Totus Tuus - Totus 2us

IRELAND

Blessed John Paul II was a pilgrim to Ireland in 1979, visiting Dublin, Clonmacnois, Galway, Knock, Limerick and Maynooth during his 5th apostolic journey.

In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI wrote a very important and profound Pastoral Letter to all the Catholics of Ireland, "expressing his dismay at the sexual abuse of young people by Church representatives and the way this was addressed by local bishops & religious superiors. He asks that the Letter be read with attention and in its entirety. The Holy Father speaks of his closeness in prayer to the whole Irish Catholic community at this painful time and he proposes a path of healing, renewal and reparation." You can read the letter here & the summary here.

<sub>John Paul II in Knock: "Mother, in this shrine you gather the People of God of all Ireland and constantly point out to them Christ in the Eucharist and in the Church. At this solemn moment we listen with particular attention to your words : "Do whatever my Son tells you". And we wish to respond to your words with all our heart. We wish to do what your Son tells us, what he commands us, for he has the words of eternal life. We wish to carry out and fulfil all that comes from him, all that is contained in the Good News, as our forefathers did for many centuries. Their fidelity to Christ and to his Church, and their heroic attachment to the Apostolic See, have in a way stamped on all of us an indelible mark that we all share. Their fidelity has, over the centuries, borne fruit in Christian heroism and in a virtuous tradition of living in accordance with God's law, especially in accordance with the holiest commandment of the Gospel—the commandment of love. We have received this splendid heritage from their hands at the beginning of a new age, as we approach the close of the second millennium since the Son of God was born of you, our alma Mater, and we intend to carry this heritage into the future with the same fidelity with which our forefathers bore witness to it.

Today therefore, on the occasion of the first visit of a Pope to Ireland, we entrust and consecrate to you, Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, our hearts, our consciences, and our works, in order that they may be in keeping with the faith we profess. We entrust and consecrate to you each and every one of those who make up both the community of the Irish people and the community of the People of God living in this land.

We entrust and consecrate to you the Bishops of Ireland, the clergy, the religious men and women, the contemplative monks and sisters, the seminarians, the novices. We entrust and consecrate to you the mothers and fathers, the youth, the children. We entrust and consecrate to you the teachers, the catechists, the students ; the writers, the poets, the actors, the artists, the workers and their leaders, the employers and managers, the professional people, the farmers; those engaged in political and public life; those who form public opinion. We entrust and consecrate to you the married and those preparing for marriage ; those called to serve you and their fellowmen in single life; the sick, the aged, the mentally ill, the handicapped and all who nurse and care for them. We entrust and consecrate to you the prisoners and all who feel rejected; the exiled, the homesick and the lonely.

We entrust to your motherly care the land of Ireland, where you have been and are so much loved. Help this land to stay true to you and your Son always. May prosperity never cause Irish men and women to forget God or abandon their faith. Keep them faithful in prosperity to the faith they would not surrender in poverty and persecution. Save them from greed, from envy, from seeking selfish or sectional interest. Help them to work together with a sense of Christian purpose and a common Christian goal, to build a just and peaceful and loving society where the poor are never neglected and the rights of all, especially the weak, are respected. Queen of Ireland, Mary Mother of the heavenly and earthly Church, a Mháthair Dé, keep Ireland true to her spiritual tradition and her Christian heritage. Help her to respond to her historic mission of bringing the light of Christ to the nations, and so making the glory of God be the honour of Ireland.

Mother, can we keep silent about what we find most painful, what leaves us many a time so helpless? In a very special way we entrust to you this great wound now afflicting our people, hoping that your hands will be able to cure and heal it. Great is our concern for those young souls who are caught up in bloody acts of vengeance and hatred. Mother, do not abandon these youthful hearts. Mother, be with them in their most dreadful hours, when we can neither counsel nor assist them. Mother, protect all of us and especially the youth of Ireland from being overcome by hostility and hatred. Teach us to distinguish clearly what proceeds from love for our country from what bears the mark of destruction and the brand of Cain. Teach us that evil means can never lead to a good end; that all human life is sacred; that murder is murder no matter what the motive or end. Save others, those who view these terrible events, from another danger : that of living a life robbed of Christian ideals or in conflict with the principles of morality.

May our ears constantly hear with the proper clarity your motherly voice: "Do whatever my Son tells you". Enable us to persevere with Christ. Enable us, Mother of the Church, to build up his Mystical Body by living with the life that he alone can grant us from his fullness, which is both divine and human.

A Mhuire na ngrás, a Mháthair Mhic Dé, go gcuire tú ar mo leas mé." (30th September 1979)</sub>

Here below are responses to Totus2us podcasts given by Irish people
- many thanks to you all  ♥

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

Anne      ♦

^{"I have a great devotion to Our Lady and I pray the rosary every day because I think it is a real power prayer. And I do it to get great favours from Our Lady and I don't think my life would be complete without praying to her and to her holy mother. So I would say that she is a big part of my life."}

Barry      ♦

^{"Our Lady has always been the most important person to go to at any time: at times of help, times of need, times of happiness, she is always there."}

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 a member of St Patrick's Community.}

Bridie       ♦

^{"Thank you very much, dear Mother Mary, for helping me so much, so far."}

Brother Camillus       

_{"We always should remain faithful to the rosary if we can and at least, if we don't pray the rosary, to have the blessed rosary on our person, it could save us on our last day … I always thank Our Lady for that special grace, her answer to my request, to my little prayer."      ♦}

_{"John Paul was such a wonderful person and he had so much suffering in his early life ..He was left all alone in this world aged 20, but he always dedicated and placed himself under the care of Our Blessed Lady, and he renewed his dedication to Mary Immaculate, his Mother.. I am really privileged to have met him and I shall always be keen to pray to him in the few years that I have left. We must thank God for John Paul, the Great John Paul II."       ♦}

_{Brother Camillus is a brother of the Order of St Camillus.} 

Catherine       ♦

_{"The first time I really needed God and Our Lady in my life was when I was 16 and my brother was in a very serious car accident. I just remember my parents rushing to the local hospital and I really didn't know what to do so I ended up taking the rosary beads in my hands and for the first time in my life, I prayed the full rosary on my own. And as soon as I started to pray the rosary I just felt a deep peace come over me and I just knew that Our Lady was there with me and I knew that she was going to look after my brother."}

_{Catherine is a member of St Patrick's Community.}

Sister Catherine       ♦

_{"For me, Our Lady is the Mother of the Church, she is the first disciple, and she was a woman of silence, she pondered things in her heart and she lived the message."}

_{Sister Catherine is a Sister of Mercy.}

Cathy       ♦

_{"I've always had a great devotion to Our Lady and, as she says herself, 'I will surpass all your expectations, if only you'll trust in me.' Well, I can vouch for that because I've always trusted in Our Lady and she's never let me down. She's a wonderful confidant, a wonderful mother and a great intercessor. Thank you, Blessed Mother, for all you have done for me."}

Father Christopher

_{"There is an old Irish saying: God is strong and He has a good mother."       ♦}

_{Father Christopher Fox, in Man for Others, looks back over his 55 years of priesthood as a Mill Hill Missioanary, including 2 postings in Uganda:}

_{"Overall my reflections of a very varied ministry is one of thanksgiving ..To me the power and the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ shines out more clearly than ever...Very much the role of the priest is to lead people in prayer, to give them a meaning to life. A little poem I remember from my early days which influenced me in the priesthood: 'I search and seek I know not what, I only know it must be there, for in my heart there is a quest for something more than earth lays bear.' So it's a search for meaning and for me Jesus has given me the key to that."       ♦}

Ciara      ♦

_{"Mary to me is a symbol of love and strength, particularly in motherhood."}

Father Darren LC       ♦

^{"I've been very aware that Mary is the one who leads us to Jesus and, as a priest, I know that is my mission and I ask my mother every day to make me a vessel, an instrument, like the hem on Jesus' cloak."}

David       ♦

^{"What Mary means to me is family."}

Douglas       ♦

_{"I pray to Our Lady every night and every day."}

Elizabeth       ♦

_{"Mary is my mother and she's your mother. She's the mother of all."}

_{Elizabeth has a blog entitled All the Little Epsilons.}

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."}

Frances       ♦

_{"What I love about Our Lady is that she never makes it about her, she always makes it about Jesus, and she always makes it about trying to love him and bring him into my daily life, and trying to live a life that's authentic. She never makes it about herself and I just feel she is my mother, I feel she's my best friend. I feel she's given me the greatest gift any mother could give which is her son and I think it's made a huge difference in my life."}

Geraldine      ♦

^{"Mary is such a role model in such a quiet, gentle way."}

Hannah       ♦

^{"Our Blessed Lady is very special. I always put Mary and Jesus together. She is always there beside Jesus, helping him, watching him, and she suffered so much for him; what suffering to see her son suffering. She kept everything in her heart, she never spoke about it, she never shared it with others. She pondered it in her heart, but she suffered so much. She loved. She gave Jesus strength, she gives us the strength to help each other, that's what I feel - to give each other strength and love, true love."}

Imelda       ♦

^{"My devotion to Our Lady has matured over the years and I love her humility."}

Jerome       ♦

_{"For me, Mary is the perfect mother of God and someone who sets a really good example for the way we should live our lives."}

Kieran       ♦

_{"Our Lady is the hope of mankind, she's the joy of mankind; the sweetest, loveliest woman who's lived. She's a presence and grace for all of us. She shows us how we can be fully human, she reveals Christ. She's the way to salvation, she's a friend who's always with us; she gives us strength. She's grace, blessing, and hope for our troubled world, a way through our own problems; she shows us the sanctity of life who's sweetness, kindness, love personified and we have an obligation to devote ourselves to her and her Immaculate Heart."}

Margaret       ♦

_{"I love Our Blessed Lady. I pray to her constantly. I work under her mantle because I am in the Legion of Mary and I have got great favours from praying to Our Blessed Lady and in the Legion we spread her devotion always."}

Margaret       ♦

_{"Our Lady to me is my life. She's obviously our spiritual mother but she is also going to be my intercessor at the hour of my death."}

Sister Maria       ♦

_{"I feel Mary is a loving caring mother and I always feel she is with me at all times, in times of joys and sorrows, in times of darkness and light. And when I minister in the hospital, I have a great devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and I feel she's helping not only myself, but all the sick who are in deep pain and distress. And when we say the Hail Mary, it is powerful, and the Lourdes holy water. So I thank God for Our Lady, and I feel she's with me for the rest of my life, I praise you Lord, through Mary our Mother of Mercy. Amen."}

Sister Maria is a Sister of Mercy.

Father Michael OCD       ♦

_{"Our Lady is mother for me. I love the image of her standing at the foot of the Cross and for me she stands with me, she cares for me, she supports me and prays for me."}

_{Father Michael McGoldrick is currently Prior at the Avila Carmelite Centre in Dublin.}

Monica       ♦

^{"Our Lady for me means the first holy person I ever heard of. My mum taught me to pray to Mary when I was 2 or 3 years old. As I've grown up, I've continued to love her and look to her, and when I was very ill 3 or 4 years ago I was invited to go to Lourdes."}

Rita       ♦

^{"From there on in, my life has been with the Blessed Mother, no matter what comes, no matter what happens in my life, because I know of the love the Blessed Mother has for me, and that she loves everybody. She's a mother, she's a perfect mother, and her motherly love is so beautiful and it has brought me to God the Father, brought me to Jesus, and to knowing the Holy Spirit."}

Rosemary       ♦

_{"I love to say the rosary because I have discovered that in praying the rosary it is like comparing this holy cord to the umbilical cord of the mother's womb that feeds the baby in her womb. Our Lady, through these great mysteries, feeds us and conforms us more and more to the image of her son."}

Sarah       ♦

_{"When you pray to Our Lady I think that there is kind of more steadiness to your faith, it gets more consistent. I think it's very easy to be up and down about God, and kind of blowing in the wind, and I think Mary steadies me a bit, or a lot actually. The main prayer that I say at the moment, apart from going to Mass obviously, is the rosary. I try to say it every day and I find it unbelievably helpful for me."}

Suzanne       ♦

^{"Our Lady to me is my mum. I think she is really the perfect model of how best to love people as a young woman today."}