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NEW ZEALAND

Pope Saint John Paul II was a pilgrim to New Zealand in 1986.

JPII: "In saying this prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, I wish to place under her loving protection the whole Church in New Zealand. I offer to her care all the beloved faithful of this land, together with their bishops, priests and religious. I pray, Holy Mother of God, that you will help the poor and the suffering, obtain pardon for the sinners, bring joy to the afflicted and lead all your sons and daughters in New Zealand to the happiness of eternal life, with the angels and the saints, in the Kingdom of Jesus, your Son. Amen."

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

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

Billy       

"Our Lady is the mother of the Catholic Church."

Cameron      

"With Our Lady I think for me I've always associated her with the answering of prayers. My family prayed the rosary when we were growing up each morning and we would state our intentions. And maybe now I'm getting to know her more as a mother and as the face behind which the Holy Spirit likes to hide. Where the Spirit is truly at work, it's actually Our Lady that's there."

Cameron describes being a pilgrim in New Zealand      

"Earlier this year I led a group of young adults on an unusual pilgrimage. It’s in New Zealand which is not a place known for pilgrimage since it’s not really an ancient Christian nation but the Catholic faith was brought to New Zealand in 1838 by French missionaries, they were Marist priests, and they were led by Bishop Pompallier and they paddled into the country in the north west, into a harbour and came ashore at the home of an Irish man and celebrated the first Mass ever to be celebrated in New Zealand there. So I led a pilgrimage from that harbour and we paddled for two days in kayaks, fifteen of us, paddling 12 km on day one and we stopped at the resting place of Bishop Pompallier, and then another 20 km on day two. And then we walked three days east to the other side of the country where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed… So trying to blaze a trail of pilgrimage in a very new country but I guess taking up this ancient spirit of pilgrimage of seeking the holy things in the places that we are."

Celia      

"Mary for me is my mother, and with love never-ending."

Dan       

"Mary is to me a mother figure and I believe that she's a role model for all of us in terms of her love and affection for her families."

David       

"Mary is the icon of the Church for me. She's the mother of my beloved Lord."

Genevieve      

"Our Lady in my life is a very special mother ... She’s been helping my family a lot and I know that we are blessed through Our Lady."

James       

"I do love my mother, Mother Mary."

In John Paul II We Love You       
James speaks of JP2's legacy of the World Youth Days, his devotion to Our Lady, how in his old age he showed how those who are suffering are important, and how he was never afraid to preach the Gospel.
Blessed John Paul II in his 1st address as Pope, 16th October 1978:
"Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors to Christ."

Janet       

"Mary is the Mother of God and Mary will help you, to guide you to where you are, if you ask her for petition, because Mary is the mother of Jesus and Jesus will definitely listen to his mum."

Johannes      

"Mary will be the one that leads me towards Jesus and in my faith towards him. .. It's really interesting how my love towards her grows as I pray more and more to her. Also, I think what I've learned as well, during the rosary, I try to see the life of Jesus in the eyes of Mary and what that means for me."

Father John    

"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 sm is a Marist priest. In Man for Others      
he looks back over 55 years of priesthood and recalls some of the priests who have inspired him, in particular, from the early days - Father Alex, Father Joe, Father John O'Connor; from his trips to the Pacific Islands (Fiji in particular) - Father Lucien Souberonne, Father Mickey Bransfield; and 3 chaplains in the 2nd World War - Father Jess, Father Leo & Father Wilfred:

"All through these 55 years there have been other priests who have inspired me. In my earlies years they were elderly priests, men who had born the burdens and the heats .. All of them were what I would call big men - big in mind, big in heart. A broadness about them that made them affable and friendly towards all, wonderful priests. I retain these memories all my days, examples to me to live up to. Amen."

Kathleen       

"I am very blessed to be able to say the rosary with other people: in New Zealand every day after Mass, we say our rosary. To me it's venerating the mother, but it also brings Jesus that much closer because, as we say the mysteries, His life is there revealed before us. I find Mary is a wonderful support and I want her to look after my large family of 7 children; those that have strayed from the faith, that she will bring them back, please God."

Loretta       

"For me Mary is absolute warmth .. I consider her a real true friend. In dark times she always seems to be appearing there in the light behind my eyes."

Father Matthew Devereux LC     

"Just this morning, the day that we were leaving, I was outside the church in Medjugorje at about 4.50am and these two ladies were standing at the statue of Our Lady and one of them says to me 'Are you the priest?' .. I said 'Er, yes, I am a priest.' And then she said 'Oh great, because I've only got 5 minutes and I need to go to confession.' And she said to me 'I asked Mary, I said to her 'Look Mary, I'm going home, you have to send me a priest.' And this was before 5am!  .. So that was for me a very, very tangible sign, among so many signs, of the very real presence of our mother and of how much she cares for us and how much she loves us as her little children."

Father Matthew Devereux, a Legionary of Christ priest who has lived and worked in Krakow, Poland, for the last 15 years, gives his vocation story on Man for Others      

"It would have been much more difficult for me to have discovered my priestly vocation if it had not been for the example that I was given by someone else, and that someone else was my elder brother. And so what amazes me is that, when someone is generous and open to the will of God in their life, then they may not only themselves undergo a conversion and receive a total transformation of the heart but that many times and almost always becomes a catalyst for other people to do the same. Obviously the vocation always comes from God and so it's always to God that we must turn for light in the process of discernment, which is important for anyone, whether it's to the married life, to the consecrated life or to remaining single. It's always a matter of discerning our vocation and it's where the help of other people is very important but also reading the hand of God in circumstances in our life and people that we can meet. So I'm very thankful to my older brother for his being brave enough to leave his little town, his home country, to travel 17,000 km to try out the life in the seminary and, because of that generosity and example, well that opened up the door way for me to discern the vocation. And interestingly enough a number of years later my youngest brother also joined the seminary and he's also a priest."

Nik      

"Our Lady to me is someone more than just a mother. She represents everything that we strive to be."

Pamela      

"Wanting to be able to emulate in Mary’s footsteps is the big thing for me."

Paola       

"Our Lady to me is our Mummy in heaven and she looks after us and we can pray to her and hand everything over to her and ask her to help us."

Paul       

"Christmas for me is to reflect on how God entered this world, but came to this earth in such a fragile way, but allowed us to look after him. I think in turn celebrating that love of being so weak, allowing Himself to be at our level instead of someone so high up that we can't reach."

On Word on the Street Paul chose Philippians 3:8      
I will go further because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.
"Nothing compares to Christ - I can go on searching the world, go to the highest mountain, to the lowest sea earning so much money but nothing compares to having Christ as my Lord Jesus Saviour."

Sister Ruth PCC       

"Mary walked unflinchingly enfolded in the sweeping firestorms of His Spirit's space, engulfed in His tremendous, timeless love.  It probed her heart with flame and found it true, unscarred my sin, unmarred by evil's taint. God's tornado Spirit swirled to rest in her still centre, concentrating there the living flame of His immensity to form a fragile speck, destined to raise the poor wrecked world to sunshine once again." - from Sr Ruth's poem 'Fiat'.

Sister Ruth is a Poor Clare Sister in enclosed community at Ty Mam Duw in North Wales. 9 of the Poor Clare sisters gave their something about Mary during a novena to the Holy Spirit in preparation for Pentecost in 2010.

If you'd be up for giving 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 Marie de Montfort

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

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