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We began with the ashes on our forehead: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return" (cf.Gen 3:19). Pope Francis said: "The dust sprinkled on our heads brings us back to earth; it reminds us that we are dust and to dust we shall return."
This is the itinerary we now embark upon: Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. All geared to inner conversion. Will this be the best lent of my life? The liturgical colour has changed to purple. This will set the tone.
A meditation preached in Lyncroft centre in Toronto, by Fr. Eric Nicolai.
Music: A. Vivaldi, Nisi Dominus, RV 608 - IV. Cum dederit.
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Mark 10:17-27 The young rich man
This passage was used by JP2 for the first inaugural WYD back in 1985 in his letter "Dilecti Amici". Pope John Paul II explained that Jesus met a number of young people, but this meeting of Jesus with the young rich man was the richest in character, in content. It has a universal and timeless character. How have I responded to this call? This is a meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College in Toronto, on February 28, 2022.
Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink .
Thumbnail: Hans Memling, Portrait of a Young Man, ca. 1472–75 Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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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.
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A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Kintore College, Toronto, on February 14, 2022, the anniversary of the founding of the womens' branch of Opus Dei (1930) and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross (1943). How do they all fit together?
Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.
Photo of Saint Josemaria from 1967, from the Historical institute of St. Josemaria Escriva. https://www.isje.org/it/istituto-storico/
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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.
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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, recounted in Luke 2, 22-40. The aged Simeon said this child was "a light for revelation to the gentiles." Does Jesus really light up my life? Does this provide me with a unified narrative in everything I do?
Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.
"You Light Up My Life" written and composed by Joseph Brooks, and originally recorded by Kasey Cisyk for the soundtrack album to the 1977 film of the same title. It won best song in the 1978 Oscars.
Thumbnail: parchment originates from East Anglia, dated to 1310, in the National Library of Wales (Wiki Commons).
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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Kintore College in Toronto on January 31, 2022. A scribe, perhaps dazzled by all these wonders, comes up to Him and says: Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go (Mt 8:19). We only know Jesus’ answer: Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head (Mt 8:20). What does this answer mean?
Music: Claude Debussy, Clair De Lune L32, arranged for guitar by Angel Romero. Museopen.org
Thumbnail: Mosaic of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Rome, dating to the 6th century (Wiki Commons)
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Today is the 31st Sunday of Ordinary time (B), in which Jesus emphasizes the most important commandment of the Law of Moses: In Hebrew, the "Shema", the command to love God, and to love your neighbour as yourself. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches today (Oct 31, 2021) from Lyncroft centre in Toronto, outlining the 3 aspects of that love: Love of God, love of others, and love of self. Which one of those needs to be fortified now in my life?
Music: Andrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)
Thumbnail: Michelangelo, Wooden Crucifix, 1493-1494 (S.Spirito, Florence) from arthistory390 on Flickr.com
For more meditations, check my channel:
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Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on January 16, 2022, at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto. Luke 18:10: The pharisee and tax collector in the temple… Egotism has a lot in common with parasites... When it settles in the soul, there is no medication that can definitively expel it. It comes back again and again. It reproduces itself constantly. It reappears at the worst times and it takes us a while to realize the immense damage it does to us. So how can we get rid of it?
Music: Amazing Grace (Sublime Gracia) - Violin- Ayako Ishikawa, Internet music archive.
Thumbnail: Gustave Doré (1832-1883) from his "La Grande Bible de Tours", first issued in 1866: Pharisee and publican.
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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre. The feast of the Baptism of the Lord, a dimension of Epiphany, closes the Christmas season and opens it outward into Ordinary time. Also the 120th birthday of Josemaria, born in 1902.
Luke 3:15-16: A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Music: Amazing grace (Sublime Gracia) - Violín- Ayako Ishikawa on Internet Archive.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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We are all well aware that the figures that are always placed in the extremities of the nativity scene, far off, sometimes even forgotten, are the magi. Sometimes with their turbans and elaborate clothing, at times with their camels, always with their rich treasures for the child.
But why is Joseph often absent in these early representations? Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches to Lyncroft centre on January 2, 2022 and gives us an answer.
Thumbnail: fragments of sarcophagi displayed in the Pio Cristiano Museum - all carved in the 4th century
Music: Bach Prelude -Cello Suite 3 Openmusic.com
For more meditations, check my channel:
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Fr. Eric Nicolai streamed this meditation from Ernescliff College on December 23, 2021, about the Magnificat of Our Lady (Lk 1, 46-56)
In these days as we approach Christmas, we are filled with expectation. It is a combination of deep desire, and excitement at something apparently new, even though we know exactly what is going to happen.
Let us never loose a sense of newness to our life. We really have to be aware if we start feeling blazé, and get inured to a sense of wonder that is proper to this time. The magnificat of our Lady is a way to keep sense of thanksgiving to everything we do.
This will also be available on YouTube.
Music: Canción del camino by the choir of the Roman college of Holy Mary, Rome.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Pavillon Soulanges in Quebec on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Today Mexicans all over the world will be singing las mañanitas, with their sombreros, guitars, and violins. Here is the account of Juan Diego and his vision of our Lady. Plus words that connect this to the Eucharist.
Music: Recordações do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged by Bert Alink
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We are in preparatory phase: The octave to Christmas. Fr. Eric preaches about today's Gospel from St. Matthew on the genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1, 1-17)
For Matthew, two names are of key significance if we are to understand Jesus’ provenance: Abraham and David.
The story of the promise begins with Abraham, following the dispersal of mankind after the building of the Tower of Babel. Abraham points ahead to what is yet to come. He is a wayfarer, not only from the land of his birth into the promised land, but also on the journey from the present into the future. His whole life points forward, it is a dynamic of walking along the path of what is to come. It is really open to universality. This why Jesus would say, make disciples of all nations. This family will extend much further than you know.
Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink
Thumbnail: Francesco Mancini, Flight in Egypt, Pinacoteca Vaticana, 1679.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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Fr. Eric Nicolai begins the Novena to the Immaculate Conception at Ernescliff College, on November 30, 2021, 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. Jesus made them fishers of men. How does this fit into the Novena?
Music: Adeste Fideles (John Wade Francis), arranged by Bert Alink (2017).
Thumbnail: Immaculate Conception by Peter Paul Rubens (1628) Prado Museum, Madrid.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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On Day 2 of the Novena to the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Ernescliff College on the birth of Mary, and her realization of her divine vocation.
Music: Adeste Fideles by John Francis Wade (1711-1786), arranged for guitar in 2017 by Bert Alink
For more meditations, check my channel:
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In this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on November 10, 2021, Fr. Eric Nicolai reflects on aspects of the famous book "The Spirit of the Liturgy," by Cardinal Ratzinger (Ignatius press, 2000). It is strongly influenced by German theologian, Romano Guardini, who wrote his book of the same title in 1918. It is a deeper way to understand the nature of Christian worship, and in particular the Holy Mass.
Music: Mossy Garden, arranged by Bert Alink.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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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.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Kintore College on November 1, 2021, solemnity of all saints.
Psalm 145, 10-11. ”All Thy works praise Thee, O Lord, and Thy saints give thanks unto Thee: they show the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power.”
Today’s Office of reading in the breviary, from St. Bernard of Clairvaux: “The Saints have no need of honor from us; neither does our devotion add the slightest thing to what is theirs…. But I tell you, when I think of them, I feel myself inflamed by a tremendous yearning” (Disc. 2, Opera Omnia Cisterc. 5, 364ff.)
How inflamed am I to be a saint? Acts 5, 15: They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
People who passed within Peter’s shadow were healed, not by Peter’s shadow, but by God’s power working through Peter. These miracles of healing attracted people to the early Church and confirmed the truth of the teachings of the Apostles and the fact that the power of God was with them.
The shadow of his person healed them. Grant that we may cast the right shadow.
Music: Handel Opera Rinaldo, aria “Lascia ch’io pianga”, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.
Thumbnail, Peter healing with the casting shadow, by Massacio, Milan, c. 1425.
For more meditations, check my channel:
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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)
For more meditations, check my channel:
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