In Your Presence

The introductory meditation at a retreat for priests on November 2, 2026, at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, north of Toronto. Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai.

Luke 12, 31-21: from the words of the rich man in the Gospel: We too are here to build bigger barns.

Dream of the barns that we are as priests, as ministers of God, and give thanks, but also of the bigger barns that the Lord needs now in his Church. Not more activity, more meetings. We have to see what that “more” is all about. We need a richer interior life. A deeper love for the Eucharist, a greater readiness to be other Christs. A deeper abandonment.

Music: Audiio_MULVEY_Awakening_Awakening_Instrumental

Thumbnail: Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945), The Homecoming, painted 1945. Christies, Private Collection.

A meditation preached at Ellerton Centre, Toronto, on November 1, 2026, on the solemnity of All Saints.

In Genesis 28 we read of the dream of Jacon in Bethel, where he sees a stairway of angels ascending and descending. Today, as we celebrate all saints, we have to behold that stairway to heaven. At its head stands Christ, beckoning us to follow. On the steps are his saints, inspiring us to take the steps that lead to Christ and happiness. Like the emblem on Superman's chest, it does not signify that we must be supermen, but men and women of hope.

Music: Lifting Dreams - Aakash Gandhi Youtube free

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on October 29, 2026 at Kintore College, Toronto.

Luke 14:1-6: "Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely."

Even at table, we are called to be itinerant contemplatives, and apostles.

Thumbnail: The End of Dinner, by Jules Alexandre Grün, Oil on canvas, 1911. © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tourcoing.

A meditation preached on October 22, 2026, at Cedarcrest Conference Centre, north of Toronto.

A reflection on the vesting prayers of the priest, as a prelude to awakening in us the wonders and the hidden love of Jesus in the Mass.

Music: Audiio_MULVEY_Awakening_Awakening_Instrumental

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.

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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

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto, on September 16, 2026.

The Gospel tells us about the different reactions of the people to John the Baptist and to Jesus. He comments on the lack of coherence present in these responses. The impossibility of getting coherent responses in light of the lives of John and of Jesus.

“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation? … They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’” (Lk 7:31–32)

Thumbnail: Eduard Manet, Young Flautist, or The Fifer, 1866, Musee D'Orsay, Paris.

Music: enrique27naveda-cancion-triste-by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda Pixabay