Podcasts about eric nicolai

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto on December 6, 2025. The hymn of Our Lady, the Magnificat, (Luke 1, 46-55) is a pause in the infancy narrative, so that we can meditate on the events. It is as though we had to pause, think, catch our breath, and pray.“My soul magnifies the Lord,     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. Thumbnail: The Magnificat" from the Church of Reconciliation, the church of the Taize Community in FranceMusic: relaxing-piano-music-248868

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on December 6, 2025 in Lyncroft Centre, Toronto.The theme of the Visitation (cf. Lk 1:39-45). It starts with the annunciation in which the angel informs Mary about two miracles: she will be both virgin and mother of the Messiah, and Elizabeth will give birth, even in her old age. Mary goes with haste to bring her joy, and spread it to others in the family. This is an important role in our life during Advent.Thumbnail: Peter Paul Rubens, left panel of the Visitation from 1612 in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.Music: relaxing-piano-music-248868, from Hozana.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College in Toronto on December 3, 2025, on the feast of Saint Francis Xavier.Matthew 15:29–37 recounts Jesus healing many sick people by the Sea of Galilee. Matthew tells us about how there were large crowds of people. They were not just numbers to him, or statistics. They brought these people to him. The illnesses were varied. He made them whole again. There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves". But that clearly did not make sense. It was not logical, as the disciples barely had enough for themselves. But with that little contribution, those few loaves, and a couple of fish, that was enough for Jesus. It can be enough too in our apostolate.Music: O Holy Night by Christmas choir in Youtubetomp3.scThumbnail: Mosaic cycle Saint Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna 6th century, AD.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on the first Sunday of Advent in Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, November 30, 2025.Romans 13, 11: You know ‘the time' has come: you must wake up now: our salvation is even nearer than it was when we were converted. The urgency of readiness for God's appeal to our soul is the theme of Advent. Its a path that we ask God to teach us about. Psalm 25:  Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Vias tuas, Domine, demonstra mihi, et semitas tuas edoce me.Music: "In Dulce Iubilo", choir collection from: Die Schonste Deutsche Weihnachtslieder, ChristmasWorld by Zyx Music.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre, in Belfountain, Ontario, on November 21, 2025.The cunning ruse of the devil was a dialogue with Eve, in which she believed the devil's lie, and she disobeyed God's command. Sin lead to our death. But this truth is also an opportunity to ask for true conversion. Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on November 19, 2025 at Kintore College in Toronto. The topic is the Parable of the Talents from Luke 19:11-28.One day we will all arrive at that moment when our spiritual soul leaves our body, and goes off to judgment. The soul then ceases to vivify the body with the informing, animating principle we call life. The king responded to the man who had kept his one talent: Then why did you not put my money in the bank? On my return I could have drawn it out with interest.”

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of diocesan priests at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, on November 7, 2025.John 5:2: We can picture the scene of the pool at Bethsaida, where the paralytic lay for 38 years. He had no one to help him enter the water when it was stirred. He was lying on his mat, waiting with a large crowd of other sick people, but had given up hope that he could be healed through the pool. Jesus, after asking if he wanted to be well, commanded the man to "Rise, take up your mat, and walk," and he was instantly cured, picking up his mat and walking away.Jesus is inviting us to have hope, he's giving us the grace to rise up, and take our responsibility seriously. To get up and embrace our call.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College, October 31, 2025. We meditate of the lament of Jesus over the holy City of Jerusalem. What was this lament about? He wept over the city, feeling the pain of the souls that were hardened to God's appeals.Luke 13, 33: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you refused! So be it! Your house will be left to you. Yes, I promise you, you shall not see me till the time comes when you say:‘Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!'Music: Michael Lee of TorontoThumbnail: Enrique Simonet, Dominus flevit, Prado, Madrid, 1892

A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai, preached in Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, October 26, 2025, on the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14).Music: Stephen Lee of TorontoThumbnail: Rembrandt, Etching of St. Jerome kneeling in prayer, 1635. From artnet

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on October 15, 2025 at Kintore College, Toronto. Today we celebrate Theresa of Avila, this 16th century mystic, who died in 1582. Her conversion led her to reform her order, emphasizing poverty, prayer, and contemplative life. Juan Diego was her contemporary, thousands of kilometers away in Mexico. Both discovered the nature of confidence in God, gounded in the inside of the soul. Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, on October 10, 2025.Today this has become a response for us in the Way of the Cross as we are introduced to each station. We are meant to look at the representation. Sometimes a picture, sometimes a painting. Sometimes just a simple cross.V: We adore You, O Christ, and we praise YouR: Because, by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world. (Rise)We will say it today. This idea of the 14 stations started by those who could not journey to Jerusalem to spiritually participate in Christ's Passion. Pilgrims in Jerusalem would process to various locations, praying and reading scripture at each spot. Franciscans became the custodians of the Holy Land sites. They would start these virtual representations in churches in Europe. They became standardized to 14 stations. 

Luke 9, 57: ..they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.This expression of willingness, this desire to follow the Lord, no matter what he asks, no matter where the Lord takes our life, no matter the pain I experience, no matter what city you want me to go, is a deeply felt disposition that the Lord blesses. We see it particularly with Therese of Lisieux, and today with the beginnings of St. Josemaria's call, on October 2, 1928, the feast of the Guardina Angels.A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on October 2, 2025 in Lyncroft centre 2025.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Septemebr 29, 2025 at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto.John 1, 49-51: Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.' And then he added ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.'The three archangels, Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, all have their role in the history of salvation. They are also present in the history and apostolates of Opus Dei. Here's how.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Ivory panel at the British Museum of St. Michael, dating to the 6th Century.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario on September 25, 2025.Luke 8:4-15: With a large crowd gathering and people from every town finding their way to him, Jesus used this parable: ‘A sower went out to sow his seed.We are the crowd that the Lord is now addressing, as we see him now with eyes of faith. You see him as he speaks there in the Gospel.Music: Michael Lee of TorontoThumbnail: Jean-Francois Millet, The Sower, 1851.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows at Roseaire Conference center in Delray Beach, Florida.Stabat mater dolorósajuxta Crucem lacrimósa,dum pendébat Fílius.At the Cross her station keeping,Stood the mournful Mother weeping,Close to Jesus to the lastIt is these tears and this sorrow that she embraced heroically today. But she did this as she co-redeemed with her son. Let us ask the light today to understand and deeply integrate in truth, what this all means for us, this start, this dolorosa, this lacrimosa. 

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, at Roseaire Conference Centre in Delray Beach,Florida, September 13, 2025.In his encyclical, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI explained that hope can be performative not merely informative. Christian hope is not just knowledge or belief about the future. There is more:  There is dynamic power that changes how people live and act in the present. Hope does something. It can make us bold and daring in approaching apostolic challenges.Music: Michel Lee, Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Roseaire conference Center in Delray Beach, Florida onSeptember 6, 2025.Lk 6: 1-15: Today we have another dispute of the pharisees with Jesus about the way of living the Sabbath. Jesus has authority over the Sabbath, he is Lord of the sabbath. He wants us to live out this time of rest in a way that goes beyond mere external compliance. Is it possible that there could be more of that trust in God? Less preoccupation. More of an abandoned prayer, to a God who loves us dearly, who cares for us, who has a plan for us, and uses our weakness, our limitations for his plans?Music: Michael Lee, TorontoThumbnail: Vincent Van Gogh, The Prayer, 1882.

This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Roseaire Conference Center in Delray Beach, Florida, on September 3, 2025. At the beginning of this annual course, we experience a feeling of appreciation, a sense of indebtedness and gratitude because God has wanted us here for something good. He has wanted something from my life. He wants all my heart, all my soul, all my mind.Like Gregory the Great (+603), today's memorial, we want to come out of this truly revamped and renewed. Give thanks because we will be filled with a new oil change, high standard oil, a time to reinvigorate our strength, time to rest, time to live fraternity and to be with Our Lord. Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation outside in the woods on the memorial of the beheading of John the Baptist at Camp Caribou near Barry's Bay on August 29, 2025. The church celebrates both his birth and his death. The to the death prelude is important: Mark 6, 14-16:  King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” Others said, “He is Elijah.” And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”  But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”Then comes the flashback that explains this. Not all give their lives in martyrdom, but all saints were faithful to the end. We too, are part of that long chain of fidelity.

A meditation preached in the woods by Fr. Eric Nicolai at camp Caribou near Barry's Bay, Ontario.Matt 23: 13-22: Jesus said: ‘Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who shut up the kingdom of heaven in men's faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.And the one most demanding statement from our Lord, the most uncompromising , harsh, forceful, consequential, indomitable, is the truth is about hypocrisy. It must be counteracted by unity of life.Thumbnail: Screen grab from the movie, The Godfather.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on August 17, 2025 at Lyncroft centre in Toronto.Luke 12:49: “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!Lord, you have come to cast something in my life. What is this fire?You want my life to show the fire of love.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre in Toronto, preached on August 2, 2025, on the invitation to contemplation. We start with the scene of the transfiguration on Mount Tabor, where Peter is so captivated that he says: It is good that we are here. (Mark 9, 5)Domine, bonum est nos hic esse.What is the light that we must see to be dazzled in our contemplation of the divine?Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Carl Heinrich Boch - Transfiguration of Jesus, 1872, Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on July 25, 2025, the feast of St. James, at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto. Jesus called James and his brother John as they mended their nets on the Sea of Galilee. Their mother approached Jesus, asking that her sons be seated on either side of him in his kingdom. Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking.” Jesus turned to the brothers: “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” “We can,” they declared. James was, in fact, the first apostle to share in the cup of martyrdom, under Herod Agrippa around the year 44. Saint Josemaria loved that readiness to follow Jesus, to go all the way. He underlined their response, "Possumus". We can frame this in terms of our readiness and openness to be well formed: to have the piety of children and the doctrine of theologians.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: James the Apostle, detail of the mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, 6th century.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Hawthorn School for Girls in Toronto.Matthew 13:1-9: A sower went out to sow. Jesus at the lakeside. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!'The beauty of the hundredfold sown in souls. The Lord seems to speak with urgency, and with joy at the thought that his grace can indeed be sown in souls who will give many fruits, hundredfold. We have the desire to be that good soil, to make for a large tree, where the birds of the air can rest.The seed fell into a mystical soul of Saint Bridget of Sweden, that brought many visions, a deep contact with the infancy of Christ.The seed fell iinto the souls of these great saints. But it can fall into our soul too.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Nativity, by Gerard David, 1495, Vienna Art History Museum

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto. The verse from the psalm: “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:2). To thirst like that is a deep desire nestled in the recesses of our heart. Our prayer now is an occasion to explore the inner chambers of our lives.  We should do so with sincerity and simplicity.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto, Ontario.Thumbnail: Jan Van Eyck, The Lamb of God, Ghent Altarpiece, 1432

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation in ernescliff College on July 11, 2025, the feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia. The Lord sent out the apostles, his ambassadors, he sent them out, telling them to heal, to resurrect the dead. That they should bring their peace upon the houses they visit. Your peace will fall upon them.

A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, June 7 2025. There is this incredible line in St. Paul in which he speaks of having the same sentiments that Christ Jesus had (cf. Phil 2:5). “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”To empty ourselves like Christ, we must step down from our throne of self-importance.Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto on May 28, 2025.Jn 16, 12-15: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come.Music: Creg Riley Westarmusic. Suspended In Amber WSR596 Unanswered-Prayer_FULL_WSR59641Thumbnail: Detail from Pentecost mosaic, Rosary Basilica in Lourdes, France.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College on May 18, 2025. Upon entering the oratory, I notice the holy water font had a large artistically inscribed text just over the font itself, you can see it in large letters just as you dip your finger into the water: Domine, si vis, potes me mundare. Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean (Matt 8, 3). These are the beautiful words of a leper, who on his own initiative, elbowed his way through the crowd, he came up to Jesus and made this humble petition.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Jean Marie Melchior Doze Jesus Healing the Leper, 1864, housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes, located in Nîmes, France

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on May 18, 2025, at Lyncroft Center in Toronto.The Lord took care to leave a deep impression on the disciples, the apostles, when he gave them the mandatum novum. (John 13)It was like a special legacy that he wanted to leave behind. They remembered the words, his tone, but they especially remembered his gestures of tenderness and the warm tone of his voice when he knelt in front of them and washed their feet.They never forgot that night. It stayed imprinted on their brain.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on a day of recollection in Ernescliff College on May 11, 2025.I saw photos of Pope Leo XIV visiting Santa Maria Maggiore, praying in front of the Icon of Our Lady, Mother of God. She is showing us the child. She is showing us her son during the month of May when we have recourse to her.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.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.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Icon of Mary in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lancemore Centre in Toronto on May 11, 2025. We all must grow in fraternity. If the centres is like a garden, all the flowers need light, all need water. There is always somebody caring for the cleanliness, showing interest in people coming. Let us examine how we cultivate this special atmosphere around us.Music: Regi Stone, All Heavens Declares. Straight Arrow records, 2003.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on April 27, 2025 at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto.John 20, 21-23: After saying this he breathed on them and said:‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive,they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.'He had to breathe on them to give them that power. The breath of the Holy Spirit, like a sweet aroma that touched them, that they breathed in, and somehow stayed in them as a supernatural power.Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at St. Aidan's parish in Toronto, on April 22, 2025.The nature of the Easter Octave is that it be filled with joy. This year it is mingled with a sorrow, and upheaval in which we feel orphaned, but also weighed down by the urgency of the moment. The Church really needs a shepherd. It needs its vicar. We are forlorn.Dic nobis Maria, quid vidisti in via?Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way.A big concern had been who would remove the stone. We must nurture the optimism that is proper to Easter, and maintain it all our life.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on March 19, 2025. Joseph was in a state of emotional upheaval, until God told him in a dream what was happening with Mary. He knew what he had to do. He did not turn around in circles. Joseph's response was immediate: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Mt 1:24). Obedience made it possible for him to surmount his difficulties and spare Mary.The imagination has been called "The Crazy Woman of the House." How can Joseph intercede to help us put our imagination under better control?Music: Original track by Michael Lee of TorontoThumbnail: Mosaic from St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to university students at Ernescliff College in Toronto on March 11, 2025.Matt 5, 20: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.He speaks of virtue that is not deep. Only surface depth. Merely appearance. Its a real challenge that the Lord offered us. He wants something deeper, a more authentic line from you and me.Music: Original track of Michael Lee of Toronto, Ontario.Thumbnail: J. Kirk Richards of the judgment of Christ by Pilate.

A meditation preached at Ernescliff College by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Sunday March 9, 2025.Luke 4, 1: Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days.We picture now led by the spirit, docile and at one with God's plan. He is not resisting. As man, as the word incarnate, he is fulfilling his purpose, that now starts within moment of human detachment. Why does Jesus go to the desert? Why did he need to go out?Music: Michael Lee of Toronto Thumbnail: Roualt, 1937

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on March 1, 2025.The ancient hymn that I have heard you sing so beautifully right here is the Anima Christi, the soul of Christ.O bone Jesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te.O good Jesus, hear me. Within your wounds conceal me. Do not permit me to be parted from you.The wounds of Christ, a sign of the intensity of His love for us. They would not heal if he had not risen. What do they mean for us today?Music: Original music by Michael Lee of Toronto.Thumbnail: Caravaggio, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas 1601, Sanssouci Picture Gallery, Potsdam.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto, on March 1, 2025.Convertímini ad me in toto corde vestro, in ieiunio et fletu, et in planctu, dicit Dóminus. Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning, says the Lord.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft centre in Toronto on February 23, 2025.Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. (Lk 6, 27)They are jarring words, fighting words, discordant for our secularized society, but nevertheless, true and authentic divine words that seem to ask so much of us. They have been handed down to us over the centuries so that they be like the blueprint of our life.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Centre on February 14, 2025. This is a new audio, the last was the wrong file uploaded by mistakeMother of Fair Love. Learning how to love with the help of Our Lady. It is not in the Litany. Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis, Mother of Fairest Love. Beautiful love.Beauty is a wounding experience that moves us beyond our mundane lives, creating a longing for something greater. Beauty and truth are intrinsically linked. The absence of one can lead to the denial of the other, and both are essential to human flourishing.Music: Komm, süsser Tod, BWV 478, played on guitar by Bert Alink.

A meditation about heaven, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai during a retreat at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, on February 15, 2025. Pope Benedict XVI emphasized that heaven is not an abstract concept or imaginary place, but the true reality of God's presence. He said heaven is not a departure from the world but a "new mode of presence to the world. Its not a physical location in the cosmos.Music: 'Moonlight' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.comThumbnail: The oculus of the Pantheon, Rome.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on December 31, 2024 at Shelbourne Conference centre in Valparaiso, IN. The story of St. Gregory the Great (590 to 604) having a vision of Christ during his Mass. Christ is surrounded by all the instruments of the passion. It became a devotional piece to meditate on the cross, to look upon it, and dicern its layers of meaning in our life. Music: Helios relaxing music Into The Woods Thumbnail: Simon Marmion, The Mass of St. Gregory, 1460, Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to High School students in Beamsville, Ontario ,on February 2, 2025. Today is the feast of the presentation. It is a feast of pour Lady, but really focused on Our Lord who is being presented by his parents in the temple. It was the law of Israel that each first born should be presented to the Lord, 40 days after his birth. They are complying with the Mosaic Law. It is his mission. He is presented, offered, given over, and his parents do so with faith, knowing his purpose more than anyone. Music: Original track by Michael Lee, of Toronto. Thumbnail, Peter Paul Rubens, Presentation in the Temple, sketch, 1632, Naala Nura, ground level, Grand Courts.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Hawthorn School in Toronto, on January 23, 2025. There is one line by St. Josemaria that might encapsulate a mystery, and a mission. A fundamental truth that is both very clear, yet very mysterious. Both exciting and scary. Something that applies to all of us and is clear as the day, but is interpreted as not really applying to us, but just to a few. There is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations (Conversations, 114) It is that something that is still mysterious, still not fully articulated, perhaps vague or tenuous that we still need to bring to life, and apply to ourselves today with hope.

This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on at Lyncroft centre in Toronto, January 19, 2025. You may have heard that Pope Francis has published his autobiography, published by Penguin Canada, now that he is an old man, and his pontificate has lasted longer than anyone expected. Here is what he tells his readers: “If one day you are overcome by fears and worries, think of that episode in the Gospel of John, at the marriage at Cana (John 2:1– 12), and say to yourselves: The best wine has yet to be served.”

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on January 15, 2025 in Kintore College, Toronto. The Gospel today from Mark 1:29-39, tells us about some of the sick that Jesus healed, and the demons that he expelled. We see this at the beginning of the Jubilee Year of Redemption. It is a year of hope, as described by the Bull of Indiction, Spes non confudit, established by Pope Francis. Music: Regi Stone, Regi Stone, All Heaven Declares, 2003 Straight Arrow Records. Released in 2003. Thumbnail: Pope Francis opening the Holy Doors.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto on December 9, 2024, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, her preservation from all sin, meant that not even a tiny shadow of darkness existed in her soul. Knowing this was the product of a process.  First the Christian people realized it, then theologians discussed it, and gradually the Church became more and more aware of what it means to say she was full of grace, the holiness of the mother of God.The realization that she was redeemed in a unique way, right from the moment of her conception.Music: Regi Stone, All Heaven Declares, YouTube music

Fr. Eric Nicolai peached this meditation on December 4th, 2024 at Kintore College. Today's Gospel is from St. Matthew St. Matthew 15, 29-37, about the multiplication of loaves and fish. Crowds had followed him. So many people were attracted to him. And Matthew gives a brief description of these people: they were lame, blind, deformed, mute, and many others. These people with all these infirmities could not have gotten there on their own.  They needed friends or family to get around, or to help them understand what Jesus was saying. All this moved the heart of Jesus. He was moved by the suffering, he saw people hindered by their limitations and their pain, but I think he saw beyond that, he was also touched by the generous solidarity of people around them. People helping them to get their food, to protect them, guide them, and encourage them. Music: Regi Stone All Heaven Declares from Catholic Music Youtube channel Image:

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on December 3, 2024 at Ernescliff College, Toronto. Jesus addresses a word of hope to His disciples: “Stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand” (Luke 21, 28). During the time of advent, a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord, we may feel a faint whisper of sadness, maybe discomfort. The Lord invites us to stand erect. This is what the life of Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552) was like. What an example of zeal and apostolate. Music: Regi Stone, All Heaven Declares, from Catholic Music Youtube channel