In Your Presence

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation on March 8, 2026 in Ernescliff College, Toronto. It is similar to the previous day's meditation in Lyncroft centre, titled "Begone Satan!".
Conversion, like Jesus at the well, is first and foremost an initiative of God. We respond with our freedom. It’s in that most intimate part of ourselves, where the image of God deep within us, needs to be awoken, brought back to life, as though it had remained dormant but now is brought forth into the wild.
We have the freedom now to exercise penance through Lent in a way that leads to conversion, and to defeating the toxic presence of the evil one.
It’s what Jesus does in the desert (Matt 4), the Land of Mordor, this dark motif that sets the tone for all of Lent. A time of penance that purifies us, that awakens in us an interior struggle, that reminds us that we will never really convert if we just coast along, if we drift through life, if we just go with the current.
Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.
Thumbnail: The Temptation Of Christ, by Duccio Di Buoninsegna, 1308, Frick Collection

A meditation preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on March 7, 2026.
The devil tempts Jesus in the desert. Jesus is impeccable (unable to sin) in virtue of the hypostatic union, yet truly tempted from without in His human nature, in the sense of being really “assaulted” by the devil, not in the sense of interior consent or moral peril.
Traditionally, this scene in the desert is a contrast with Adam. New Adam motif: The desert scene is read against Genesis, where Adam fell in a garden amid abundance, Christ triumphs in a wilderness amid hunger and weakness.
Thumbnail: The Temptation of Christ by Simon Bening, Flemish, 1550 Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Luke 16:19-31: Dives and Lazarus.
Jesus tells this account of the rich man who feasted and seemed to enjoy life, but was oblivious to the poverty and the suffering of Lazarus, the poor man. It is an account that is full of details that fills us with revulsion, with shock and the callousness of the rich man. We are particularly grieved by his lack of empathy. He seems so unconcerned to help, to alleviate the poverty of Lazarus. He seems to be living in a bubble. He is unaware and unconcerned by the state of the poor man.
The problem was not his wealth but his lack of sensitivity. The poor man was not at all on his radar. He was not even aware of this guy. He would not have even remembered him. We must have others on our radar. Aware of them. Connect with them. Care about them and especially have the ability to listen carefully.
Pope Francis spoke of listening on January 26, 2022.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Thumbnail. Jean Pichore Workshop, The Rich Man at Table, Lazarus Barred at the Door. From a Book of Hours. French (Paris), c. 1500, Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France.

A meditation preached to priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, east of Montreal, March 1, 2026.
Mt 8:26: "It is good to be with you here, Lord."
For the apostles, this moment involved all their senses: the sudden otherworldly luminosity, the towering figure of Jesus together with Moses and Elijah, the thundering voice of God the Father, the cloud covering them, the fragrance in the wind, and the peace of being with Jesus in all his divinity. Below is the upheaval caused by the curing of the epileptic boy. There are moments of darkness with fear, and others of light. Like the painting by Raphael Sanzio of the Transfiguration from 1520, the last of his life.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Thumbnail: The Transfiguration by Raphael Sanzio, 1520, in the Vatican Pinacoteca, Rome.

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Kintore College, Toronto, on February 21, 2026. Today’s Gospel gives us a brief snapshot of the call of Levi, or Matthew, the tax collector. Right there, at his post, doing his job, at the customs post, Jesus called him. He walked in, looked at him, and, like in slow motion, Matthew got up, and followed him (Luke 5:27). In front of the grumbling, the Lord declared: It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’ (Luke 5)
Matthew fits into the beatitudes that Jesus later outlines as the blueprint of his followers.
Music: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Thumbnail: The Sermon on the Mount (1437-1445), Blessed Fra Angelico, Convent of San Marco, Florence.