Totus2us is giving voice to faith, hope and love from all around the world, especially among Blessed John Paul II's and Benedict XVI's 'dear young people', as witnessed to at World Youth Days; highlighting what's good & fun, and helping us to pray & not be afraid. There are voices from 80 countries so far, here on Totus2us & on Totus2us's 30 audio mp3 podcasts. All free, all with music, most episodes are under 10 minutes and the podcasts fall broadly into 3 areas: prayer (faith / way), teaching (hope / truth) & witness (love / life).
There's Something about Mary, Word on the Street, Man for Others, In Memory of Me, Blessed JPII We Love You & Papa Bene We Love You too, World Youth Days, To be a Pilgrim, The Incredibles, In the Family, TOP CHAT, Journey to Freedom & Does God have a sense of humour. Then there's 3 2us, Sunday Evangelium, Philosophy & Faith, Catholic Catechism & Talks 2us. The prayer podcasts are the Rosary (in English, French, Italian & Spanish), the Stations of the Cross, Novenas (16 so far, mainly including the writings of JPII/BXVI) & Jesus I trust in you (the Divine Mercy chaplet is in 11 languages). You can listen / subscribe to all these podcasts & download the free mp3s on itunes or here on Totus2us where you can also download individual recordings by right clicking where you see this diamond ♦
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Today's Something about Mary
is by Charlotte, who's from England:
"I'm recording this on the 50th anniversary of my mother's death, who died when I was 9. I was obviously very young but I inherited from her a beautiful gift of great faith and love for Our Lady, and Our Lady has a very special place in my heart, in all our family's heart, as she's our Queen of Peace and Mother in Heaven. We always look to her to protect us, and I know that she has us always in mind. We've dedicated our family to her and she watches over us safely always and every day, and we love you, Mary.
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Saint Thomas Aquinas
3 2us by Father Peter Pitre CSJ ♦
"Love for Christ pushed Thomas Aquinas to devote a tremendous amount of energy to the search for truth, to contemplating the truth and to teaching the truth. He consecrated his intellectual gifts to God and so he's a great model for us of the sanctified mind. His aim was to let himself be taught by God and so he was humble enough to be formed at the school of the pagan philosopher, Aristotle, because he understood that everything that's true, whoever may say it, is from the Holy Spirit." Feast Day - 28th January
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Saint Francis de Sales
3 2us by Father Francis Selman ♦
"He was not only a bishop but he is also a Doctor of the Church, especially for his particularly consoling teaching about prayer, which again especially reflects his spirit of gentleness, as he teaches us not to be troubled by past sins but to have confidence in God and to make our misery into a throne for God's mercy."
Feast Day - 24th January. Patron Saint of Writers & Journalists
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The Conversion of Saint Paul
3 2us by Father John Edwards SJ ♦
"Now what is important about his conversion? Well this, that he is so vital for the Church. It's very mysterious, Our Lord had chosen 12 apostles to whom he gave authority to teach all nations and guaranteed that they would teach the truth. We look on them as the first bishops; 1 of them was Judas, he had to be replaced, but these people had all known Our Lord in his earthly life. He chose out 12, St Mark says, to be with him. But St Paul was not with him. St Paul, a learned man, learned in Jewish religion, highly intelligent .. persecuted the Church and did it zealously for a long time. Now it was this man who met Jesus in a different way. He was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians and Jesus appeared to him, he knocked him off his horse, turned him blind, and a voice from heaven... Now that was the man whom Jesus chose. God can do anything and he chose him, as St Paul says, as it were out of due time. He really did meet Jesus but it was in a different way and he realised that God was calling him to preach, to be the apostle, to the non-Jews, the Gentiles." Feast Day - 25th January
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The Creed
Father Andrew Pinsent: "In preparation for the Year of Faith beginning on 11th October 2012, I would like to devote some homilies this year to a systematic exploration of the faith, beginning with the Creed. As we have just celebrated Christmas, it is also appropriate to focus on the central section of the Creed, devoted to Jesus Christ. The words of the Creed are of course familiar to all of us who attend Sunday Mass but that very familiarity means it is tempting perhaps to recite the words without thinking about them. But these words are like gold, and just as gold is purified by fire to burn away dross, these words were chosen, tested and purified through centuries of debate and considerable suffering, in order to assist in our salvation." ♦
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Father Andrew Pinsent: "Many Christians however still live with divided hearts, adding some practices of the City of God to lives that are still shaped to some degree by the City of Man. As a result many Christians are less effective and fruitful in this world than they should be. The step which most Christians find difficult is to surrender all things to God as revealed in His Son Jesus Christ, and to surrender things to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This surrender may or may not involve a physical abandonment of our possessions, as the Apostles did in today's Gospel, by abandoning their fishing nets and following Christ. But this surrender does involve putting God first, whatever our walk in life, to devoting significant time to daily prayer and the Sacraments, to following our God-given vocation and seeing the passing things of this world from the perspective of our true home which is in heaven." ♦
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Man for Others
Father Philip Conner, the diocesan youth chaplain for the diocese of Lancaster:
"John Paul II really, really inspired me at World Youth Day in Rome and I suppose in my journey to be a priest, he helped me to understand how actually priesthood isn't just something we do for God, or that we've got to sacrifice my life for the Lord, it's a gift. When I came to understand it as a gift, it transformed everything; when you realise something is a gift, you learn how to receive and this changes your whole attitude. It's not something you do for God, it's something God is doing for you; He chose us; we didn't choose Him, He chose us and we respond. John Paul II helped me to understand how it's a real mystery we're entering into and a really amazing privilege to participate in Jesus' life today and to make His life present, and to continue to receive this as a gift." ♦
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Fides et Ratio
If you've been thinking you'd like to know more about JPII's beautiful encyclical on faith & reason (so on philosophy ... his topic as a university lecturer!), you can listen to JPI's words as a novena (so split into 9 bits) .. & a good day to start is 19th January, if you'd like to link it in with St Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor whose feast day is on 28th January.
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Papa Benedetto, We Love You
Doug, who's 22 & from the United States, is currently studying in Rome and has been reading a lot more by Pope Benedict (eg his interview with Peter Seewald in Light of the World). This Christmas Doug served for BXVI at Midnight Mass at St Peter's: "It was a very powerful experience ..filled with grace. Just seeing the man, who is old and fragile, this man who the Lord entrusted the Church with, through Peter, Pope Benedict still has the same duties given to Peter: he's given the keys of the Church, he's the rock on which our Church is built, and that strong, central figure of the Catholic Church was incarnate in Pope Benedict and for me it was just good to see that and to see him." ♦
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The Incredibles
Marijke, who's 23 & from the Netherlands, chose St Mary Magdalene as her Incredible Saint: "When I became a Catholic I chose St Mary Magdalene as my patron saint because she really was focused totally on God, on Jesus, and she didn't care what other people thought about it, she just completely lived for Him. She helped me to keep focused on Jesus and to completely live only for Him in my day to day life." ♦
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To be a Pilgrim
Rachel, from Scotland, was a pilgrim to Paray-le-Monial ♦
"Each time that I've been to Paray-le-Monial (I've been there 3 times now) it's been a really blessed and a very deep experience in my faith journey. And I would say that this image of Christ and the revelation of His Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary is the image of Christ that touches me the most and that speaks to me the most: Christ's open heart that he shared with this saint and shared through her to the world, and the burning love that He has through His Sacred Heart and this desire, this thirst, for us to return some of that love that He so yearns for from us. Every time that I've been there, I've just experienced a great peace and just resting there with him, and just really experiencing Christ's heart and being with Him and receiving that grace, and experiencing this intense love that Christ has for each of us and for Christ's Church."
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In Memory of Me
Paschal, who's 22 & from London: "Pope Benedict said the Eucharist is the proof of God's love. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said that when you really love somebody you might write them a letter or better than that you might speak to them on the phone, but love's deepest desire is for union and, in the Eucharist, there is partly our desire to be with God but more than that it's God's passionate desire to be with us. It's the proof of his love." ♦
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)
With JPII's beatification on 1st May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday), Totus2us has been focusing on some aspects of Blessed John Paul II's remarkable life. Take a look at the 129 countries the Pilgrim Pope visited over 26 years (the Vatican's new JPII youtubes are all featured), listen to some of his 14 ACE encyclical letters, & read his messages to young people (talks with his 'carissimi giovani' on his trips are also included by country) - some of the many reasons why ... Blessed John Paul II, We Love YOU!
JPII: "Today's world needs many apostles - especially apostles who are young and courageous. You young people have in a special way the task of witnessing today to the faith; the commitment to bring the Gospel of Christ - the Way, the Truth and the Life - into the third Christian Millennium, to build a new civilization - a civilization of love, of justice and of peace. ...
Dear Young People, let us journey with Our Lady, let us promise to follow her son Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life, then we will become the burning messages of the new evangelisation and the generous builders of a new civilisation of truth and love." (World Youth Day Santiago de Compostela in 1989)
Papa Benedetto XVI
"After the great Pope John Paul II, the Cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.
The fact that the Lord knows how to work and to act even with inadequate instruments comforts me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers.
Let us move forward in the joy of the Risen Lord, confident of his unfailing help. The Lord will help us and Mary, his Most Holy Mother, will be on our side. Thank you." (19th April 2005)
Totus Tuus, Totus2us
Totus Tuus - All Yours - was Pope 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."
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, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, DR Congo, Ecuador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, UK, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Western Samoa, Zambia Zimbabwe.
The countries not included above which Pope John Paul II visited are: Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkino Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Cuba, Curaçao, Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Fiji Islands, Finland, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Guam, Guinea, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Palestine, Papua-New Guinea, Puerto Rico, La Réunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay.
