Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on January 2, 2026.

Acts of the Apostles repeatedly describes the Apostles speaking with parrhesia—freedom, frankness, fearless speech (Acts 2:29; 4:13, 29, 31). They had received the spirit of adoption. Of divine filiation.

Paul still throbs with this parrhesia, the thrill that he witnessed in the apostles. “You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ (Rom 8:15). How can this fearless sense of conviction imbue us as sons and daughters of God in 2026?

Music: Angelic Choir Library with license, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Thumbnail: Apostles at Pentecost 1030-1040, Ottonian parchment, Regensburg The J. Paul Getty Museum