Spelade
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Lk 14, 28: ”Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
Jesus said we are building tower.
The daily building of that tower is also in our use of time. He says this to show that if mere human prudence means that a person should try to work out in advance the risks he may run, with all the more reason should a Christian embrace the Cross voluntarily and generously, because there is no other way he can follow Jesus Christ. Sometimes that regards how we build the tower, or the house of our sanctification.
Famous C.S. Lewis passage from Mere Christianity.
“Imagine yourself as a living house. You have one version of renovation, but God wants something quite different. He doesn't just want just a quaint cottage, he wants to build a palace. So he too can live and take his place in it.
How happy we were when we heard Pope John Paul II say these words to the pilgrims in St. Peter’s square on Oct 7, 2002:
St Josemaría was chosen by the Lord to announce the universal call to holiness and to point out that daily life and ordinary activities are a path to holiness. One could say that he was the saint of ordinary life. In fact, he was convinced that for those who live with a perspective of faith, everything is an opportunity to meet God, everything can be an incentive for prayer. Seen in this light, daily life reveals an unexpected greatness. Holiness is truly within everyone's reach.
He doesn’t actually mention “work”, or professional work, but this is indeed the activity that all of us are engaged in everyday. So even on a holiday, when we’re not “working”, we’re engaged in an activity that sanctifies us.
Music: Adrain Berenguer, Fall (Album Singularity) 2017.
Thumbnail: Construction Eiffel April 15, 1888 Roger Viollet Getty Images
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January 23 is the anniversary of the election of the Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz which took place in Rome in 2017.
He was elected, meaning chosen by his confreres. Simple ceremony. No big sudden changes. There is unity and continuity. Some changes that are really only cosmetic, that are changes with the times, and with the desire of the pope.
He does not go and simply reverse everything his predecessor did.
We are also in the Octave of Christian Unity. Jesus prayed for the unity among his apostles.
Pope Francis said Wednesday that the Lord did not command that His disciples be united. No, He prayed. He prayed to the Father for us, so that we might be one. This means that we are not able to achieve unity with our own strength.
Above all, unity is a gift, it is a grace to be requested through prayer.
Each one of us needs it. In fact, we know that we are not capable of preserving unity even within ourselves. Even the apostle Paul felt a painful conflict within himself: wanting the good but inclined toward evil (see Rm 7:19). He had thus grasped the root of so many divisions that surround us – between people, in families, in society, between nations and even between believers – and inside us.
Division inside us comes from sin. The true remedy begins by asking God for peace, reconciliation, unity. So we need to ask for it in prayer. It is a gift we really need.
Pray with other Christians. Listen to them. Protestants and Orthodox. Do I ever pray for unity in the family? In the church? In the country? Do I realize that it is part of my duty too?
The Prelate said in a homily last year:
“May we rely more on you, Lord, and less on our own strength. And when we experience our own weakness, help us to be happy, knowing that you have chosen us with this weakness, because you love us.” (Homily, 23 January 2020)
Music: Andrian Berenguer, Fall, Album Singulairty (2017)
Thumbnail: Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz received by Pope Francis after being elected Prelate in 2017
See videos of meditations:
https://www.youtube.com/c/EricNicolai/videos
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Today Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches about the first reading from the Second Sunday of ordinary time, the account of Samuel’s vocation (1 Sam 3, 3-10, 19.)
We start with the back story of Hannah, who was childless. She went to Shiloh, to the temple. She prayed ardently. The priest there was Eli, who was pretty flaky, and he in turn had two sons who also became priests, and they were Hophni and Phinehas. They were corrupt, and immoral. In fact the book of Samuel itself says that they were “scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord.” (1 Sam 2, 12) But Hannah gives birth to Samuel and eventually brings him to the temple where he is brought up by Eli.
Eventually Samuel is brought up in the temple. He is awoken several times by the Lord who calls out to him. But it took a while to engage. It had something to do with sleepiness. How can I hear your voice Lord, if I sit back?
Talk now to him, he is listening, and you too are listening. Give me greater light and understanding about myself, and how I am answering to your call. Engaging pro-actively not just in the work I have to do, the many things that need to be done: but the pro-active spirit of dialogue with you.
The exchange is beautiful it really reflects the kind of promptness that should be in our soul.
Here I am Lord. Your servant is listening.
Samuel alone would not have known how to act. He was kind of lost. But though Eli is not perfect, he has his flaws, he nevertheless serves as an instrument for Samuel to discover his divine task.
Back 40 years ago, in 1981 the movie Chariots of Fire won four Oscars, including Best Picture. Great music by Vangelis. Amazing opening scenes of these British runners running on the beach… One of the film’s cornerstones is the importance of faith and prayer, discerning what God really wants. Eric Liddell is in the church of Scotland. He says that faith can be “compared to running in a race. It’s hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul,” especially when trying to live it with naturalness in one’s daily life. When facing the difficult choice between training for the Olympics or abandoning everything for the missions which his parents insisted on, Liddell tells his sister, “Jenny, I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
Music opening and closing: Adrian Berenguer, Fall, Album Singularity (2017)
Middle clips: Vangelis - Chariots of Fire - Theme Song, from Internet archive: https://archive.org/details/tvtunes_21754
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Fr. Eric Nicolai gives one of the first meditations at a retreat at Ernescliff College, Dec 26, 2020. This is on the mystery of vocation. God chooses and calls everyone: He chose us in Christ, that we should be holy and blameless in his presence through love (Eph 1:4).
He chose Abraham in Christ. He chose Sarai his wife. He chose Jacob, changed his very name to Israel, and then saved Moses from sure destruction, and chose him to lead his people. He chose David. He chose Jeremiah, and Ezekial, and Daniel, and Ruth, and even Melchisedek, that mysterious figure whose purpose it took so long to figure out.
He chose Mary, he chose John the Baptist. He chose you and me. Don’t let this pass as a fait accompli. Experience it.
Music: Adrian Berenguer, Fall, from the album Singularity (2017)
Thumbnail: Prophet Jeremiah by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel
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Preached Christmas Eve at Kintore College:
Psalm 88: 2-5: I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.
I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.
This is from this evening’s responsorial psalm. A beautiful exultation of who we will give praise through hymns and songs when we adore God. Isn’t it wonderful how Christmas is known for carolling, for the many beautiful Christmas songs, Christmas concerts that we hear very year these hymns, and we never get used to them? They evoke our childhood, a time of simplicity and confidence.
Especially important is the theme of joy because God has come close to us, and has made himself vulnerable like a little child. We also focus in on the tenderness of Mary and Joseph. The purity of Mary and the protective gaze of Joseph.
But no manger scene is complete without an ox and an ass in the picture.
Music: Die Schönsten Deutsche Weihnachtslieder : Helige Nacht.
Thumbnail: Duccio di Buoninsegna Nativity 1308, National Gallery, Washington, DC.
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A frequent subject of 19th century paints was the land. There was a movement that came to be known as the Barbison school. Painters went out and painted it right there in the fields and along the forests. One subject that has always appealed to me is the sower who sows his seed. Jean-Francois Millet had a wonderful genre painting of this which he repeated over and over in between 1850 to 1870. It expressed profound personal conviction that he had to be a real sower of peace and of joy.
Thumbnail: Jean-Francois Millet, The Sower (1850). Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.
Music: Andrian Guerenger, Fall (2017)
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What does the word advent even mean? It comes from the Greek word parousia, which means presence, or arrival. Advent means the arrival of the Lord that has already begun but has only just begun. It has begun silently. John the Baptist ended up in prison. He was expecting Jesus to come with his winnowing chaff. Instead he came quietly, with only some miracles and healings. He sent his own disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the one. “God’s presence had begun... but what a difference from what the Baptist had imagined! No fire fell from heaven to consume sinners and bear definitive witness to the just; in fact, nothing changed at all in the present world. Jesus went about preaching and doing good in the land, but the ambiguity remained. Human life continued to be an obscure mystery that man has to pursue with faith and hope into the world’s darkness. A meditation preached at Lyncroft Centre in Toronto by Fr. Eric Nicolai.
Music: Holy Night by Christmas choir
Thumbnail: "St. John the Baptist in Prison Visited by Two Disciples" (1455-60) by Giovanni di Paolo (Art Institute of Chicago)
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A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai in Lyncroft centre, Toronto, in the early morning of December 8, 2020.
In his eternal design for his Son to become man, God also chose Mary as the Mother of the Word Incarnate. This plan had an essential effect both in the manner in which the Word would become flesh—the Word not only became man; he became the descendent of Adam—and on the form of Mary’s motherhood would take.
Her's is a perfect and complete motherhood in all its aspects; in it the person of the Virgin is found to have a total, absolute reference to the Person of the Redeemer and to the Salvation of the world. The early icons of Jesus being held by his mother, in her lap. She is upright. She points to him. He blesses. These icons had a Greek name: Hodigateria. It means she is "showing the way to salvation". She showed us that way by point to her Son, and making him present in her. She is truly co-redemptrix.
The thumbnail is a famous icon of the Hodegateria.
Music; Adrian Burenguer, "Fall". Album Sungularity (2017)
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Prov 21, 1-6; 10-13: The lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares….Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches at Ernescliff College and invites us to read these words of Solomon slowly. We sense words about the poisonous nature of pride, addressed to us. And how we need to build humility. One way is through what Pope Francis has called the theology of the encounter: "Thanks solely to this encounter – or renewed encounter – with God’s love, which blossoms into an enriching friendship, we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption." (Evangelii Gaudium 8)
Music: Handel, Lascia ch'io pianga, played beautifully on the guitar by Bert Alink.
Thumbnail painting: Piero della Francesca, Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, circa 1465. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. He is seen presiding proudly over his lands in a double portrait with his wife the Duchesse Battista Sforza.
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A meditation preached in Lyncroft Hospitality Centre on the Gospel of the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) on the Gospel of the New Commandment.
Music: Handel's Opera Rinaldo, aria: Lascia ch'io pianga, played in guitar by Bert Alink.
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Psalm 17 (18): 2-4, 47, 51: I love you, Lord, my strength.
My rock, my fortress, my saviour. My God is the rock where I take refuge; my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold. The Lord is worthy of all praise, when I call I am saved from my foes.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
Long life to the Lord, my rock! Praised be the God who saves me,
He has given great victories to his king and shown his love for his anointed.
Today's psalm from the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) invites us to experience God as our rock and our shield. How does this happen in my prayer? In my thoughts? Fr. Eric Nicolai opens some possibilities in this meditation in Lyncroft Hospitality Centre.
Music: Handel's opera, Rinaldo, aria Lascia ch'io pianga, played on the guitar by Bert Alink.
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Today, November 28, is the anniversary of the Apostolic Constitution “Ut Sit” from 1982, in which Pope John Paul II establish Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature. It was the definitive canonical suit that Opus Dei needed in order to have that new energy in the mission of the church. Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches on this 38th anniversary in Lyncroft centre and explains its significance.
Music: FALL - Adrian Berenguer (Album Singulairty) from Musopen.org
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Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches in Lyncroft centre on December 5, 2020: Advent, time for a new conversion. How is that going to happen? In this recollection this is not som much like ascending to a hight mountain, but imagine now that your task is to clear the ground for the helicopter to land (got that image from Bishop Robert Barron). Like the Vietnam scenes in a Francis Ford Coppola, with the wind blowing as helicopters landing and the soldiers with the drill sergeants clearing the place for their comrades. The helicopter is coming in to give them assistance and take them away to a safe place. Knowing the our Lord is near, that He is coming to seek us, stirs up the desire to prepare our heart through a new conversion. Make his paths straight (Mt 3:3): Discovering what has become twisted in our life, removing the obstacles, in order to encounter our Lord with joy. Raising our sight with a renewed supernatural outlook.
Music: Adrian Guerenger, "Fall", from his album "Singularity". Artilist.io
See meditations on my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/ericnicolai
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Fr. John Lopez Agundez preaches from Montreal about the challenge of becoming saints in our world, in our work.
Music: Recordações do passado (Souvenirs from the Past) a Valsa for piano (1885) by Ernesto Nazareth arranged for guitar by Bert Alink non monetize. From https://musopen.org
Thumbnail: pexels.com
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On Saturday November 21, 27 deacons we’re ordained in Rome for the Prelature of Opus Dei. Among them the first Lithuanian, a Croatian, a young Japanese and a Montrealer, Fadi Sarraf, originally fromSyria. It was a moment of joy, but with all the masks present, absence of families that couldn’t come, and the careful distancing, one could sense that they were taking advantage of the grace of the pandemic. What exactly is this grace, and how can we take advantage of it?
Summary of the ordination: https://opusdei.org/en-ca/article/21-november-ordination-of-27-deacons-in-rome/
Music: Handel, Rinaldo Opera, Aria Lascia ch’io pianga, played on guitar by Bert Alink.
More meditations on Youtube.com/ericnicolai
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Today’s Gospel is about the end times. Luke 17:26-37: ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot’s day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day Lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the day comes for the Son of Man to be revealed. ‘When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot’s wife.
I have heard some people say that we have to get ready for a long and cold winter. That its going to be tough. Many people are going to die. That we have no assurance of getting a real effective vaccine. Some say its going to be several more years. So hunker down, and get ready.
What should our attitude be in this time? How do we see God’s providence with all these numbers, these deaths?
During the winter of 1666, Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite Monk in Lorraine, France, upon seeing a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that within a little time the leaves would be renewed and after that the flowers and fruit appear, received a high view of the Providence and Power of God which has never since been effaced from his soul. Somehow, we must see this challenge as an occasion for making us better.
Music: Mozart, Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink.
Thumbnail: Photo taken at the Manoir de Beaujeu in Coteau du Lac, Quebec (Eric Nicolai)
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Matt 25, 14-30: You have been faithful in small things: come and join in your master's happiness.
In this 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, the last of the liturgical calendar before Christ the King, the Church presents us with the Gospel of the talents. The story of the master who settles his accounts with his servants. We all love to hear these words: ”well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibility." Or I will entrust you with much.
Good and faithful servant. For what? For being faithful, dutiful in little things. This includes your abilities, but also all the amazing apostate you can do. Your example with friends, to help them to pray. Your good works with them. Peace and fraternity at home. Ability to work. To teach them to work.
But even among successful people with house and family and job, it is always sad to see wasted talent, since people never plan to squander their talents. They may fail to use them, usually not because they decide to ignore them, but because they never decide to make them fully fruitful.
God does not want us to do shoddy work, but this can be confused with a fruitless perfectionism. Have I fallen into the trap of perfectionism?
Music: Mozart: Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink.
Thumbnail: Rembrandt Van Ring, Parable of the talents, drawing in reed pen and bistre, c. 1652, Louvre collection.
More meditations on www.youtube.com/ericnicolai
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Fr. Luis de Moya passed away on November 9th, 2020 in Pamplona, Spain, as a result of complications due to an operation. He was in his late 60s. He was a numerary priest of Opus Dei, incarnated in the Prelature. He had studied medicine, then went to Rome to study theology and was ordained a priest. In 1990 after traffic accident in Madrid he ended up being a tetraplegic, and lived the rest of his life in Pamplona Spain. When he first woke up from the accident, he couldn't remember anything, and he did not think about what he couldn’t do or all that he had lost. He describes his thought process as "total": He only thought of what was absolutely fundamental: Soy vivo, Dios es el punto de referencia, y soy sacerdote: I am alive, God is my reference point, and I am a priest. Period.
Fr. Eric Nicolai preaches to numeraries in Ernescliff College, and gives an account of the heroic witness of Fr. Luis de Moya, whom he met in Pamplona, and comments from the new letter from the Prelate of Opus Dei from Oct 28, 2020.
Music: Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink
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A meditation preached on Saturday November 7, 2020 by Fr. Eric Nicolai in preparation for the feast of Christ the King. He reigns from his throne on the cross. Then he appears to the apostles after his resurrection as King: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mt 28:18). Our Lord invites us to imitate Him in serving others. What kind of power? He wants us to have this new kind of power. The power nobody seems to be aware of, only those truly close to him, truly intimate with him: the power of spreading his kingdom through spirit of service.
Music: Mozart: Adagio in C major, K. 356 - Guitar Arrangement - Bert Alink. https://musopen.org/music/2725-adagio-in-c-major-k-356/
Thumbnail: Parish of Christ the King in Commack, NY.
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Luke 13, 31-32: 31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
Fr. John Lopez Agundez emphasizes them importance of the spiritual struggle in our life.
Ephesians 6, 16: In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Fr. John gives principles of a hopeful spiritual struggle to love the Lord above all things in our ordinary life. It really helps to make resolutions and go for it. Few but definite, and fulfill them with the help of God.
Music from Handel's opera, Rinaldo, lascia ch'io pianga, played by Bert Alink.
Thumbnail: Statue of King David (1609–1612) by Nicolas Cordier in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome.
- Visa fler
