Totus2us is giving voice to faith, hope and love from all around the world, especially among Blessed John Paul II's, Benedict XVI's & Papa Francesco's 'carissimi giovani' (dearest young people), is highlighting what's good and helping us to pray & to be not afraid. There are voices from 100 countries so far, here on Totus2us's 35 mp3 audio podcasts and on iTunes. All free, all with music, most episodes are under 10 minutes and fall broadly into 3 areas: Catholic teaching (faith / way), prayer (hope / truth) & witness (love / life).
There's Something about Mary, In Memory of Me, Go in Peace, To be a Pilgrim, World Youth Days, The Incredibles, Blessed JPII We Love You, Papa Benedetto We Love You too, Viva Papa Francisco, Man for Others, In the Family, Word on the Street, TOP CHAT & Does God have a sense of humour. Then there's 3 2us, Sunday Evangelium, Philosophy & Faith, Talks 2us, Catholic Catechism, Mission Jesus & Catechesis with Pope BXVI. The prayer podcasts are the Rosary (in English, French, Italian & Spanish), the Stations of the Cross (in English, French, Spanish), Novenas (16 so far, mainly including the writings of JPII / BXVI) & Jesus I trust in you (the Divine Mercy chaplet is in 12 languages).
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Today's something about Mary
on the Feast of Pentecost, is by Jonas from Sweden:
"I asked God, ‘What is love?’ Every day I went to pray the rosary beneath the statue of our mother, and slowly, slowly for each time I did it, -two, three times a day for 14 days - a feeling of love grew inside my breast, my chest. While I was walking around in the area of meditation, I said 'This is unbelievable.' In silence and solitude, I heard the voice of Our Mother talking to me. And it went on and it was so silent and so fragile that if I even sort of thought or was distracted by the smallest thing, I could lose it. But the voice of a mother and the feeling of love returned constantly all the time while I was asking for it."
In June 1981 (just a month after the assasination attempt on Blessed John Paul II on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima), the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared to 6 children in Medjugorje (in what was then communist Yugoslavia), introducing herself to them as the 'Queen of Peace'. She has been appearing in Medjugorje every day since.
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Man for Others - JMJ Paris
Father Fabien Lambert, who's 36 & a priest of the Emmanuel Community from Belgium: "Little bit by little bit during these days at World Youth Day Paris I started to be struck by something. I saw that ‘how come all these people can be in this joy? And how come this old man, John Paul II, can attract so many young people? There is no one else in the world who has such a big influence like this.' And I thought maybe there is something more and maybe God really does exist. It was the beginning of a little openness in my heart. And then I went back home and a few weeks after a good friend proposed to me to go on holidays… We went to Majorca and it was really a very mundane place, where there is only discos, restaurants, beach, and our programme was just to follow the discos, restaurants, beach. What struck me during this time was the contrast between what I lived just 2 weeks before in Paris, a really deep joy, a profound joy, and after something very superficial in this life. After a few days I was alone (my friend had gone to do something) and I felt a big emptiness in me and I said 'How is it possible that I am so sad? This way of life, I thought it was happiness, just to go to restaurants ..' and the contrast of what I was living just before and what I was living now made me feel a very big emptiness in me and I said 'Maybe I should go back to God.' There was like a question in me, it was not an answer but an openness in my heart. 'But if everything I received in my childhood was true, and if maybe God really exists and if He can really fulfil me' I said to myself 'then I should leave everything and I should become a priest.'" ♦
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Go in Peace ... Confession
Emma, who's 19 & from America: "But Jesus stops him and says 'Those who are forgiven little, love little, but those who are forgiven much, love much.' And I had a hard time knowing my desire for forgiveness but I've always known my desire for love. This passage has shown me that my desire for forgiveness, the more I am forgiven, the more I can love, the more my heart is broken open to love more people. And so I've slowly been able to be vulnerable in Confession by just knowing that the more vulnerable I am, the more my heart is broken open to love others. So I just encourage you to not be afraid in Confession because your heart is made to just love more than you can imagine, and this Sacrament is where you go and meet the love of your life and he breaks open your heart." ♦
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Blessed John Paul II, We Love You
Sean, who's 23 & a seminarian from the USA: "If you look at any pictures or videos of John Paul II, when he gazes at someone, he doesn't just see them and move on but he looks into the person, and just sees who they truly are and he loves them right in that spot. It doesn't matter if they're a beggar or a rich man, he loves them just where they are. And that comes from the love of Our Lady, because it's Mary who teaches us how to love Christ and it's Mary who teaches us how to love Christ in others. And so John Paul II, being the great lover of Mary that he was, he was able to learn from Mary how to love Christ in other people. This is something that I've gained and that I've learned to love about him, the man, and I think his entire pontificate was one of love. He said 'Open the doors to Christ. Throw open the doors to Christ.' And that's what he did whenever he greeted somebody, he was opening the door to Christ within his own heart and bringing that person in. ♦
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Man for Others
Eric, a deacon from America shares the story of his conversion:
" I wasn't really practicing at the time and was more concerned about the party life in college and my own interests in doing what I wanted to do. It was a week that God really opened my eyes, it was a time of prayer, it was a time of really coming to know what my faith was about. I spent some time on the mountains of Medjugorje in prayer, praying to Our Lord to give me some direction, to figure out what He wanted in my life. And all of a sudden came an incredible realization of His presence, of a presence that loved me, that knew me and that I was in his hands, that there is nothing that I need worry about, that I was in his hands, that He was going to take care of me. It was an overwhelming sense of his love for me, absolutely overwhelming and I couldn't escape it. I knew after this experience that I had to do something, I had to change the way I was living. … I came back from that week in Medjugorje with such a hunger to learn more about my faith, to learn more about God." ♦
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In Memory of Me - the Eucharist
Francis, who's 21 & from the United States: "I think the Eucharist is just one of Christ's most beautiful gifts to his Church. It basically fulfils his promise to be with us always and it was the last thing he said to us before ascending into heaven after his life on earth. It's his mode of being with us which is so beautiful because, you know, building up to the Incarnation, you had the Jews, there was just this longing to have God's presence with us. So to me it's beautiful how through the Eucharist He connects with us in such a human way. Obviously he created our human nature, so he understands through our human nature we need that personal connection for there to be true affection. And God is love, so He understands that we need that connection and so he gave us the Eucharist so as to have a tangible connection and presence with Him until the last days. And to me that's just beautiful." ♦
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Papa Benedict, We Thank You!
Mary, who's 19 & from the US: "I’d like to thank Pope Benedict for all that he has done in the past 8 years as pope. I think one of the most powerful things or ways that he has had an impact on me is actually with his resignation. It is such an act of humility and self-sacrifice, that he really is showing his love for the Church in a new way. I think I’ll remember him more fondly for this gift that he’s giving to the Church, but I also appreciate his work in the new evangelization and his promotion of that. He has just been such a blessing for the Church and I just hope we get another pope as wonderful as he is. So thank you, Pope Benedict. We love you." ♦
Erin, who's 19 & from Indianna in the US: "I want to thank Papa Benedict for his witness and for his love for the Church. In both ways it’s the way he lives his life, and his vocation is inspiring to me because he shows us what a saint right now can look like and how unique everyone’s call is. But what is the same throughout all is that we're all called to listen to the will of God and to say yes, whatever it is. From that will come so much beauty and so much love, and that is how the Church should live." ♦
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Papa Benedetto, We Love You!
Miriam, who's 21 & from Germany: "For me, it’s a really big grace to be here in Rome during the last days of the pontificate of Pope Benedict. He was a real father for me, because he was a holy man and he knew how to love the faith. ..I started to read what he said, to get to know him better because I studied for 9 months in Rome. I was there every Sunday at the Angelus and it was just so good to hear him and to hear his interpretation of the Gospel, to hear how he’s living his prayer life. Like he told us during the last audiences, and now ithe last audience when he was so personal, when he really told us how his heart, how he loves God and that he feels that the Church is alive, the Church is young. We are not alone, he’s not alone, because God is with us. It was so touching and if felt like ‘yeh, there’s hope, there’s a great hope for us’." ♦
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To Be a Pilgrim
John, from London, was a pilgrim on the Camino to Santiago, in Spain: "One of the main messages that struck me was, finishing in Santiago, a priest telling me at Santiago Cathedral they switch round the alpha and omega to the opposite way because they say the end is the beginning. So the end of the pilgrimage is the beginning of a new start. I think the two lessons that I took away from the Camino were, one, it was an opportunity for me to have a regular prayer life and that's what I've tried to take into life since finishing the Camino. The second thing is on the Camino it's very easy to live the Christian life in a very simple way. So sharing your food, carrying very little with you, having no possessions, and everyone's on a similar playing field so it's very easy to interact and people are very open. So those are the two things I've taken from the Camino." ♦
Medjugorje, 25 March 2013
Our Lady of Medjugorje's message to Marija Pavlović:
“Dear children! In this time of grace I call you to take the cross of my beloved Son Jesus in your hands and to meditate on His passion and death. May your suffering be united in His suffering and love will win, because He who is love gave Himself out of love to save each of you. Pray, pray, pray until love and peace begin to reign in your hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
“¡Queridos hijos! En este tiempo de gracia, los invito a tomar en sus manos la cruz de mi amado Hijo Jesús y a meditar acerca de Su Pasión y Muerte. Que vuestros sufrimientos estén unidos a Su sufrimiento y así vencerá el amor, porque El, que es el amor, por amor se dio a sí mismo para salvar a cada uno de ustedes. Oren, oren, oren hasta que el amor y la paz reinen en sus corazones. Gracias por haber respondido a mi llamado."
"Cari figli! In questo tempo di grazia vi invito a prendere fra le mani la croce del mio amato Figlio Gesù e a contemplare la Sua passione e morte. Le vostre sofferenze siano unite alla Sua sofferenza e l’amore vincerà, perché, Lui che è l’Amore, ha dato se stesso per amore per salvare ciascuno di voi. Pregate, pregate, pregate affinché l’amore e la pace comincino a regnare nei vostri cuori. Grazie per aver risposto alla mia chiamata.”
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Blessed John Paul II
""Fear not to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and by his power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind.
Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors to Christ. To his saving power open the frontiers of states, economic and political systems, the vast realms of culture, civilization, and development.
Do not be afraid. Christ knows 'what is in humans'. He alone knows!" (16th October 1978)
Papa Benedetto XVI
'When we entrust ourselves to the Lord completely, everything changes. We are children of a Father who loves us, and never leaves us.'
'Following Christ's example, we have to learn to give ourselves completely. Anything else is not enough.'
@Pontifex tweet - 2 & 9 Jan 2013
All around the world
You can listen by country to the witness given, by young people in particular, on Totus2us's podcasts. Countries represented so far are: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo-Brazaville, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, DR Congo, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, UK, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia & Zimbabwe.
The countries not included above which Papa Benedict XVI, Blessed John Paul II &/or Paul VI have visited are: Angola, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkino Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cuba, Curaçao, Denmark, Dominican Republic, East Timor, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Fiji Islands, Finland, Gabon, Gambia, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Iran, Jordan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Norway, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Papua-New Guinea, Paraguay, La Réunion, Rwanda, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Tunisia & Uruguay.
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Totus Tuus, Totus2us
Totus Tuus - All Yours - was Blessed John Paul II's motto, having entrusted his life, his priesthood, his 'all' to Mary. Totus2us is being built with the same intention: to be all Mary's. The play on lettering gives Totus2us a 2nd meaning - Everything2us - as that is what Mary means to us.
This mosaic of the Madonna and Christ Child is on the front of the Apostolic Palace in St Peter's Square (near the Pope's window for the Angelus prayer). Beneath it is John Paul II's coat of arms and his motto, Totus Tuus; and beneath this is written MATER ECCLESIAE - Mother of the Church.
It is a tribute John Paul II wanted to make to Mary for her having saved his life in the assassination attempt on 13th May 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Just 6 months later, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, John Paul II blessed the mosaic, a "sign of the heavenly protection of the Sovereign Pontiff, of the Church and of those who are in St Peter's Square."
You can listen / subscribe to all these podcasts & download the free mp3s on itunes or here on Totus2us.
Plus, you can download the audio recordings here individually by right clicking where you see this diamond ♦
