A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on April 27, 2025 at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto.John 20, 21-23: After saying this he breathed on them and said:‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive,they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’He had to breathe on them to give them that power. The breath of the Holy Spirit, like a sweet aroma that touched them, that they breathed in, and somehow stayed in them as a supernatural power.Music: Original track by Michael Lee of Toronto.
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30:51
Mary, What did You See on the Way? Maintain Optimism Always
A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at St. Aidan's parish in Toronto, on April 22, 2025.The nature of the Easter Octave is that it be filled with joy. This year it is mingled with a sorrow, and upheaval in which we feel orphaned, but also weighed down by the urgency of the moment. The Church really needs a shepherd. It needs its vicar. We are forlorn.Dic nobis Maria, quid vidisti in via?Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way.A big concern had been who would remove the stone. We must nurture the optimism that is proper to Easter, and maintain it all our life.
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27:40
The Death of Pope Francis
The joy of Easter Monday, is mingled now with the sorrow from the news of the death of Pope Francis. He has been called back to the Father. A man who gave himself totally to the service of the Church. It happens at the end of the UNIV congress in Rome, and when the Ordinary General Congress of Opus Dei begins. We will offer the Mass for the repose of his soul. This meditation was preached on April 21, 2025 at Lyncroft centre in Toronto, minutes after hearing about the death of Pope Francis.Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.
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29:13
The Betrayal of Judas
A meditation preached at Kintore College on April 15, 2025, Holy Wednesday. Matt 26, 25: One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty silver pieces, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him. Such painful words, at an agonizing time for our Lord. He was chosen as one of the apostles. One for who he had dreams. The most painful realities are not physical. It is the weight of abandonment, betrayal and rejection.Music: Michael Lee, of TorontoThumbnail: Giotto, Betrayal of Jesus, fresco in Padua, Scrovegni chapel 1304.
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30:41
Awareness of our Bonds: The Prodigal Son
A meditation was preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto on March 30, 2025. The story of the Prodigal Son is a story of conversion, an account of the role that bonds have in our life, and how we must be more aware of them, and strengthen them.Music: Regi Stone "How Can I tell You", Experience Music 2002, released 2015.Thumbnail: Pompeo Batoni prodigal son (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Meditations by Fr. Eric Nicolai, a Catholic priest of Opus Dei in Ernescliff College, Toronto. They are times of prayer addressed to men or women, with the intention of providing a personal dialogue with the Lord Jesus Christ present in their midst. They are usually preached in oratories of Opus Dei.
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