Show Notes
A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Hawthorn School for Girls in Toronto on May 20, 2026. During the month of May we prepare for Pentecost and also increase our devotion to our blessed Mother, Mary. There is an intimate connection between Mary and the Holy Spirit. Mary attracted the Holy Spirit like a magnet at the Annunciation, and when she was at the centre of the apostles at Pentecost. Two moments in which she served as a powerful attraction to draw down the Holy Spirit onto the world, onto the church, unto us and our priesthood. The two are connected. We need Mary, we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Music: Audiio MULVEY Awakening Awakening Instrumental Thumbnail: Juan Bautista Maíno (1581-1649), La Pentecôte 1615, Prado Museum.
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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai peached this meditation at a workshop on October 20, 2026, at Cedarcrest Conference in Belfountain, On. A few weeks ago the starting gun was fired for the 3-year preparation for the centennial. In his letter from October 2 2026, the Father used that phrase: "It is not a new beginning, but a new impulse toward fidelity.” Music: The light between us by Shaydow on Bend Sound. Thumbnail:
A meditation preached on October 4, 2026, by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ellerton Center in Toronto. As we begin these years of preparation for the centennial, we know that we have to continue to grow and mature in this initial yes that we gave to God. The yes of our vocation. We said yes to the invitation to of the Lord, who sent us out. The Prelate has framed in clear terms the purpose of the centennial: A grateful reflection on the past, accompanied by a humble examination of conscience, and a hopeful look towards the future (March 19, 2026). Music: Audiio_MULVEY_Awakening_Awakening_Instrumental Thumbnail: Masaccio, The Tribute Money, 1401, Brancacci Chapel, Santa. Maria del Carmine, Florence.
This meditation was preached at Ernescliff College, Toronto, on October 6, 2026. In 2002, Pope John Paul II pronounced this phrase in St. Peter's Square in front of thousands of faithful: "We declare and define Blessed Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer to be a Saint, and We inscribe his name in the catalogue of the Saints, ordaining that, throughout the universal Church, he be devoutly honored among the Saints. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In Dante's Divine Comedy, heaven is portrayed as the highest celestial sphere, the Empyrean, where the Blessed Trinity is adored with the Blessed Virgin and all the saints. Now we know that Saint Josemaría is there too. Music: enrique27naveda-cancion-triste-by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda Pixabay Thumbnail: The illustration "The Saintly Throng Form a Rose in the Empyrean" by Gustave Doré, created in 1868 for Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.
A meditation preached at Ernescliff College, Toronto, on October 2, 2026. Today is the memorial of the guardian angels. Exodus 23: "The Lord says this: ‘I myself will send an angel before you to guard you as you go and to bring you to the place that I have prepared." Moses guided the people, but did not enter the promised land himself. The Christological interpretation is that Jesus guides us into the true promised land by his grace. We all have a mission in this life, and our angel will guide us. Josemaria received the illumination about his mission on the memorial of the guardian angels. They would help him, and Opus Dei as a whole to mature in the mission. Music: enrique27naveda-cancion-triste-by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda Pixabay
Our Lord loves the poor: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” (Matt 11, 4-5) Our Lord includes this among the great wonders: Poverty. How can we live this virtue of detachment as priests? We have the example of the conversion of Zacchaeus, who gave his money to the poor and restituted. This is a meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to priests at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Stoney Creek, Ontario, on September 22, 2026. Music: enrique27naveda-cancion-triste-by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda Pixabay Thumbnail: Jean Colcombe, From Vita Jesu Christi by Ludolf of Saxony, French (Bourges), c. 1475-1500, Paris, BNF, MS Francais 178, fol. 89v_2. From http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/10/zacchaeus-little-man-in-tree.html