Afleveringen
-
A meditation preached at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on September 29, on the feast of the three Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.
Todayâs 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.
-
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
-
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation to a group of High School boys in the OneUp program at Ernescliff College, Toronto. Matthew 9:9-13: "As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, âFollow me.â And he got up and followed him."
By this short description, Matthew became one of the apostles of Jesus. Chosen specifically by Jesus himself. Jesus wants him to be part of this great adventure in the early church. He pointed at him, and Matthew pointed at himself, and all the publicans seem to point only at their own money, such as the 1599 painting by Caravaggio of the Call of St. Matthew in Rome.
Music: 'Jul' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com
Thumbnail: Caravaggio, The Call of St. Matthew in the Contarelli chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome.
-
Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on September 10, 2024, to a group of priests at Saint Aidan's parish in Toronto. The subject is the figure of Zacchaeus in Luke 19: âZacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.â 6 So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, âHe has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.â
-
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: âNo 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.â
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.
-
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.
-
Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on August 29, 2024 at Kintore College, Toronto.
Matt 14, 1-12: The account of Herodâs 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 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, âThis is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?â Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, âDoes this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?
âIt 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)
-
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, âI 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.â When the disciples heard this they were astonished. âWho can be saved, then?â they said. Jesus gazed at them. âFor menâ he told them âthis is impossible; for God everything is possible.â
Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)
Thumbnail: Halfway Lake, Camp Caribou.
-
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: âI 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.â Then the Jews started arguing with one another: âHow can this man give us his flesh to eat?â they said. Jesus replied:
âI 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.
https://www.caribouboyscamp.ca
-
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)
-
Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this mediation at Cedarcrest Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, August 2, 2024.
Eph 4, 17, 20-24: I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in Godâs way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.
provide for us that spiritual revolution. He can transform us. We must rekindle that faith, put it on fire.Watch out for the negative voice.
Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity).
Thumbnail:
-
A meditation preached at Ernescliff College on the feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 2024.
In the Old testament the prophet Daniel had a vision that foreshadowed the transfiguration: Thrones were set in place
and one of great age took his seat.
His robe was white as snow,
the hair of his head as pure as wool. (Daniel 7, 9-10).
The Transfiguration scene can help us consider what Heaven will be like. In it, some men - Peter, John and James - have an anticipated vision of the glory of God.
Music: Abide With Me by Henry F. Lyte, 1847, internet archive: Fox Aeternum.
Thumbnail: Raphael, Transfiguration, 1520. Vatican Museum.
-
A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario on August 3, 2024.
Matt 14, 1: Herod made a rash decision under the pressure of his passions and his human respect. We must be contemplatives. What does it mean to be a contemplative in the middle of the world?
Music: RecordaçÔes do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged Bert Alink.
Thumbnail: detail of the face of Christ by Rembrandt, 17th century.
-
A meditation preached to Lyncroft centre in Toronto, July 28, 2024. It is the 17th Sunday of Ordinary time, year B.
It is the account of multiplication of loaves and fish in John 6 in which the Lord asks the apostles to give the people bread, but then he does the miracle himself. It is an image of the apostolic mandate that we have received. We are apostles. Saint Josemaria said: you are not people who do good apostolic things, you do not do apostolate, you are apostles.
-
A recollection for priests at Saint Aidan's parish in Toronto, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on July 16, 2024. Based on the parable of the pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14). Two men in a temple, praying, doing a good thing, but with different results. A security camera might have made them appear as two men praying with their own style, or culture. But Jesus sees below the surface, and wants us to recognize ourselves in these men. Only one went home justified.
Music: Original track by Michael Lee from Toronto.
Thumbnail: Gustave Doré engraving from the illustrated Bible, published in 1866.
-
Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on July 16, 2024 at Ernescliff College in Toronto.
Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite, on July 16, 1251, and promised a special protection to those who would wear the habit, later the scapulary. All you had to do was wear this garment. Like a protective clothing, and stay faithful. This promise of our Lady boosted the Carmelites street cred. Our Lady became associated with one protecting. Theyâd emphasize Marian protection, her intercession, the importance of living a life of prayer and service.
Music: Original track by Micheal Lee of Toronto.
-
A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Chipnee camp for girls in the Durham region north of Toronto on July 11, 2024, the Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia.
Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.
-
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, âMy daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.â 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, âIf I can only touch his cloak I shall be well again.â Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her, âCourage, my daughter, your faith has restored you to health.â And from that moment the woman was well again.
Michael -
A meditation preached on July 1, 2024, Canada Day, at Tour des Pins Centre in Montreal. The Gospel of the day is from Matthew 8: âTeacher, I will follow you wherever you go.â This is after the centurions faith, several amazing cures, people possessed by demons, healed of terrible illnesses.
Jesus replied, âFoxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.
What is Jesus asking us about our availability and our project of life?
Thumbnail: Domenico Ghirlandaio, Last Supper from 1480, in Florence.
Music: Original music from Michael Lee of Toronto.
- Laat meer zien