In Your Presence

In 1975, Pope Paul VI told Blessed Alvaro del Portillo: "Collect everything that the Founder has written, because it is already a treasure belonging to the whole Church.”

Maximilian Kolbe had a vision of our Lady who offered him two crowns: a white one for virginity, a red one for martyrdom. Which do you want? I’ll take both.

that Mary is and a sign of hope and comfort for your people on their pilgrim way. 
(Assumption preface)
Thumbnail:
Esteban Márquez de Velasco (1652–1696) , Dormition of the virgin Mary, Art Gallery of Ontario.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on August 1, 2026 at Ellentor Centre in Toronto.
Matt 14, 22-36: Jesus walks on the water, and calls out to Peter: Come!
Water in the ancient world was always seen as a place of instability. It was a scary place when you had these rickety boats. But Jesus informs everything we do. It is our life of faith. Our faith must inform our vision, the way we think, the way we work. It leaves its fingerprints everywhere we go. There you will find the DNA of faith.
Music: pulsebox-piano-music-free-music-552725 pixabay free
Thumbnail: Walking on Water, by Ivan Aivazovsky (1888), private collection.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on August 1, 2026 at Ellentor Centre in Toronto. John 6:1-15 tells of the account of the feeding of the 5 thousand. Lots of people. A real problem. A multitude had followed him.
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him
He looked up with mercy, with compassion. In front of the problem, the numbers, the money, the few pieces of bread, we hear about that little boy. 10 or 12 years old. Not with his parents. Free to help.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, John 6, 9-10: “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?”  Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ellentor Centre in Toronto, July 31, 2026.
"Don't forget that sometimes it is necessary to have smiling faces." (The Way, 657)