In Your Presence

With this global marathon of prayer during May, in union with Pope Francis, we ask our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, for an end to the pandemic.  Josemaria Escriva would say we are under the mantle of our Lady.  She is also spouse of the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches during the monthly recollection during the month of May. Music: Claude Debussy, Reverie....

In 1944, Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri (1916-1975) attended Mass in Madrid and had an experience of the closeness of God. With time, she came to know Saint Josemaria Escriva, and ended up dedicating her life in Opus Dei as a numerary. She served Madrid, Mexico, and Rome. She was cheerful and always full of enthusiasm for love of God. Fr. Eric Nicolai gives an account of how this happened in her lif...

May 12 is the memorial of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994), who was the Prelate of Opus Dei and first successor of Saint Josemaria. He was beatified by Pope Francis on September 27, 2014. The prayer card for his intercession reads: O God, merciful Father, you granted your bishop Blessed Alvaro, the grace of being, with our Lady's help, an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church and a m...

Since Pentecost is coming up on May 23, we wanted to prepare for that marvellous solemnity by understanding how grace acts in our soul. Grace is the life of God in humans : it is the life of God (one and three) and therefore must be considered as essentially “un-created” in character, as something that is divine in origin and divinizing in effect . It is not some kind of liquid substance that seep...

Lk 24, 35-48: The disciples on the road to Emmaus had realized that their hearts were burning within them. It was afire of longing to be with the master, to stay with him. Mane nobiscum Domine , was the prayer that expressed that inner fire. But in that moment of agitation, he comes among them and says peace be with you. Shalom. A common Jewish expression. But here it has the sense of salvation. W...

In the discourse on the bread of life (John 6), some of the disciples are scandalized by the words of Jesus, and no longer go with him. "Will you also go away", he asks the apostles? Peter says: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." During hard times we realize we have made a commitment, and we must keep our word. Stay faithful, no matter what. Fidelity means a readiness...

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 communio...

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 p...

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. #opusdei www.ernescliff.ca www.opusdei.ca https://www.lyncroft.ca Thumbnail: Jacopo Tintoretto. Christ Wash...

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...

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.or...

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 herse...

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 S...

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 w...

On March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was elected as the 266th successor of St. Peter, not so he could shine, and outdo everyone, but so that he could serve as Bishop of Rome, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, vicar of Christ, servant of the servants of God. What a responsibility. He is the visible foundation and source of unity, and as pastor of the entire Catholic Church. Cardinal Tagle, Archbi...

On March 6, 2021, Pope Francis had an inter-religious ceremony with leaders of Jews, Muslims, and representatives of other religions at Ur , the birthplace of Abraham, the common father of these religions. He is on a small stage, blown in the dry winds, surrounded by a stark desert where Abraham came from. They’ve laid out a wide red carpet in the audience. Everyone is separated. There is a small...

When we hear the words of Jesus who says Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5). in Latin as beati pauperes spiritu. Joseph was poor, but he was not among the poorest of society of the time. He was not among the totally abandoned, bedraggled, homeless, that lived from hand to mouth. These would have been in the lowest class of society. The Lord gave them hop...

Readings for Thursday of the First week of Lent Book of Esther 12, 14-16, 23-25 Psalm 138 Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me Matthew 7, 7-12: Everyone who asks, receives. A homily by Fr. Eric Nicolai in a streamed Mass from Ernescliff College, Toronto. Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall (Singularity 2017)

St. Josephine Bakhita (1869-1947) was from Sudan, she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000. She was sold as a slave and beaten frequently, but eventually she found her way to Venice where she discovered a new master, kind and forgiving, Christ, the true "paron", the "master" who knew her and loved her. She was able to make her scars into an opportunity to love. Today we call this reframing....

The Beatitudes Matt 5, 1-12: Today we want to enter and look at the foundations of our faith. What kind of woman does God want you to be? Let us go back to that hill, that mount, that grassy slope where our Lord stood, and transmitted to us what we have to be through the paradoxes of the beatitudes. The most noble words, the most magnetic and powerful words that our Lord proposed to these massive...

This month we celebrate February 14, the founding of the women’s branch of Opus Dei in 1930 and Priestly Society of the Holy Cross in 1943. The priestly society is an association for diocesan priests attached to Opus Dei.  We celebrate this day as a feast of our Lady, Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis , Mother of Fair Love. So what does this invocation mean? How can we deepen our understanding today...

Today, January 31, 2021, we start the seven Sundays of St. Joseph, that just and upright man that God entrusted Mary and Jesus to. We do this in the Year of St. Joseph. We meditate on the joys and sorrows of St. Joseph. Like when he saw Mary pregnant. He was going to divorce her privately to make it look like he was the problem. It was a difficult decision, but then he went to sleep. That’s when G...

Mark 4, 35-41: The account of the storm at sea. The whole time, during this storm, the Lord was asleep. Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said Be quiet! Be still…. The Holy Father Pope Francis used this account last year when the pandemic broke out and we saw the first signs of death and lockdown all around us in March of 2020. It seems as though...