This is a summary of a talk given by Juan Luis Lorda during the 23rd Day of Priestly Encounters, in Valladolid in 2015. We are made up of intellect, will and affectivity, or, in more general terms, we have a heart. But what this exactly means is somewhat opaque and hard to define. How does the heart help us in our decisions? There is a fascinating discussion of classical and modern authors, in particular Dietrich Von Hildebrand's book, The Heart (1965). Also I try to examine the essential relationship between the heart, and our affinity to virtue, or how one ought to live an upright life.

Thumbnail: Auguste RODIN (1840-1917), Plaster bust of Camille Claudel (around 1882).

The joy of Easter Monday, is mingled now with the sorrow from the news of the death of Pope Francis. He has been called back to the Father. A man who gave himself totally to the service of the Church. It happens at the end of the UNIV congress in Rome, and when the Ordinary General Congress of Opus Dei begins. We will offer the Mass for the repose of his soul. This meditation was preached on April 21, 2025 at Lyncroft centre in Toronto, minutes after hearing about the death of Pope Francis.

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached at Kintore College on April 15, 2025, Holy Wednesday.

Matt 26, 25: One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty silver pieces, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him. Such painful words, at an agonizing time for our Lord. He was chosen as one of the apostles. One for who he had dreams. The most painful realities are not physical. It is the weight of abandonment, betrayal and rejection.

Music: Michael Lee, of Toronto

Thumbnail: Giotto, Betrayal of Jesus, fresco in Padua, Scrovegni chapel 1304.

A meditation was preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on March 30, 2025. The story of the Prodigal Son is a story of conversion, an account of the role that bonds have in our life, and how we must be more aware of them, and strengthen them.

Music: Regi Stone "How Can I tell You", Experience Music 2002, released 2015.

Thumbnail: Pompeo Batoni prodigal son (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

A meditation preached in Ernescliff College, Toronto, on March 28, 2025.

Its been 100 years since that day in which a young 23-year Josemaria Escriva was ordained to the priesthood in the Basilica of Our Lady of El Pilar in Zaragoza, Miguel de los Santos.  
There are things that we invite into our soul that leave us with a permanent imprint, a mark, an impression, like a long-lasting, expensive perfume that can become attractive to those around us. This is the story of the expansive grace of a man's ordination to the priesthood.

Thumbnail: Josemaría Escrivá

as a seminarian in Saragossa.

Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto

Today is a solemnity, in which the exclusive focus is this intimate dialogue between a celestial creature, and the holiest woman ever created. Imagine the angel, see her bow in reverence, we hear her response, we image her fear, we sense concern, her slight confusion about her becoming mother, the reassuring response of the angel, his promise that ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God". That is shadow of the Holy Spirit. It was a reference to the to the shekinah. The holy of holies. (Exodus 13:21-22)

That power now we understand is by the coming of the Holy Spirit, and he notes emphatically: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk 1:37).”

A meditation preached in Ernescliff College on March 25, 2025

Preached on March 21, 2025 at Kintore college in Toronto. What is the nature of penance and mortification during lent?

This is the most important of penance:To prepare the way so that Christ might actually live in us.

Augustine would say: A vessel must be empty if it is to be filled, and if we are to be filled with the life of God we must be utterly empty of self.

Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Duccio, The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain, 1308-11, Frick Collection, New York.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto, on March 19, 2025. Joseph was in a state of emotional upheaval, until God told him in a dream what was happening with Mary. He knew what he had to do. He did not turn around in circles.

Joseph’s response was immediate: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him” (Mt 1:24). Obedience made it possible for him to surmount his difficulties and spare Mary.

The imagination has been called "The Crazy Woman of the House." How can Joseph intercede to help us put our imagination under better control?

Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto

Thumbnail: Mosaic from St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to university students at Ernescliff College in Toronto on March 11, 2025.

Matt 5, 20: Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

He speaks of virtue that is not deep. Only surface depth. Merely appearance. Its a real challenge that the Lord offered us. He wants something deeper, a more authentic line from you and me.

Music: Original track of Michael Lee of Toronto, Ontario.

Thumbnail: J. Kirk Richards of the judgment of Christ by Pilate.

A meditation preached at Ernescliff College by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Sunday March 9, 2025.

Luke 4, 1: Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days.

We picture now led by the spirit, docile and at one with God’s plan. He is not resisting. As man, as the word incarnate, he is fulfilling his purpose, that now starts within moment of human detachment. 

Why does Jesus go to the desert? Why did he need to go out?

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto 

Thumbnail: Roualt, 1937