In Your Presence

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

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.

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 Orchestra
Thumbnail: Neuschwanstein in winter in Germany

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 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.com
Thumbnail: James Tissot, Christ on the shore of the Lake of Tiberias, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolour over graphite, Brooklyn Museum.