vows, and the bishop blesses the holy oils. It commemorates the Lord’s institution of the priesthood. That's in the morning.

But tonight is the commemoration of the commandment of charity, the mandatum novum, and the institution of the Eucharist, where he ask to do this in memory of me. The power of a memory that can actually bring him back alive.

Thumbnail: Pope Francis washing the feet of inmates at a juvenile detention in the outskirts of Rome, 2023.

Music: Ave Verum Corpus natrium William Byrd, 17th century.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Ernescliff College

about the beginning of Holy Week and the mysterious figure mentioned in the prophesies of Isaiah: the Man of Sorrows. In Isaiah he was a mystery, now he will take on a face, and a name, Jesus of Nazareth.

Music: Prelude -Cello Suite 3- J.S. Bach. BWV 1009. For guitar.

Thumbnail: Roberto Oderisi Italian, The Man of Sorrows with Instruments of the Passion, c. 1354 Cambridge (MA), Harvard Art Museums.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on August 25th, 2024, the twenty-first Sunday of Ordinary time (year B).

The focus is John 6, the denouement of the passages on the bread of life.

John 6, 60-62: After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

‘It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

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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Today is the solemnity of the Annunciation, an important feast that the church celebrates during Lent. At Mary’s obedient Fiat, humanity is wedded to divinity. It can be thought of as a precursor to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and imparts to her the gift of all gifts, a divine son. She is the new Eve that restores those lost gifts. We too can obey the divine invitation. But how do we do it?

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft centre in Toronto on the solemnity of the Annunciation.

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Fr. Eric Nicolai comments on the effects of the gospel account of Jesus and the young rich man (Mark 10, 17-22). He had potential, that's why Jesus chose him. When you see someone with qualities, that works well, and seems to be a good person, you and I think of their potential. The power to become something more. You think of something still unrealized. Its latent within them. Undeveloped. Embryonic. There is a hidden future that gives you hope. What about our apostolic potential?

Preached in the Manoir de Beaujeu, March 22, 2023.

Thumbnail: Jesus and disciples fishing, medieval stained glass detail, Canterbury Cathedral 12th cent. Photo by Chris Beckett, Flickr.

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

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.

The Greek word "apostoloi" means “sent.” It refers to Christ's call to the disciples to continue his own mission: proclaiming the kingdom of God throughout the world.

But what are these apostles proclaiming? Are they giving an instruction about what Jesus spoke about? Were they giving classes, where people sat down and took notes? What was the essential idea that people took away with them after Peter spoke in Jerusalem? One simple idea articulated by Pope Francis: The name of God is mercy. Have you mentioned this to others?

A meditation on the Kerigma of the early Church, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, at Lyncroft Centre, March 15, 2023.

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

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.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on March 4, 2023. 

During Lent our goal is that of St. Paul:  "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (Gal 2, 20).

This identification with Christ has 4 steps in a staircase towards Christ Jesus. The first step in this staircase is the most superficial one: Corporal mortification. The next step in the staircase is the care of little things. The third step is interior mortification. Finally the most difficult step, number 4, is passive mortification.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca (Guitar Bert Alink) 

Thumbnail: First Temptation of Christ. Stained glass possibly from the collegiate church of Saint-Etienne. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, C. 1907-1919.

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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 at Ernescliff College, on February 28, 2023. Today’s first reading is from a chapter of Isaiah, an oracle that the prophet made, calling back the exiles in Babylon. Isaiah 55, 10: "And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it."

The image of rain and snow give us an idea of the refreshing nature of our prayer in Lent, and invites us to open the door to his presence.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Thumbnail: Rembrandt St Jerome Kneeling in Prayer Looking Down etching 1635, Galerie Michael artbrokerage.com

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Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Kintore College, Toronto, on February 20, 2023. It was in preparation for Lent.

Fulton Sheen defines dirt as matter in the wrong place. If clay is in the garden it is clay, if it is in the house it is dirt. The church then blesses this dirt to show that all things created are good and can be holy. She then smears this dirt on our foreheads saying at the same time the profound spiritual message…Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

In his Lenten message, Pope Francis mentions the scene of the transfiguration, explaining that we have to be like the disciples who made the trek up the hill to follow Jesus in a kind of retreat. It's an uphill path, like a mountain trek that requires effort, sacrifice and concentration.

He says: The Gospel relates that Jesus “was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light” (Mt 17:2). This is the “summit”, the goal of the journey.

Thumbnail: JOHANN GEORG TRAUTMANN  The Transfiguration, ca. 1750 – 1765 Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity).

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.

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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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.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at a retreat for priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, near Montreal.

Matt 13:1-9:: That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.  Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.  Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.  As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  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. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

We are both soil, ground where the seed arrives, but also sowers ourselves, with the great responsibility of ensuring that the seed takes root, that what we sow with our ministry, with our example, with our good humour and our life, takes root in souls. People look up to us. If there has been loss of prestige and moral standing among priests it is because some had been bad sowers, but also because the seed of God’s word never took root in their soul. It fell but for different reasons didn’t grow, or died.

Thumbnail: Jean-Francois Millet 1854 The Sower. Boston Museum.

Music: Bert Alink, Mossy Garden.

A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai on the conversion of St. Paul. Preached at Lyncroft Centre, January 25, 2023.

Acts 3, 5-10: ‘I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I answered: Who are you, Lord? and he said to me, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.” The people with me saw the light but did not hear his voice as he spoke to me. I said: What am I to do, Lord? The Lord answered, “Stand up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do.” The light had been so dazzling that I was blind and my companions had to take me by the hand; and so I came to Damascus.

Music: Bert Alink, Mossy Garden.

Thumbnail: Caravaggio, Conversion of St. Paul, 1660, in Sea Maria del Popolo, Rome.

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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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.

This is the introductory meditation for a retreat at the Manoir de Beaujeu, near Montreal, on January 2, 2023, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai. 

Psalm 127: Nisi Dominus, Unless the Lord build the house: their labour is but lost that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city: the watchman waketh but in vain.

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

Thumbnail: Rembrandt,  Peter Denying Christ, 1660 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College on December 31, 2022 to inaugurate the New Year.

Today's first reading is from the book of Numbers 6, when Moses is told exactly how the priests are to bless.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

“‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you
 and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you
 and give you peace.”’

“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

This is one of the earliest blessing formulas conserved to us. In the biblical tradition, the contemplation of the face of God is associated with intimacy. How can we feel the face of God gazing upon us this year with all the hardships and challenges and joys that await?

Music: Nascosta Rosa, sung by the Roman College of Holy Mary in Rome.

Thumbnail: The Volto Santo di Manoppello, the Holy Face of Manoppello, Italy.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, December 21, 2022 at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto.

Phil 4, 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always”. Joy is at the heart of Christian experience. Pope Benedict XVI said that one of the great attraction of WYD was the joy that people saw. It is seen in young people, in the smiles of Pope Francis.

Pope Benedict XVI said “In a world of sorrow and anxiety, joy is an important witness to the beauty and reliability of the Christian faith.”

In a school you learn stuff. What are we going to learn today?

Music: Bert Alink, Mossy Garden, arranged on guitar.

Thumbnail: Raphael,  Sistine Madonna 1513 Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on December 18, 2022. Matthew relates it exclusively from the perspective of Saint Joseph, who as a descendant of David represents the link between the figure of Jesus and the Davidic promise. The angel appears to him in a dream, and he was able to discern God's will.

Music: O Holy Night by Christmas choir.

Thumbnail: The Dream of Saint Joseph by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779) Vienna Museum.

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This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of counsellors at Caribou Boys Camp, near Barry's Bay, Ontario. It was August 18, 2024, the 20th Sunday of Ordinary time, Year B.

John 6, 51-58: The tremendous discourse on the bread of life in Capharneum. Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. The only bread that could have come down from heaven would be the manna that the Jews discovered in the wilderness, in the book of Exodus.

Music: Original Track by Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Under the pines at Caribou Boys Camp.

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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.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on December 13, 2022 in a recollection for priests at St. Aidan's parish Toronto.

After the annunciation, Mary went with haste, 80 km away to Ain Karim. Not slowly, uninterested. The hill country of Judah, would have been understood as the land of David. Where he grew up. She went with meaning and a sense of purpose. This too is how we must see our vocation. Go with haste. It is the opposite of any form of procrastination in our duties.

St. Josemaria says that this is an act of loyalty:

Furrow 371: Turn your eyes towards the Blessed Virgin and see how she practises the virtue of loyalty. When Elizabeth needs her, the Gospel says that she went cum festinatione — joyfully making haste. Learn from her!

Music: Alfred Cottin, Habanera played by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Pieter de Jode II (1606–ca. 1674) after Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), The Visitation, 1625–74. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Today’s proper preface for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a synthesis of this mystery:

For you preserved the most Blessed Virgin Mary
from all stain of original sin,
so that in her, endowed with the rich fullness of your grace,
you might prepare a worthy Mother for your Son
and signify the beginning of the Church,
his beautiful Bride without spot or wrinkle.

She, the most pure Virgin, was to bring forth a Son,
the innocent Lamb who would wipe away our offenses;
you placed her above all others
to be for your people an advocate of grace
and a model of holiness.

And so, in company with the choirs of Angels,
we praise you, and with joy we proclaim: Holy….

A meditation on trust in God, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on the eve of the solemnity of the Immaculate conception.

Music: J. S. Bach, Prelude (Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009) on Museopen.org.

Thumbnail: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Immaculate Conception, 1767, Prado, Madrid. 

St. Matthew 17:9a, 10-13 in which the disciples asked Jesus if he was Elijah.

I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Lord. It meant to create a favourable environment, a place that made easy to operate your life. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on December 3, 2022.

Music: Amores de Estudiante by Carlos Gardel, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink 2018 Public domain in Canada

Thumbnail: Interior panels of the Braque Triptych. c. 1452, Louvre.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches on the feast of St. Andrew, Apostle, in Lyncroft Centre, Toronto. Saint Andrew is said to have preached the Gospel in Greece. There, in the city of Patras, he was martyred; he died nailed to a cross, like his divine Master. The priests of Achaia who witnessed his death write that his desire to be identified with Christ was so great that when he was being led toward the place of his martyrdom and saw the cross in the distance, he began to cry out what became a famous prayer; O bona crux, quæ decórem ex membris Dómini suscepísti "O good cross, made beautiful by the body of the Lord; long have I desired you, ardently have I loved you, unceasingly have I sought you out; and now you are ready for my eager soul. Receive me from among men and restore me to my Master, so that by means of you He may receive me who by means of you redeemed me.”

Music: Carlos Gardel, Amores de Estudiante, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink 2018 Public domain in Canada.

Thumbnail: Guillaume Courtois, Painting of the martyrdom of St. Andrew in the church of San Andrea Al Quirinale designed by G-L Bernini in Rome, 17th century.

Marana tha! Come, Lord Jesus!.  This is the very last word of the Bible, and it falls on the very last day of ordinary time. Tomorrow we will turn to advent, preparing ourselves for his coming at Christmas. What does it mean to be alert and ready for our death? Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College, Toronto on November 26, 2022.

Thumbnail: Tympanum from the Church of Ste-Foy, Conques, Paris, along the Way of Santiago. Romanesque.

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

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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Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre: St. Josemaria wrote in the The Way 301 about what he described as that little group of men or a handful of women in the midst of a world crisis. They had a readiness to fight, a deep desire to be saints, and a willingness to fight. He used military imagery.

A secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints.

God wants a handful of men 'of his own' in every human activity. And then... 'pax Christi in regno Christi — the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ'.

Music: Composed by Chiquinha Gonzaga, Lua Branca, arranged of guitar by Bert Alink.

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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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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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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College in Toronto on August 10, 2024. Yesterday was the feast of St. Edith Stein, Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. Beatified in 1987 then canonized in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.  She is one of the 6 patrons of Europe.

Both she and St. Lawrence (today's feast) were martyrs for the faith.

She was a Jew that converted after reading Theresa of Avila, and studying with Edmund Husserl. Then she went on to become a Carmelite nun. She was killed at Auschwitz.

In 1941 she wrote to a friend, who was also a member of her order: "One can only gain a "scientia crucis" (knowledge of the cross) if one has thoroughly experienced the cross. I have been convinced of this from the first moment onwards and have said with all my heart: 'Ave, Crux, Spes unica' (I welcome you, Cross, our only hope)." Her study on St. John of the Cross is entitled: "Kreuzeswissenschaft" (The Science of the Cross).

How does this fit into our vocation?

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre on November 2, 2022.

In the 19th century, Cardinal John Henry Newman loved the Anglican choral tradition. But he was especially enamoured by the Holy Mass. It was the point of connection with the past, with souls before us, and souls in purgatory. He felt so attracted to the Mass as this timeless ritual that would be the same reality during all ages. Indeed the Holy Mass is the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and for that reason it is efficacious.  We are present at Calvary.  Rather than merely remembering the life and death of Christ, we are present at it and partake of the eternal fruits which flow to us from the altar when the priest stands in the place of Christ and offers the Eternal Victim on the altar to God.

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

Thumbnail: Jan Van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece, panel from the mystical adoration of the lamb, 15th century.

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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College on the solemnity of All Saints, November 1st 2022.

I read a book that dramatizes in first person the personality of the Good Thief. As he looked at me, I thought he was trying to smile, and then he said, “I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.” He died that day, but we know he became St. Dismas. This is our dream. Saint Josemaria too had that dream: He would repeat that phrase: Dream and your dreams will fall short.

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

Thumbnail: Portico of Paradise, in the Cathedral of San Martin de Ourense, Spanish Romanesque.

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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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