In Your Presence

Having a Heart that is Pure, Transparent to God's Love 19.06.2026 30min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on June 19, 2026 at the Manoir de Beaujeu, at Coteau du Lac, Quebec.As we do our prayer, we consider that it is especially our heart that has been set aflame even more, rejuvenated, cleared of any arterial sclerosis, any build up over time, so that may may always live freely, purely and sincererly, as we consider that we are here in this place because we have given everything to God. Ancient tradition of the church reveals that she has seen numerous Christians that observed celibacy for the kingdom. Propter regnum coelorum. Apostolic celibacy is a testimony, a witness, but only if our heart is truly transparent to the love of God.

Fortitude, Resilience, Courage 29.05.2026 28min

Meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ellentor Centre in Toronto, May 29, 2026. Today is the memorial of Pope Paul VI, Giovanni Battista Montini, a man of courage in a time of upheaval.Gen 12, 1-16: God speaks to Abraham: leave your country, your family, and go to the country I will tell you. So he responded by going to that unknown country. He was open to what God wanted. It took courage and fortitude and magnanimity to undertake such a massive task, to be the father of a nation.We need this human virtue of fortitude, but it must also be supernatural, done out of love.Music: Mulvey Awakening

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit 24.05.2026 30min

In preparation for the solemnity of Pentecost, we have been trying to see all the things that can happen if we really become docile to his presence in our souls. For the apostles, it was manifested by a powerful wind that shook the house that they were in. Like a powerful tornado, a divine presence that no one could ignore. The result was that their lives were imbued with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. A meditation preached on the eve of Pentecost at Kintore College, Toronto, May 23, 2026.Music: Audiio MULVEY Awakening Instrumental.Thumbnail: Bernini's Holy Spirit in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

The Gift of Wisdom Changes Everything 22.05.2026 28min

Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto on May 21, 2026. As we prepare for Pentecost, let us consider the first gift of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, which enables you to see how good and great the Lord is and, fills our life with flavour, so that, as Jesus said, you may be “salt of the earth”.Music: Audio MULVEY Awakening InstrumentalThumbnail: St. James the Greater Catholic Church, Concord, NC. Wikimedia

Mary Attracts all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit 20.05.2026 31min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Hawthorn School for Girls in Toronto on May 20, 2026. During the month of May we prepare for Pentecost and also increase our devotion to our blessed Mother, Mary. There is an intimate connection between Mary and the Holy Spirit. Mary attracted the Holy Spirit like a magnet at the Annunciation, and when she was at the centre of the apostles at Pentecost. Two moments in which she served as a powerful attraction to draw down the Holy Spirit onto the world, onto the church, unto us and our priesthood. The two are connected.We need Mary, we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit.Music: Audiio MULVEY Awakening Awakening InstrumentalThumbnail: Juan Bautista Maíno (1581-1649), La Pentecôte 1615, Prado Museum.

Solemnity of the Ascension: Where has he gone? 17.05.2026 30min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ellentor centre in Toronto on the solemnity of the Ascension, May 17 2026.This is a feast, but it is often under-celebrated. Even the iconography is odd. It shows the apostles standing in a circle, looking up, with Jesus out of the picture, as he floats up to heaven. You can only see his feet. It’s like the feast of the feet of Jesus.Music: Audiio_MULVEY_Awakening_Awakening_InstrumentalThumbnail:

Behold Your Mother 15.05.2026 22min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto, on May 14, 2026. John 19, 25-27: Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. It is one of the most oft-represented scenes in art: Jesus on the cross, with Mary and John below, weeping, in pain.It was right after the soldiers had divided his garments into four parts, one for each soldier, as though they were getting precious relics in that moment, but they were seeing these garments as pieces that they themselves might wear, or sell. He is saying to us now, before Pentecost: Behold your mother. Stay with Mary in the month of May so that you might truly be touched by the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is coming.

Our Sense of Mission 11.05.2026 25min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College, Toronto, on May 10, 2026.This is the month of Pentecost, and we can picture the scene as these flames of fire, these wisps over the head of each apostle. Remember the speech that Cardinal Bergoglio gave in the conclave back in 2013.He spoke about the Church’s temptation to withdraw into self‑protection, regulations, and control rather than trusting the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, by contrast, breaks open that fear: the Spirit falls on them, they receive courage and understanding, and they are thrust out into the streets to preach Christ to all nations.Music: MULVEY Awakening Awakening Instrumental

Don’t speak, Just Listen to Him 10.05.2026 28min

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Ernescliff College on May 10, 2026.In 1932, Our Father wrote in his Intimate Notes, in a time of youth, a time with little experience, and uncertainty, and unsure of himself: Don’t speak: Listen to him. This was his attitude to the Holy Spirit. This applies to us. Some people speak a lot, and figure things out as they speak. But how actively do we really listen? To others, to the HS, to our own conscience? Have I fallen to the brain fog, this dissipation, not aware that inside that cloud of unknowing, there is God, the Holy Spirit is pointing at something.Music: Audiio MULVEY, Awakening Awakening Instrumental

Pope Leo XIV at One Year 09.05.2026 29min

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on the anniversary of Pope Leo XIV's election, on May 8, 2026 at Ernescliff College, Toronto.Today’s antiphon on the anniversary of the election of the Pope, takes on special resonance for us.Matt 16, 16- 19: 6 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the one were expecting, the one we had hoped for, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.They are words that resonate with us, as we fortify our love for the Pope.Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with license.

He Dwells in our Soul as in a Mansion 04.05.2026 29min

Meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai on May 4th, 2026 at Ernescliff College, Toronto.John 14, 23-26: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.The image that we, our soul, is like a dwelling place for God. The Lord says we shall come to dwell in us, like in a home, a castle, a mansion. He desires to find a beautiful place, a oul made for him, a soul that is fit for him, with an interior cleanliness. He sees you and me now, in our purpose, our inner person—mind, heart, desires, conscience, wounds, and hopes—not just outward behavior. He says we want to come. That action of the holy Trinity that comes to defend us, to be our advocate. He has many things to tell us.Music: Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraThumbnail: Neuschwanstein in winter in Germany

What happens when Grace is poured into your Soul 02.05.2026 28min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at the new Ellerton Centre in Toronto, on Avenue Road on May 2, 2026.In this very moving passage in St. Paul's letter to the Romans, God helps us see the divine interlacing of the three theological virtues which form the backing upon which the true life of every Christian man or woman has to be woven.Romans 5, 1-5: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.These virtues are alive in us. They are not dead or dormant, or like dead batteries. Lots of power to them, it drives us to energy. This is the battery that makes us grow in the life of grace.

John said: It is the Lord! Our Path to Humility 18.04.2026 28min

John 21, 2: Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but caught nothing that night.John says it is the Lord. Clearly, the recognition as a Eucharistic “seeing‑Jesus”: the disciples’ first proper confession of the Resurrected Lord at the dawn‑shore meal. He recognizes because he was a contemplative. Because he loved Jesus, was close to him, so close, so faithful. He was humble. In December of 1976 , Blessed Alvaro said: "Be convinced that humility is always a starting point"(Family letters II, 113)Music: Heartbreaking by Kevin MacLeod incompetech chosic.comThumbnail: James Tissot, Christ on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolour over graphite, Brooklyn Museum.

Retreat for Seminarians: Like the Disciples of Emmaus 15.04.2026 35min

This is the first meditation from a year end retreat at Saint Augustine's Seminary in Toronto, begun April 13, 2026. We begin with the account of the discouraged disciples of Emmaus.Preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Saint Augustine Seminary.Thumbnail: MS VisualsMusic: Kevin Macleod, White Lotus.

The Empty Tomb: what now? 05.04.2026 30min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto.The last thing we remember from Good Friday was that he was buried. Without commentary. You only bury someone when you’re absolutely clear that he is dead. He fully participated in the human destiny of death. Jesus travelled the path of death right to the bitter and seemingly hopeless end in the tomb. The first shock began with the empty tomb. On its own, this is not enough to prove the resurrection, but it is the essential premise. Lets see how the early church framed this.Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Thumbnail: Rembrandt, The supper at Emmaus, 1648, Louvre, Paris.

Holy Thursday: The oils, the Feet, the Eucharist. 04.04.2026 30min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on April 2, 2026, Holy Thursday. Two Masses today: the Chrism Mass, which commemorates the institution on the Priesthood, and the bishop blesses the Holy oils. Then the Mass of the Lord’s supper. The day is called In Cena Domini, “At the Lord’s Supper.”The meaning of the oils, the last supper, and the command of charity.Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.Thumbnail: Leonardo Da Vinci, Last Supper, 1595, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

The Calculation of Judas 01.04.2026 28min

A meditation preached at Kintore College, Toronto on April 1, 2026, Wednesday of Holy Week.Matt 26:14-25: One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on, he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.What are you willing to give me? That was Judas’ calculation: How much is Jesus worth? He is asking them: How much is he worth to you, so that I make this be profitable, he is saying… He was not even sure how seriously they would take him. This question, What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?, came from Judas, but it can also come from Jesus himself to us. He says to us: How much are you willing to give me? How much time, all your dedication, your reputation, your future plans, your time, your comfort…Thumbnail: Rembrandt, Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver, circa 1629, at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Simon of Cyrene was Forced to carry the Cross 01.04.2026 23min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Palm Sunday, 2026, to a group of boys at a camp in Port Burwell, Ontario.Palm Sunday is our entry into Holy Week. We are invited to contemplate the Passion. We remember that Pope Francis' last Palm Sunday focused on the figure of Simon of Cyrene.As we look at the faces of the soldiers and the tears of the women in the crowd, our attention is drawn to an unknown person whose name suddenly appears in the Gospel: Simon of Cyrene. He was the man seized by the soldiers who then “laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus” (Lk 23:26). At that moment, he was coming in from the countryside. He happened to be passing by when he unexpectedly found himself caught up in a drama that overwhelmed him, like the heavy wood that was placed on his shoulders.Thumbnail: Sarcophagus of Domitilia, in the Museum Pioneers Clementino, Rome, 4th century.Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Annunciation is about the Gift of Hearing, truly listening 25.03.2026 28min

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Kintore College, Toronto, on March 25, 2026.There is something there that we must learn about this gift of hearing in the annunciation. Paintings of the scene often show words that come forth from the angel’s mouth, floating through the air to Mary, while she is in a receptive position, the contrapposto, this bending of her body, as though the very words touched her. But paintings are silent. We don' t actually hear the words of the angel. What was Mary's disposition to these sounds?Pope Benedict said: To see this active hearing, a hearing which attracts the Word in such a way that it enters in me and becomes Word in me, reflecting on it and accepting to the depths of the heart. Thus, the Word becomes incarnation. (Pope Benedict XVI, Q&A With Priests of Rome, 26 Feb 2009).There is something for us here to learn about the art of listening.Music: Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraThumbnail: Columba altarpiece of the Annunciation by Roger Van der Weyden, 1455, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Lazarus and our Apostolate 23.03.2026 30min

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ashlar Centre in Toronto, on March 22, 2026.In the year 2001 it was exciting because we were entering a new millennium. Pope John Paul II invited us to launch out into the deep, in Latin, Duc in altum (Apostolic letter, Novo millennio ineunte, 2001): He said: Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever" (Heb 13:8).This is tied to Jesus' call to Lazarus in the tomb: Lazarus, come out! Veni foras!Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.Thumbnail: The Jonah Sarcophagus, 300. Vatican museum.