A meditation preached in the Madawaska Valley at Camp Caribou for Boys, August 20, 2024.

Jesus invited the young rich man to follow him, but he turned around and left, sad. Here's Jesus' response.

Matthew 19:23-30: Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you solemnly, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Yes, I tell you again, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ When the disciples heard this they were astonished. ‘Who can be saved, then?’ they said. Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he told them ‘this is impossible; for God everything is possible.’

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Thumbnail: Halfway Lake, Camp Caribou.

This meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of counsellors at Caribou Boys Camp, near Barry's Bay, Ontario. It was August 18, 2024, the 20th Sunday of Ordinary time, Year B.

John 6, 51-58: The tremendous discourse on the bread of life in Capharneum. Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. The only bread that could have come down from heaven would be the manna that the Jews discovered in the wilderness, in the book of Exodus.

Music: Original Track by Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Under the pines at Caribou Boys Camp.

https://www.caribouboyscamp.ca

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College in Toronto on August 10, 2024. Yesterday was the feast of St. Edith Stein, Theresa Benedicta of the Cross. Beatified in 1987 then canonized in 1998 by Pope John Paul II.  She is one of the 6 patrons of Europe.

Both she and St. Lawrence (today's feast) were martyrs for the faith.

She was a Jew that converted after reading Theresa of Avila, and studying with Edmund Husserl. Then she went on to become a Carmelite nun. She was killed at Auschwitz.

In 1941 she wrote to a friend, who was also a member of her order: "One can only gain a "scientia crucis" (knowledge of the cross) if one has thoroughly experienced the cross. I have been convinced of this from the first moment onwards and have said with all my heart: 'Ave, Crux, Spes unica' (I welcome you, Cross, our only hope)." Her study on St. John of the Cross is entitled: "Kreuzeswissenschaft" (The Science of the Cross).

How does this fit into our vocation?

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this mediation at Cedarcrest Centre in Belfountain, Ontario, August 2, 2024.

Eph 4, 17, 20-24: I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.

provide for us that spiritual revolution. He can transform us. We must rekindle that faith, put it on fire.

Watch out for the negative voice.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity).

Thumbnail:

A meditation preached at Ernescliff College on the feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 2024.

In the Old testament the prophet Daniel had a vision that foreshadowed the transfiguration: Thrones were set in place

and one of great age took his seat.

His robe was white as snow,

the hair of his head as pure as wool. (Daniel 7, 9-10).

The Transfiguration scene can help us consider what Heaven will be like. In it, some men - Peter, John and James - have an anticipated vision of the glory of God.

Music: Abide With Me by Henry F. Lyte, 1847, internet archive: Fox Aeternum.

Thumbnail: Raphael, Transfiguration, 1520. Vatican Museum.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Cedarcrest Conference Centre in Belfountain, Ontario on August 3, 2024.

Matt 14, 1: Herod made a rash decision under the pressure of his passions and his human respect. We must be contemplatives. What does it mean to be a contemplative in the middle of the world?

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

Thumbnail: detail of the face of Christ by Rembrandt, 17th century.

A meditation preached to Lyncroft centre in Toronto, July 28, 2024. It is the 17th Sunday of Ordinary time, year B.

It is the account of multiplication of loaves and fish in John 6 in which the Lord asks the apostles to give the people bread, but then he does the miracle himself. It is an image of the apostolic mandate that we have received. We are apostles. Saint Josemaria said: you are not people who do good apostolic things, you do not do apostolate, you are apostles.

A recollection for priests at Saint Aidan's parish in Toronto, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on July 16, 2024. Based on the parable of the pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14). Two men in a temple, praying, doing a good thing, but with different results. A security camera might have made them appear as two men praying with their own style, or culture. But Jesus sees below the surface, and wants us to recognize ourselves in these men. Only one went home justified.

Music: Original track by Michael Lee from Toronto.

Thumbnail: Gustave Doré engraving from the illustrated Bible, published in 1866.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on July 16, 2024 at Ernescliff College in Toronto.

Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite, on July 16, 1251, and promised a special protection to those who would wear the habit, later the scapulary. All you had to do was wear this garment. Like a protective clothing, and stay faithful. This promise of our Lady boosted the Carmelites street cred. Our Lady became associated with one protecting. They’d emphasize Marian protection, her intercession, the importance of living a life of prayer and service.

Music: Original track by Micheal Lee of Toronto.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Chipnee camp for girls in the Durham region north of Toronto on July 11, 2024, the Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia.

Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.