PODCAST | Framing the Academic Year as a Time of Grace
In this meditation, Fr. Eric Nicolai leads our imaginations from Sacred Scripture to the lakeside of eastern Ontario to the university campus where St. Josemaria famously proclaimed: “[God] waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.” (Passionately Loving the World, no. 114)
Although St. Josemaria delivered that homily in 1967, the words ring just as true for us today, at the start of this new academic year. In this timely meditation, Fr. Eric prompts us to take on our apostolic mission with as much enthusiasm as St. Josemaria.
He explains: “Let us feel ourselves now to be on a mission this year, to truly be protagonists in bringing the love of God wherever we are. And the university campus, the university buildings, they certainly need the love of God, the joy of being servants of God. The world needs all that love that we put into our studies… The apostolate that we will engage in as we meet people that maybe are distant from God and that maybe haven’t had the grace to receive the formation, the knowledge of the faith that we have.”
PAUSE & REFLECT:
- What repeated tasks, such as turning on a computer or making my bed, can remind me to say short little prayers to God?
- Do I see my desk as an altar upon which to offer my work to God, in union with the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus?
- What might help me to maintain–or regain–my enthusiasm for my studies and work?
- Am I entrusting myself to the Holy Spirit, so that God can reach others through my friendships this year?
Cover Image: St. Josemaria Escriva at the University of Navarre (1967)
Rev. Eric Nicolai
Fr. Eric Nicolai, a native of Montreal, Canada, converted to Catholicism as a teenager and was ordained a priest for the Prelature of Opus Dei in 1994. He holds a degree in Art History from McGill University in Montreal and a Masters at Laval University in Quebec City. Fr. Eric currently serves as chaplain of Ernescliff College and of Hawthorn Girls School in Toronto and regularly shares mediations on his Youtube and Podcast channel, In Your Presence. [ Youtube ] [ iTunes ]
