In Your Presence

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Holy Saturday, April 4, 2026 at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto.
The last thing we remember from Good Friday was that he was buried. Without commentary. You only bury someone when you’re absolutely clear that he is dead. He fully participated in the human destiny of death. Jesus travelled the path of death right to the bitter and seemingly hopeless end in the tomb.
The first shock began with the empty tomb. On its own, this is not enough to prove the resurrection, but it is the essential premise. Lets see how the early church framed this.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Thumbnail: Rembrandt, The supper at Emmaus, 1648, Louvre, Paris.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on April 2, 2026, Holy Thursday. Two Masses today: the Chrism Mass, which commemorates the institution on the Priesthood, and the bishop blesses the Holy oils.  Then the Mass of the Lord’s supper. The day is called In Cena Domini, “At the Lord’s Supper.”
The meaning of the oils, the last supper, and the command of charity.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Thumbnail: Leonardo Da Vinci, Last Supper, 1595, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

A meditation preached at Kintore College, Toronto on April 1, 2026, Wednesday of Holy Week.
Matt 26:14-25: One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on, he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.
What are you willing to give me? That was Judas’ calculation: How much is Jesus worth? He is asking them: How much is he worth to you, so that I make this be profitable, he is saying… He was not even sure how seriously they would take him. This question, What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?, came from Judas, but it can also come from Jesus himself to us. He says to us: How much are you willing to give me? How much time, all your dedication, your reputation, your future plans, your time, your comfort…
Thumbnail: Rembrandt, Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver, circa 1629, at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on Palm Sunday, 2026, to a group of boys at a camp in Port Burwell, Ontario.
Palm Sunday is our entry into Holy Week. We are invited to contemplate the Passion. We remember that Pope Francis' last Palm Sunday focused on the figure of Simon of Cyrene.
As we look at the faces of the soldiers and the tears of the women in the crowd, our attention is drawn to an unknown person whose name suddenly appears in the Gospel: Simon of Cyrene. He was the man seized by the soldiers who then “laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus” (Lk 23:26). At that moment, he was coming in from the countryside. He happened to be passing by when he unexpectedly found himself caught up in a drama that overwhelmed him, like the heavy wood that was placed on his shoulders.
Thumbnail: Sarcophagus of Domitilia, in the Museum Pioneers Clementino, Rome, 4th century.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Kintore College, Toronto, on March 25, 2026.
There is something there that we must learn about this gift of hearing in the annunciation. Paintings of the scene often show words that come forth from the angel’s mouth, floating through the air to Mary, while she is in a receptive position, the contrapposto, this bending of her body, as though the very words touched her. But paintings are silent. We don' t actually hear the words of the angel. What was Mary's disposition to these sounds?
Pope Benedict said: To see this active hearing, a hearing which attracts the Word in such a way that it enters in me and becomes Word in me, reflecting on it and accepting to the depths of the heart. Thus, the Word becomes incarnation. (Pope Benedict XVI, Q&A With Priests of Rome, 26 Feb 2009).
There is something for us here to learn about the art of listening.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Thumbnail: Columba altarpiece of the Annunciation by Roger Van der Weyden, 1455, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.