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)

Meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary time (Year C). The first reading is from the prophet Jeremiah, sometimes called the weeping prophet. It recounts the beautiful description of his vocation. Then St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians (Chapter 13) describes the gift of charity and how we can live it to the full.

Music: Handel, Opera Rinaldo, Aria "Lascia ch'io pianga", arranged for guitar by Bert Alink 

Thumbnail: Claude Monet, Camille assise sur la plage à Trouville sur Mer, 1870.

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St. John tells us that Jesus assisted at a wedding as a guest. It took place at Cana. The Catechism says that the Church sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence. The wedding started with regular wine, but it ran out, and was left with water, and then came the really premium quality wine. It is an image of the love present natural marriage and in the Sacrament of Matrimony. A meditation preached at Kintore College by Fr. Eric Nicolai on January 22, 2022.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Komm, süsser Tod", BWV 478 - Guitar Transcription by Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Paolo Veronese, Wedding Feast at Cana (1563) Louvre. Wikimedia Commons.

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.

A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai, preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, January 14, 2022.

Mark 2:1-12: Today we have the friends of the paralytic. They were expecting a cure, they were not expecting that the Lord would forgive sins. If only God can forgive sin, it means that they all had a clear sense of the severity of sin.

Music: Soledad, by Carlos Gardel, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Pope Francis speaks frequently of the need to generate greater unity between the different generations. The parable of the prodigal son, his older brother and his father, related by Jesus, can help us to delve into this topic. (Lk 15)

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre, Toronto on January 12, 2022.

Much of the ideas were taken from a Spanish article by Diego Zalbidea, "Agradar a Dios (VI): hermanos que miran al Padre. Unidad entre generaciones distintas." https://opusdei.org/es/article/hermanos-que-miran-al-padre/

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935), "Lua Branca" (white moon), played on guitar by Bert Alink.

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Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of priests in Toronto at St. Aidan's parish. Joseph Ratzinger said: Only through the Son could we learn what a Father truly is. He is the only son of God. But through baptism he has made us adopted sons and daughters. But only through the Son can we learn this truth. And this is a truth we must seek to contemplate more and more. How? By reading, by forming our mind, our heart, our conscience, our vision, so that we see everything through this lens of fatherhood.

Music: Handel, Rinaldo Opera, aria Lascia ch'io pianga, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

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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.

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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

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John was a native of Bethsaida, a town of Galilee on the northern shore of the Sea of Tiberias. His parents were Zebedee and Salome, and his brother James the Greater. The words of John the Evangelist, whose feast we celebrate today, resound in our hearts: "Et Verbum caro factum est - the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14). Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches from Ernescliff College on why God became man.

Music: Recordações do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged by Bert Alink

For more meditations, check my channel:

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www.ernescliff.ca

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