Totus Tuus - Totus 2us

INDIA

Blessed John Paul II was a pilgrim to India in 1986 and in 1999.

Act of Entrustment of India to Mary by John Paul II

_{"O Mary of Nazareth, Mother of God, Mother of the Church,}

_{We turn to you in prayer, with confidence and hope; we offer to you the deepest thoughts of our hearts.}

_{We come to you, Holy Mother of God, mindful of your Son’s last words to you as you stood at the foot of the Cross: "Woman, behold, your son!"}

_{Woman, behold your son! Mary, behold your sons and daughters! Dearest Mother, behold your children here on earth, behold your sons and daughters here in India!}

_{In imitation of Jesus who entrusted the beloved disciple John to your care, I entrust to you all the people dwelling in this great land. Be near them with your motherly protection. Open your arms to embrace all those who look to you and ask you to present their prayers to God.}

_{O Mary, Virgin Most Pure, I entrust to your love and care all the youth of India, the children whose innocence expresses the goodness of their Creator and whose littleness reveals the greatness of their Maker. We pray for the young people who are searching for the truth and for direction and purpose in their lives. We ask you to guide the young men who are studying in the seminaries, and all those who are preparing to consecrate their lives to God through the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.}

_{Loving Mother of our Saviour, I entrust to you all families, especially husbands and wives seeking to model their home on your home in Nazareth. Intercede for parents and their children, that their love may be strong and faithful like the love that fills your own Immaculate Heart.}

_{Mary Most Holy, we entrust to you the family which is the Church in India, with its clergy and religious, its different rites and liturgical traditions, its two millennia of experience and its ever vigorous youth. As part of the Body of Christ on earth, the Church in India seeks to imitate your divine Son and to be for the people of this land his voice, his hands, his feet, his body given in sacrifice. I place before you her great work of spiritual renewal, her efforts to proclaim the Gospel of merciful love, her ecumenical initiatives, her desire to be a reconciling force within society. Pray for your sons and daughters of the Church, that they may be always faithful, always filled with joy and hope, always a people of charity proclaiming the Good News to the poor. In the love of your Son embrace all those who suffer: the old and the feeble, the sick and the lonely, all those who are discouraged and destitute.}

_{Mary, Queen of Peace, your children long for peace. They hunger and thirst for justice. They desire to live in harmony despite all the violence and divisions which exist in the world. Your Son prayed to the Father "that they may all be one", and today we make his prayer our own. We count on your intercession before God’s throne of grace. Obtain for us the favour to live in perfect union with Jesus and with our brothers and sisters. And may all that we say and do give ever greater glory and praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen."}

_{JPII - Park of Shivaji, Bombay, Sunday 9 February 1986 - in English, Italian & Spanish}

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta described herself: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”

3 2us on Blessed Teresa by Mgr Leo Maasburg       ♦

_{"John Paul II said ‘In Mother Teresa we meet one of the most important personalities in history’ .. Hers is the sanctity which shows the whole mystery of the redemption, sin and redemption. And I believe that we can pray to and venerate Mother Teresa precisely for this, to help us to collaborate in the redemption of the world."}

Here below are responses to Totus2us' podcasts given by Indians
- many thanks to you all   ♥

_{You can download the free mp3s individually by right clicking where you see this diamond  ♦}

Alex       ♦

_{"To me Our Lady is my first mother. All my life I have been praying to her and she has always helped me in all my needs .. A special prayer I have is to call up Our Lady, Help of Christians .. I say to my children, my family, without her I would be nothing. So to me she is more than anything else in this world."}

Father Anish MHM       ♦

_{"In my childhood I was an altar boy and I helped with the Eucharist. Seeing the life of the priest, especially my parish priest, the way he speaks, the way he was dealing with people, his way of life itself, was an inspiration to me. So when I was a child I decided, I had that desire in me, that I would like to become a priest."}

Anthony 

_{"As a young adult, I joined a Catholic youth group and began to develop a friendship with Jesus. But because I did not have a good relationship with my mother, I never took to Mary naturally. So in my life as a Catholic, it was Jesus who led me to Mary! .. As my relationship with Mary grew, I started reading more Catholic material on her and the more I read, the more I fell in love with her. I found listening to what Mary had to say was as important as gazing at her – so I have a big collection of Marian icons in my computer – especially from the Byzantine school. As a young man exposed to all the temptations of an over-sexualised world, I found such healing in gazing at Mary’s beautiful and tender face. The more the beauty and worth of women was distorted, the more I had to look at Mary’s icon. I feel most of what she obtained for me as a young person is simply through this silent gazing."  ♦}

_{This picture of Mary in a Saree is Our Lady of Velankanni, from the largest Catholic pilgrim shrine in India - that way for centuries now. It is the site where Mary appeared to a Hindu boy (and more later) in the 16 century - read the fascinating story here.}

_{In his response for Papa Bene, We Love You Anthony highlights the universality of the Church - what it is to be Catholic - and the gift of the Papacy, because the Papacy was instituted by Christ himself. He started admiring the Cardinal Ratzinger's humility when he read about him just before the Papal Election in 2005 and in Benedict XVI has discovered a great teacher. His BXVI quote is:}

_{"God takes nothing away from those who give themselves to him. On the contrary, he gives them everything. He comes to draw out the best that is in each one of us, so that our lives can truly flourish."  ♦}

_{If you would like to download (free) copies of the Pope posters or see the Catholic T-shirts Anthony has designed, visit Anthony's blog.}

Bosko

_{"Mary means for me a loving mother.  She suffered for her Son.  She gave all her life loving for her Son."}

Celine      ♦

_{"When I am feeling very low and despair, so I pray, I pray the rosary, I pray through Mother Mary and I say Hail, Holy Queen. It helps me a lot and it lifts me up and it cools me down and gives me strength, and it gives me hope, a big hope that Mother Mary is helping me and she is there, so I have nothing to fear for anything."}

Connie       ♦

_{"I have great faith in Mother Mary. She is everything to me."}

Fatima       ♦

_{"Mother Mary is always helping me, any time of the day or during the night. Whenever I call on her she is always beside me. She helps me in all my trouble. Whenever I call on her name she is always there to listen to me and help me. So that is why I am very grateful to her and Ialways will be."}

_{Fatima gives her something about Mary in Hindi; her friend, Felcy, translates into English.}

Felcy       ♦

_{"I know that Mother Mary is helping me a lot. Thank you, Mother Mary."}

Georgy       ♦

_{"For me, Mary is an inspiration for life. She is whom I turn to in times of trouble, in times of sorrow, also in times of happiness. Shh is the one who guides me in my life in its tribulations and in all its wonders, and I thank Mother Mary every day of my life."}

Joe       ♦

_{"I've gained solace through Mary who has given me a lot of comfort and a lot of faith."}

Josephine       ♦

_{"For me Our Lady makes me feel comfort and a sense of peace."}

Jude       ♦

_{"We are very devoted to Our Lady, especially the Catholics of Bombay."}

Lydia      ♦

_{"I trust in Our Lady and she has always protected me and my family."}

Maria       ♦

_{"Our Lady is like a mother to me, more than a mother to me. She was with me in all my happiness and sufferings; I can share everything with her. Every time I have cried in front of her, she had an answer for me."}

Pauline       ♦

_{"I love Our Lady very much. She is my queen and my mother."}

Rohit       ♦

_{"Mother Mary is a mother to me. She is a messenger who delivers all our prayers to Jesus. She is a rock when people are in difficulty. She helps through the rosary and delivers all our prayers to Jesus."}

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."}

Sam       ♦

_{"I see Mary as my mother, just the way I see a mother."}

Sannida       ♦

_{"I think Mary is really inspirational to me because she was chosen by God to receive Jesus, which in itself is really, really good. And Mary to me is a really kind person and she is my hero and she leads the way, and when I need help I pray to her, and she is a really good person."}