Saint Josemaria did his first communion April 23, 1912, at the age of 10. By a decree issued in 1910 by Pope Saint Pius X, the age requirement was lowered to when the use of reason is acquired, "which is at about the age of seven.” He was well prepared. He learned the prayer of spiritual communion, which did not keep to himself, but transmitted to thousands of others.  The spiritual communion can be memorized: "I wish my Lord to receive you with the purity, humility, and devotion with which your most Holy Mother received you, with the spirit and fervour of the saints".

Music: Guitar: Anonymous romance : Jeux interdits (Pierre Laniau)

Today Pope Benedict XVI turns 94. He was baptized on the very day that he was born. Re-born in the Holy Spirit. He affirmed in 2012 that he could say that life is good: "It becomes a true gift only if, along with it, we are given a promise that is stronger than any evil that could threaten us, if it is immersed in a power that ensures that it is good to be human, that there will be good for this person no matter what the future brings. Thus, with birth is associated rebirth, the certitude that, truly, it is good to be alive, because the promise is stronger than evil. This is the meaning of rebirth by water and the Holy Spirit: to be immersed in the promise that only God can make — it is good that you exist, and you can be certain of that whatever comes. With this assurance I was able to live, reborn by water and the Holy Spirit."

Today’s Mass is about going beyond human calculations.  John 6:1-15: Multiplication of loaves and fish.

Other meditations can be found on my YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

In this meditation, Fr. Eric Nicolai speaks about the account of Christ washing the disciples feet, in which John says he loved them to the end (Jn 13:1).  What does this mean? What do we mean by unconditional love? Do I really love even if I’ve lost feelings? Preached on April 9, 2021.

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Thumbnail: Jacopo Tintoretto. Christ Washing His Disciples' Feet, c. 1545-1555. Oil on canvas, 154.9 × 407.7 cm. Gift by general subscription, 1959. © Art Gallery of Ontario

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJnuPiQ7Ks8

Music: Handel’s Rinaldo opera, aria: “Lascia ch’io pianga”, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches Easter Sunday at Lyncroft Centre. 

Yesterday we talked about the dark, materialistic dialectic of poets like Bertold Brecht and philosophers like Nietzsche, who said God is dead. We killed him. Very dire and sad visions. But now we have come out of that dark night. Against this background I think we can hear the message of Easter in a new way. Christ is risen! There is justice for the world! There is complete justice for all, which is able retroactively to make good all past sufferings, and this is because God exists, and he has the power to do it. 

For more about the resurrection in art:

https://www.pev.ca/upcoming-events

Videos of meditations:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

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

Thumbnail: Isenheim altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches a meditation at Lyncroft hospitality centre in Toronto. It is Holy Thursday, so he touches on the three great mysteries commemorated today: The priesthood, the Holy Eucharist, and the Commandment of Love.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229.

Thumbnail: Albrecht Durer, Engraving of the washing of the feet, 1510. Detroit Institute of Arts Museum.

https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/last-supper-43117

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn8BmK4a9nqgLi0kGWJieug

A meditation at Kintore College, Toronto by Fr. Eric Nicolai on March 29, 2021. St. John the Evangelist gives us the account of Jesus' arrival at Bethany with Lazarus, Mary and Martha. He felt at home. Mary took this alabaster jar and broke it open. She did not carefully pry open the vessel, and simply offer a few drops. She was not stingy. She did not hold back. She did not keep any for herself, or for a future occasion. She gave it all. She is an example of generosity, magnanimity, and magnificence in the way she humbly anointed the Lord’s feet. The hole room was filled with the aroma of that perfume.

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Detail from Bernardino Luini, Mary Magdalen c. 1525 (National Gallery of Art Washington, DC)

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft centre. This is March 28, and coincides with the anniversary of the priestly ordination of Saint Josemaria Escriva in 1925. He recounts the symbols used today, Palm Sunday, and makes references to the moments leading up to Josemaria’s ordination.

Thumbnail: The Entrance of Christ into Jerusalem by Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin (1842-1845). Located in the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Komm, Jesu, komm", BWV 229. https://musopen.org

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches on the eve of Palm Sunday (March 27, 2021), inviting us to be enamoured with the figure of Christ and to meditate his passion and death this week. It can help us be men and women of real integrity.

Music: J.S. Bach, "Komm, Jesu, komm", BWV 229. https://musopen.org

Thumbnail: Bartolomé Murillo, Ecce homo, (17th century) private collection, Sothebys.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft centre on the eve of the fifth Sunday of Lent, and invites us along the lenten pathway, interiorizing the mystery of the cross. It can help us to grow in penance and mortification.

Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Album Multiplicity, 2017)

Meditation in Ernescliff College by Fr. Eric Nicolai, priest of Opus Dei, March 13, 2021/

There are punishments in the Bible, like the flood, the plagues, and they always have a pedagogical purpose. Like the serpents that bit people in the dessert, God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent so that people could gaze on it and be cured. So the son of man would be lifted up on the earth, s that we would. gaze on him and be cured. Pope Francis said that the painful things we experience are painful, they make us suffer, but they should not only make us complain. Big ones or little ones, can be an opportunity for us to embrace them, and grow. 

The origins of the devotions to the sorrows and joys of Saint Joseph. Then the seven Sundays of Saint Joseph.

Music:  Handel opera, Rinaldo, Aria Lascia che io pianga, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Meditations by Fr. Eric Nicolai:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos