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GHANA

Pope Saint John Paul II was a pilgrim to Ghana in 1980 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Catholic Church in Ghana, visiting Accra and Kumasi during his 5th apostolic journey.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is from Ghana. He was created a cardinal by John Paul II on 21 October 2003.

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

To download the free mp3 Totus2us audio recordings individually, right / double click on the play buttons.

Saint John Paul II's Entrustment of Ghana & all Africa to Mary
8th May 1980, Independence Square, Accra
- in English, French, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish

"On this day of joy as we gather in your presence, O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of his Church, we are mindful of the role you played in the evangelisation of this land. We are mindful of how - in the beginning - the missionaries came with the power of Christ’s Gospel and committed the success of their work to you.

As Mother of Divine Grace you were with the missionaries in all their efforts, and you were with Mother Church of whom you are the type, the model and the supreme expression - in bringing Christ into Africa.

And as the Mother of the Church you presided over all the activities of evangelisation and over the implantation of the Gospel in the hearts of the faithful. You sustained the missionaries in hope and you gave joy to every new community that was born of the Church’s evangelising activity. You were there, with your intercession and your prayers, as the first grace of Baptism developed, and as those who had new life in Christ your Son came to a full appreciation of their sacramental life and Christian calling.

And you are here today as the Christian family gathers to celebrate the Gospel, to recall the mighty works of God, and to commit itself to the continued evangelisation of this land and continent "so that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph.”

We ask you, Mary, to help us to fulfil this mission which your Son has given to his Church and which, in this generation, falls to us. Mindful of your role as Help of Christians, we entrust ourselves to you in the work of carrying the Gospel ever deeper into the hearts and lives of all the people. We entrust to you our missionary mandate and commit our cause totally to your prayers.

As Pastor of the universal Church, Vicar of your Son, I, John Paul II, through you, O Mary, entrust the whole Church in Ghana and in all Africa to Christ our Lord. Through you I present to Christ the Saviour the destiny of Africa, praying that his love and justice will touch the hearts of every man, woman and child of this continent.

O Mary, I entrust all this to Christ through you, and I entrust all this to you for Christ your Son. I do it at a moment when I am closely united with my brother Bishops in celebrating the Gospel as "the power of salvation to all who believe." I do it now, at this special moment when my brothers are so close to me in the exercise of our common responsibility for the Church in Africa. Accept, O Mary, this offering from all of us, and from all God’s people, and present it to your Son. Present him a Church "holy and without blemish."

Be mindful, O Mother, of all who make up the Church in Africa. Assist the Bishops and their priests to be ever faithful to the word of God. Help sanctify the religious and the seminarians. Intercede so that the love of your Son will penetrate into all families, so that it will console all those in pain and suffering, all those in need and want. Look kindly upon the catechists and all who fulfil a special role of evangelisation and Catholic education for the glory of your Son. Accept this our loving consecration and confirm us in the Gospel of your Son.

As we express our deepest gratitude to you for a century of your maternal care, we are strong in the conviction that the Holy Spirit is still overshadowing you, so that in Africa you may bring forth Christ in every generation.

To Jesus Christ your Son, with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit be praise and thanksgiving for ever and ever. Amen."

Agnes      

"Our Lady is a good mother. She's the Mother of Christ. She intercedes for us, so she's doing a marvellous job for all of us. She's such a great mother! So, Our Lady, pray for us, due to your goodness and love. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

Agnes      

"Our Lady, the heavenly queen, earthly glory, I love her. She is the joy of my life."

Sister Anastasia      

"Mary is everything for me. She is my mother, I take her as my mother and I take consolation in her. Whenever I'm sad, I go to Mary, I say 'Look, when your son was sad, you were with him in his sadness, so be with me in my sadness.' And then Mary shows me the way. She teaches me how to pray, how to go to her son and how to be faithful to her son."

Sister Anastacia is a Sister Hospitaller of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Belita       

"I think that Our Lady is the best person in the world and I think we should pray to her because, if we pray to her, she will give us what we want. So I think we should thank her and we should praise her and glorify her. I think the prayers we should say is the rosary and after that be thankful to Our Lady and pray for everyone that needs our prayers. I am very thankful to Our Lady for having Jesus because without Jesus we wouldn't be anything and, yep, I thank Our Lady for listening to God so that we could have Jesus."

Benedicta      

"I've always had Mary as my mother and I've been brought up to know her and to love her.  Throughout my life I've turned to Mary because she's an advocate and she can always turn to her son and the son will never refuse her."

Christina      

"I’m going to testify that Mother Mary has done wonderful things for me in my life. In 2002 I had my twin grandsons and one of them had a heart defect. I was so saddened because I love my daughter and I love my grandkids. So I decided to go to Lourdes. So I went to Lourdes and I poured out my heart to Mother Mary. And now that boy has recovered fully; he did have one operation but now he is fully recovered. When he went back for a check up they said it had healed itself and I put this miracle down to Mother Mary. I didn't expect him to live this long: he's twelve years old and I can't stop thanking Mother Mary."

Christina      

"Mother Mary, she’s everything to me: she’s my mother, she answers my prayers and I pray to her every day."

Comfort      

"Our Lady is just wonderful and protective to all of us. Amen."

Dennis       

"Mary is somebody who is so special, very important, and I think without Mary the whole world would be in chaos, because Christ came out of Mary, that's why Christ came. She is so holy, she lives according to God's will and through that she finds favour with God and through her prayers, everybody will cry 'Blessed' because the Mighty God has done great things through her and Mighty is His name. Christ came, through Mary we have Christ, Christ came and changed the world: to bring peace, bring forgiveness, bring love."

Father Edmund       

Father Edmund Neizer talks about his path to the priesthood:

"I've never regretted one day or one moment in my life of being a priest. I've always enjoyed my priesthood and I know that I will always enjoy it because I live it one day at a time: 'Every day, God, you give me another day. Do you still trust in me? I don't trust in myself but I know that you know what you have the day for. Never permit me to separate myself from you. Grant that I will love you always and then do with me what you want.' That has been my daily prayer, and one of the things that I tell myself always is that I did not create myself, the priesthood is a gift not for me but for the Church, and not because I did anything to earn it, but it's God that gave it to the Church and I am just his instrument, so I live one day at a time. So that's my story. To God be the glory for the great things He has done. I pray that every day I will do his will and may his will be accomplished in my life. Amen."

Edward       

"Mary is the Virgin Mary. So, I’m a Catholic, so I love her."

Elizabeth      

"Our Lady is our blessed mother and she is a good guide and, when we pray, we ask for her to intercede for us. She is a role model to all women, and the Lord loves her dearly and we should love her too."

Emmanuel      

"Mary means to everybody like a mother and not just a mere mother, a great mother. A mother of vision, a mother of love, a mother who has loved God and God has come through her and said ‘blessed’. .. Mary is our great Mother. "

Faustina      

"Our Lady is the mother of Jesus. She’s our mother who brought the Saviour to the world."

Francis      

"Our Lady is God’s gift to us. She shows us perfectly how to love Christ. If she's with us, we know Christ fully, and our lives will be full because then we'll do everything right, we can never go wrong. So pray with Our Lady. She's God's gift under the Cross, given to us in the person of Saint John. Like St John, we are also given Our Lady to receive all the gifts of the Cross."

Gladys       

"Our Lady is an intercessor, she is the mediatrix of all graces and our advocate. And she is the shortest way, because she was the one who said yes to Our Lord, and carried Our Lord's mission. Without Our Lady we would not have Jesus… Our Lady has played a major part in the life of all Christians, in the life of all humanity, she has played the greatest part."

Gladys gives a reflection on the Eucharist      

"The Eucharist is a thanksgiving. It’s a great gift the Lord lived for us at the Last Supper and I think it's something that we really cherish."

Hilda       

"Our Lady is my mother. I have been in so many things, she has solved my problems, everything. So I always pray to her, call her, and even when I'm in trouble, in my needs. And I pray for her to help other people. And also I surrender my children to her, to help them with their needs and everything."

Joseph      

"Mary is an example of bearing the child Jesus and bringing Him to the world. So in my Christian life I try to take Jesus Christ into my life so as to bring Him to the world."

Lawrence      

"Mary, with all our problems we come before you. We ask for your help and your assistance. Any time I go to the altar, I ask for your help. I pray for the children, born and unborn, so that, with your help and with your spouse, Joseph, you may help the born and unborn, and help to alleviate all the poverty and misery in the world. We pray that peace will prevail."

Mary      

"Being named after the Virgin Mary has given me the privilege of knowing that she's there for us when you cry unto her. As a mother, she knows how to look after us and our children and all our family."

Mary       

"Mary is our mother in the Church."

Patricia      

"As I see it, Our Lady came into my life and totally changed me. And also she taught me to love, to love and accept being loved. I think sometimes we forget that we need love, and she loves us so much. Allowing her to love us, you know, and to bring us to Jesus. And that is her main aim - to bring people to her Son. And I just see her as somebody who shows you how to love her Son and to draw you out of whatever confinement you find yourself in, she draws you out and brings you to Jesus. She is a mother, and that is what we really need to know - that she is our mother."

Senam       

"What I think about Mary is that she's the special someone in a Christian's life. I see her as the mother of God, mother of Jesus and the wife of Joseph. And I think Mary is just like a mother to us Catholics, she is very special to me and I think that we should honour her."

Senam chose Anthony of Padua as his Incredible Saint      

"I chose him for my confirmation and he's just the one for me. I think he's special because at a young age his family wasn't really into God that much. All they knew about was spoiling him with gifts and riches. But it was his decision to take God in his life and that's a very strong point for him."

Seyram       

"Mary means a lot because she is the ideal woman who you can look up to and she understands you and she is a source of consolation and she helps to bring you to God… It's really nice to know that she loves me and she's protective and, yeh, she's a really good mother and she does help a lot."

If you'd like to give your something about Mary,
please do get in touch with the Totus2us team

- as well as hopefully bringing you joy,
you'd be really helping Totus2us   ♥

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.
Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria. - St Louis de Montfort

Pope St John Paul II took his motto Totus Tuus from this quote.

"I am totally yours and all that I have is yours.
I accept you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart.”