Totus Tuus - Totus 2us

Many, many thanks to Anton, Ashmeeta, Bernadette, Breda, Brian, Carla, Catherine, Christiane, Dorothy, Fionnuala, Guy-Michel, Jenny, Joanne, Jocelyn, Father John, Father Jon, Kate, Marcos, Mariel, Matthew, Mirella, Nair Terezinha, Neil, Nicolas, Noel, Ola, Paulo Henrique, Rachel, Rosila, & Seday for giving their 'something' about Mary.

_{This image is of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, which is celebrated on 15th August.}

_{You can subscribe to Totus2us's Something about Mary podcast / download the free mp3s here on itunes or here from Totus2us's web feed. Plus, you can download individual mp3 recordings by right clicking where you see this diamond ♦}

_{If you'd like to give your something about Mary,
please do contact the Totus2us team.}

1st August - Erin       ♦

^{"For me Mary is the perfect example of virgin, mother, spouse, everything."}

_{Erin is 22 and from the United States.}

2nd August - Brian       ♦

_{"The words that come into my mind are those of St Thérèse of Lixieux who said "She is queen and mother, but she is more mother than queen." And throughout my life that's what I have always found her to be and always there in the joys and the sorrows and the difficulties and the thanksgivings and someone who is there with us, our mother who loves us."}

_{Brian is from England.}

3rd August - Noel       ♦

^{"Mary means to me the dignity and respect that every woman should have."}

_{Noel is from America.}

4th August - Feast of Saint John Mary Vianney - Mariel       ♦

^{"Mama Mary for me is a very special person. If you want to be close to Jesus, you go straight to Mary and you will be closer to Jesus."}

_{Mariel is from the Philippines.}

5th August - Feast of Our Lady of the Snows - Neil       ♦

^{"It's difficult to explain it but I'm pretty sure that it's been Mary's prayers that have looked after me in the last couple of years, kept me safe, and kept me from taking the wrong path on a number of occasions, and just nourished me in the right direction."}

_{Neil is 27 and from England.}

6th August - Feast of the Transfiguration - Kate       ♦

_{"I came to know Mary through the Missionaries of Charity, through Mother Teresa and her sisters. And it was their deep love of Our Lady that really drew me to wonder a little about Mary, and drew me to want to learn to pray the rosary.. As a woman I think Our Lady is very important as a way to come closer to God. She can guide and she can help us in her beautiful feminity, her light, her radiance, her glory; she can draw us closer to her son and to God the Father."}

_{Kate is from England.}

7th August - Nicholas       ♦

_{"I think that Our Lady is a very powerful intercessor. In all times of need, I turn to her. I especially find her help most powerful in Lourdes, but also here at home."}

_{Nicholas is from England.}

8th August - Rachel       ♦

^{"For me, Mary is my mother."}

_{Rachel is 28 and from the UK.}

9th August - Breda       ♦

^{"Now I'm trying my best to ask for Our Lady for her help and any time I do ask for her help, especially when I'm not feeling the best, I've never experienced where she hasn't actually come to me and helped me. And it's probably just because of her humility that I find it so easy to go to her and usually I go to her when I'm looking at things about myself that I find difficult to accept ..and every time she helps me not to ignore it but to look at it and she helps me to move on to the next step, which is to give my heart to Jesus."}

_{Breda is 32 and from Ireland.  She is a member of St Patrick's Community.}

10th August - Matthew       ♦

^{"I know that Mary looks out for me, she loves me and, especially the times when I forget her or might be ungrateful, she still gives abundantly with her love. That is why I feel drawn to her, that is why, even when I stray, I do want to come back to her embrace, because she is the all loving mother which each of her children need."}

_{Matthew is from the United States and is a member of St Patrick's Community in Ireland.}

11th August - Anton       ♦

_{"Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, is a loving mother who answers all my prayers. When I hold my rosary I feel she is holding my hand."}

_{Anton is 24 and from Malta.}

12th August - Nair Terezinha       ♦

^{"For me, this is a big gift from the Virgin Mary to me, because when I asked, she answered me with her sweet presence and her strong presence. So I know, I believe, she asked for me, together with Jesus, and I am here and very happy to say very, very thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks for my life."}

_{Nair Terezinha is from Brazil & gives her algo sobre Maria in English and Portuguese.}

13th August - Dorothy       ♦

_{"Our Lady means everything to me; especially all the favours she has granted to me, my family and my friends."}

_{Dorothy is from Kenya.}

14th August - Feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe - Mirella       ♦

^{"Mother Mary, when we pray to her, we keep her close as if she is our secret mother, in whom we can confide all our troubles, and also our joys and hopes."}

_{Mirella is from Canada.}

15th August - Feast of Our Lady's Assumption into Heaven - Ashmeeta  ♦

^{"I know that Mary has been my guardian, my spiritual advisor, and I am just so thankful and blessed for everything she has given me in this period. Amen."}

_{Ashmeeta is from the United States of America.}

16th August - Seday       ♦

_{"Our Lady is a good friend to me. Ever since I was a little child, Mary is the one who has protected me, she is the friend I confide in."}

_{Seday is 25 and from Ethiopia.}

17th August - Rosila       ♦

^{"For me, Mary is like a mother to whom I can run to at any time and tell her all that I need to and I know that I have an answer for every complaint that I make to her."}

_{Rosila is from India.}

18th August - Clara       ♦

_{"The Virgin Mary is like a mother for me, a mother of all of us.
Pour moi la Vierge, c'est une mère, la mère de tous."}

_{Clara is 26 and French Lebanese.}

19th August - Marcos       ♦

_{"Mary is the mother of Jesus but I would say she is also the mother of every Catholic boy out there as well.
María es la madre de Jesus pero también la madre de todos los niños católicos en el mundo."}

_{Marcos is 29 and half English, half Spanish.}

20th August - Joanne       ♦

^{"Whenever I'm in trouble I pray to Mary, and she comes and helps me straight away. I've heard one saint say that she anticipates your problems and your needs before you even do and she's always there, and that's been my own experience with her."}

_{Joanne is from Australia.}

21st August - Father John sm       ♦

^{"I have discovered that it is more important to try to be like Mary in faith. So that's my ideal - to try to be like Mary, to live as Mary lived. Amen."}

_{Father John Rea is a Marist priest from New Zealand.}

22nd August - Feast of the Coronation of Our Lady - Jocelyn       ♦

_{"I always love the Mother of Perpetual Help because I humbly ask her a lot of things that she has given me and so I really am a great believer of Our Lady of Perpetual Help."}

_{Jocelyn, whose birthday is today, is from the Philippines.  Happy Birthday, dear Jocelyn :-)}

23rd August - Christiane       ♦

_{"Mary has pathed the way for me to be with God."}

_{Christiane is from Germany.}

24th August - Guy-Michel       ♦

_{"I am devoted to Mary. She is the Mother of God and she is the mother of all human beings, because she has been chosen to bear our Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ. And she said yes, even if the message of the angel was not so clear to her. But she was believing, she knew in whom she believed, she knew that nothing is impossible for God. So I invite all of us to try to have an experience with the Virgin Mary, try to do the rosary because when you do the rosary you learn - how to be humble, how to be calm, how to love your brothers and sisters. And the Virgin Mary is the real way to go to Jesus Christ.
La Vierge Marie est la personne qui m'a beaucoup aidé, elle est vraiment bonne.. En faisant le rosaire, vous apprenez à être calme, à pardonner aux frères et sœurs, à les aimer encore plus..  Le rosaire est à propos du Seigneur, Jésus Christ. Donc, je vous invite tous à faire l'expérience avec la Vierge Marie. Vous verrez que vous ne regretterez pas. Avec elle, vous apprendrez à mieux connaitre le Christ, à l'aimer et aimer le Père et aimer aussi le Saint Esprit."}

_{Guy-Michel is 30 and from the Ivory Coast.}

25th August - Ola       ♦

_{"It's everything through her, it's a gift from her and I am really so happy about that. And I just want to say, 'Thank you, Mary, thank you, Mum, that you are so close to me and that I can always be your child.'"}

_{Ola is 23 and from Poland; she gives her response in English & Polish.}

26th August - Jenny       ♦

_{"Our Lady is really the perfect role model …there's nothing more perfect than the fiat Our Lady gives in the Hail Mary, when she greets Elizabeth as well and when she is there with the angel. Just that yes, that unconditional yes that she gave Our Lord, is something I aspire to be like her .. looking up to her, learning from the way she was gently loving and adoring Christ."}

_{Jenny is from England.}

27th August - Bernadette       ♦

_{"I really thank God for that and pray that Mary can be a more visible presence in my life."}

_{Bernadette is from Australia.}

28th August - Feast of Saint Augustine - Fionnuala       ♦

_{"Mary for me is the model of who we should be and who I feel I want to be. She is the first person who knew Jesus, who loved him, and she is the first person who followed him completely and who lived the life that we should be living - totally pondering every word of his, pondering every action of his, meditating on his Passion, his suffering. If I can try and do anything, any little thing, that she has done and copy her, then I feel I will be closer to being more like Christ."}

_{Fionnuala is 33 and from Ireland.}

29th August - Paulo Henrique       ♦

_{"Mary for me is the model of who we should be and who I feel I want to be. She is the first person who knew Jesus, who loved him, and she is the first person who followed him completely and who lived the life that we should be living - totally pondering every word of his, pondering every action of his, meditating on his Passion, his suffering. If I can try and do anything, any little thing, that she has done and copy her, then I feel I will be closer to being more like Christ."}

_{Paulo Henrique is 30 and from Brazil; he gives his algo sobre Maria in English & Portuguese.}

30th August - Father Jon       ♦

_{"There is a line in the psalms 'As a child has rest in its mother's arms, even so my soul.' And maybe that is a good starting point for Mary in my life, in my life as a human being and as a priest, of a sense of comfort, thinking of Mary, a sense of knowing that she is there, interceding for me, praying for me, caring for me in incredible ways as a spiritual mother who has been given to me. It's one of those thoughts which kind of can lodge deep in your heart and you can't intellectualise too much on it, it's just there and you know that it's there, it's speaks for itself in your heart."}

_{Father Jon Bielawski is from England.}

31st August - Catherine       ♦

_{"For me Our Lady is our mother, one who cares for us more than we can possibly know, but also our model, someone to imitate for her humility and her love, and the obedience with which she followed the Word of God and was Mother to Our Lord."}

_{Catherine is 23 & from England.}