A meditation preached at Ernescliff College in Toronto on September 8th, 2026, by Fr. Eric Nicolai.

Today is the birthday of Mary, she is described as the “dawn of our salvation”. The arrival of a new person into the world is always a sign of hope. Mary opens up new possibilities for us in this academic year, just beginning.

Thumbnail: The Nativity of the Virgin, painted around 1400–1405 by Andrea di Bartolo, a Sienese painter.  Today housed in the National Gallery in Washington.

Music: Audiio_MULVEY_Awakening_Awakening_Instrumental

This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on September 5th, 2026, at Ellerton Centre in Toronto.

‘He withdrew to the wilderness and prayed’ (Lk 5:16)

What did it look like to see the Lord withdraw into the wilderness? It was described as wilderness, a wild place because it was hostile to man’s control; there were no houses or comforts there. But it was a time of silent unity with God the Father. How can we pray like that in silence? It is hard for our generation to sit there without the comfort of devices. But we know inherently that if we sit there, alone with God, away from our notifications or the reels that make us laugh, we will still deepen in something we deeply need. We will come out of our prayer refreshed, rewired for the mission.

Music: Audiio MULVEY Awakening Awakening Instrumental

Sound effects: 11325622-police-siren-sound-effect-240674 on Pixabay.

Nature sounds: Meditation forest sounds of birds singing relaxation - 4 minutes - Tim Irving.

Tweeting-bird-sounds orangefreesounds

Thumbnail: Ivan Kramskoy, Christ in the Wilderness, 1872 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on September 1, 2026, at the start of the new Academic year at Hawthorn School for Girls in Toronto.

Picture Jesus now coming forward: “And there was handed to him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written…"

Then with a sure voice:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61:1–2) from Luke 4:17.

God’s gracious “year”—a jubilee of mercy, liberation, healing and restoration. We are now at the beginning of the academic year. A new moment of hope for all of us. How will we frame this hope?

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Ellerton Centre in Toronto on the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 30, 2026.

Jeremiah is in utter anguish. He feels that he has failed. He’s in doubt. Maybe he has no vocation after all. He's in an inner crisis. Despite all the suffering he has experienced, he manages to complain to God and abandon himself to his healing.

Jeremiah 20, 7-9: Seduxisti me, Domine, et seductus sum.

You enticed me Lord, you persuaded me; you duped me, I felt duped. You overcame my resistance to your call, your all-encompassing vocation, your mission you have imposed on me. You chose me because you picked me out, you saw me like a wounded stag, and you loved me.

Music: Lifting Dreams - Aakash Gandhi Youtube free

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, 1630, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on August 17, 2026 at Parkhill Centre in Ottawa.

Prayer in our life is an essential part of our existence of sons of God. It gives our resilience, and our purpose going. It is like the engine room of our interior life.

In the Gospel, we have the Pharisees complaining about the company that Jesus kept. This prompted Jesus to reaffirm the truth of God’s mercy through the most iconic parables of the Gospel: The conversion of the prodigal son.

Music: 'Undertow' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, The Conversion of the Prodigal Son, 1661.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Camp Caribou near Barry's Bay, Ontario, on August 25th, 2026.

Today, the Gospel speaks about the distaste that Jesus had for those who relied on appearances, on image, on looking good to others. Those who spent time cultivating a public image. It is a rather blistering accusation.

Matt 23, 24-26: Alas for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You who clean the outside of cup and dish and leave the inside full of extortion and intemperance. Blind Pharisee! Clean the inside of cup and dish first so that the outside may become clean as well.’

Music: Regi Stone, All Heavens Declare.

Thumbnail: Rembrandt, Jesus preaching. Etching, Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

A meditation on the feast of St. Bartholomew, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College on August 24, 2026.

He preached in India and Armenia. For Bartholomew: “he shed his skin”: both in martyrdom and spiritual transformation, putting off the “old self” so that the new person may emerge.

Thumbnail: detail from Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, 1536.

Marco d’Agrate’s statue in Milan Cathedral, known as the San Bartolomeo scorticato:

https://mainlymuseums.com/post/1174/the-anti-david-st-bartholomew-by-marco-dadrate-1562/

Music: Lifting Dreams - Aakash Gandhi Youtube free

In 1975, Pope Paul VI told Blessed Alvaro del Portillo: "Collect everything that the Founder has written, because it is already a treasure belonging to the whole Church.”

Maximilian Kolbe had a vision of our Lady who offered him two crowns: a white one for virginity, a red one for martyrdom. Which do you want? I’ll take both.

that Mary is and a sign of hope and comfort for your people on their pilgrim way. 
(Assumption preface)

Thumbnail:

Esteban Márquez de Velasco (1652–1696) , Dormition of the virgin Mary, Art Gallery of Ontario.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on August 1, 2026 at Ellentor Centre in Toronto.

Matt 14, 22-36: Jesus walks on the water, and calls out to Peter: Come!

Water in the ancient world was always seen as a place of instability. It was a scary place when you had these rickety boats. But Jesus informs everything we do. It is our life of faith. Our faith must inform our vision, the way we think, the way we work. It leaves its fingerprints everywhere we go. There you will find the DNA of faith.

Music: pulsebox-piano-music-free-music-552725 pixabay free

Thumbnail: Walking on Water, by Ivan Aivazovsky (1888), private collection.