In Your Presence Eric Nicolai

Today, the fourth Sunday of Lent, the church offers the passage from St. John about the man born blind. It is here that the Lord begins to speak about himself as being the Light of the World, and that the apostles too are the light of the world when united to him.



The apostles tell Jesus about this man, stumbling around, not able to advance, and thinking it was a generational problem. His father or grandfather must have been pretty bad, so he inherited this moral evil now in form of blindness.



John quotes Jesus in front of the apostles asking about the blind man:



‘As long as the day lasts

I must carry out the work of the one who sent me;

the night will soon be here when no one can work.

As long as I am in the world

I am the light of the world.’ (John 9, 2)

The meditation was preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Lyncroft centre, March 19, 2023.

Music: Bert Alink, Tears keep Flowing, guitar arrangement, 2015.

The Greek word "apostoloi" means “sent.” It refers to Christ's call to the disciples to continue his own mission: proclaiming the kingdom of God throughout the world.

But what are these apostles proclaiming? Are they giving an instruction about what Jesus spoke about? Were they giving classes, where people sat down and took notes? What was the essential idea that people took away with them after Peter spoke in Jerusalem? One simple idea articulated by Pope Francis: The name of God is mercy. Have you mentioned this to others?

A meditation on the Kerigma of the early Church, preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai, at Lyncroft Centre, March 15, 2023.

Music: Carlos Gardel, Soledad, arranged for guitar by Bert Alink.

Groucho Marx in the early silent films would say that to have a happy life,  we must have good humour have a bad memory. Of course we have good humour, but I don’t agree that we should have a bad memory.

We have to have good humour and good memory, but selective memory for all the good in life. This was the purpose of the transfiguration, in which Jesus showed the apostle the luminosity of the good. It was so that they should remember the good, when things were bad and dark. A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre in Toronto on March 9, 2023.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca, arranged for guitar by Guitar Bert Alink.

Thumbnail: Raphael Sanzio, Transfiguration 1520, Pinacoteca Vaticana.

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto, on March 4, 2023. 

During Lent our goal is that of St. Paul:  "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (Gal 2, 20).

This identification with Christ has 4 steps in a staircase towards Christ Jesus. The first step in this staircase is the most superficial one: Corporal mortification. The next step in the staircase is the care of little things. The third step is interior mortification. Finally the most difficult step, number 4, is passive mortification.

Music: Chiquinha Gonzaga composer, Lua Branca (Guitar Bert Alink) 

Thumbnail: First Temptation of Christ. Stained glass possibly from the collegiate church of Saint-Etienne. London, Victoria and Albert Museum, C. 1907-1919.

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https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai to priests at the Manoir de Beaujeu, February 4, 2023.

In the death and burial of Lazarus Jesus watched the long procession of mourners from the first to the last, and the reason of it all. He understood the very reason for all those mourners. He knew deeply, in its essence how death came into the world with the sin of Adam. He wept for Lazarus, but he weeps for you and me too, because we too will die.

John 11, 38: "Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said."

Martha does not think it is a good idea. She says: “Lord, by now he must smell, for it is four days.” Iam fetit. (Jn 11, 39)

Makes sense, since sin and death always give off a bad smell. Bad smell of pride, the high odour of vanity. We must now remove the stone and smell out the bad odour of sin in our life, not to simply cover it over, but to get rid of it. Not simply perfume it.

Thumbnail: The Raising of Lazarus, from a codex prepared in Reichenau, during the reign of Otto III, year  1000, now in the Munich National Library.

Music: Bert Alink, Tears Keep Flowing, 2015.

For more meditations, check my channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

Fr. Eric Nicolai preached this meditation at Ernescliff College, on February 28, 2023. Today’s first reading is from a chapter of Isaiah, an oracle that the prophet made, calling back the exiles in Babylon. Isaiah 55, 10: "And as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return no more thither, but soak the earth, and water it, and make it to spring, and give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be, which shall go forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall do whatsoever I please, and shall prosper in the things for which I sent it."

The image of rain and snow give us an idea of the refreshing nature of our prayer in Lent, and invites us to open the door to his presence.

Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singularity)

Thumbnail: Rembrandt St Jerome Kneeling in Prayer Looking Down etching 1635, Galerie Michael artbrokerage.com

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https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos

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