In Your Presence

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches to Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on May 6, 2023. We can ask him to stir up the fire of our faith. Put little twigs and branches into the fire. The best twigs to get that faith …

John 14, 1-6: ’Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father’s house;

if there were not, I should have told you.

I am going now to prepare…

John 10, 11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A meditation by Fr. Eric Nicolai at the start of a university retreat at Kintore College in Toronto. On the t…

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to a group of High School students at Ernescliff College on April 24, 2023.

Today's Gospel is about Jesus walking on the water: as the apostles imagined he w…

Preceding the account of the washing of the feet, St. John says: John introduces this gesture. It is not present in the other synoptics: “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that hi…

We are in a dark world, but the light of heaven streams in like a beam of luminosity, and hope, represented by that Easter pillar of light. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto abo…

Holy Thursday includes two important celebrations. The Chrism Mass where all the priests renew their priestly vows, and the bishop blesses the holy oils. It commemorates the Lord’s institution of the…

Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Ernescliff College

about the beginning of Holy Week and the mysterious figure mentioned in the prophesies of Isaiah: the Man of Sorrows. In Isaiah he was a mystery, now …

The passage in today’s first reading from the book of Daniel is the account of Suzanna who is falsely accused by two corrupt elders (Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62). The drawn out account of Suzanna…

Today is the solemnity of the Annunciation, an important feast that the church celebrates during Lent. At Mary’s obedient Fiat, humanity is wedded to divinity. It can be thought of as a precursor to …

Fr. Eric Nicolai comments on the effects of the gospel account of Jesus and the young rich man (Mark 10, 17-22). He had potential, that's why Jesus chose him. When you see someone with qualities, tha…

Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, the church offers the passage from St. John about the man born blind. It is here that the Lord begins to speak about himself as being the Light of the World, and tha…

The Greek word "apostoloi" means “sent.” It refers to Christ's call to the disciples to continue his own mission: proclaiming the kingdom of God throughout the world.

But what are these apostles proc…

Groucho Marx in the early silent films would say that to have a happy life,  we must have good humour have a bad memory. Of course we have good humour, but I don’t agree that we should have a bad mem…

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on March 4, 2023. 

During Lent our goal is that of St. Paul:  "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who liv…

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, February 4, 2023.

In the death and burial of Lazarus Jesus watched the long procession of mourners from the first to the…

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Ernescliff College, on February 28, 2023. Today’s first reading is from a chapter of Isaiah, an oracle that the prophet made, calling back the exiles in B…

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Kintore College, Toronto, on February 20, 2023. It was in preparation for Lent.

Fulton Sheen defines dirt as matter in the wrong place. If clay is in the …

A meditation at the Manoir de Beaujeu, preached to a group of priests on January 30, 2023, by Fr. Eric Nicolai

So many Catholics have been baptized, but not transformed. We lament this as due to secu…