Fr Francis Selman: "When the Emperor Maxentius began persecuting Christians in the early 4th century, in the final gasp of pagan fury, before Constantine through his defeat of Maxentius at the Milvian bridge in 312 brought peace to the Church, Catherine rebuked him and, with the clear-sighted wisdom of her young mind, she showed that his pagan gods were empty idols. As Maxentius could not reply to her arguments, he called a large group of philosophers to a dispute with St Catherine, who was only 18 years of age but well able to handle her case single-handed against the most learned men of Alexandria. On the way she converted the Emperor's wife, which further infuriated him. He gave orders for a spiked wheel to tear her flesh, a so-called 'Catherine wheel', but the bonds that held her down broke, so she was beheaded instead." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Pope John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr Francis Selman: "The relevance of St Albert for our own time can hardly be over-estimated. Surely the Patron of Scientists deserves to be better known today than he is and to be properly honoured. For the main attack on Christianity today comes from materialists who are much influenced by the scientific outlook. We need to pray to St Albert the Great, so that the study of natural science does not lead people away from God but can open their eyes and minds to Him, for they are studying the wonders of His creation. St Albert also reminds us that a knowledge of natural science needs to be a part of Christian learning today if we are to be able to hold a dialogue with non-believing scientists. For this purpose the Pope now has a Pontifical Institute of the Sciences. In our time we especially need to know how to apply our scientific knowledge and to use the inventions of technology with wisdom: this is, in a way that is truly beneficial for our way of life and is not destructive of human life nor diminishes a fully human life but respects God's design of nature. As St Albert wrote: 'There is in us an imprint as though a stamp of the divine wisdom .. Because of this more is acquired by prayer and devotion than by study.'" Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Pope John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Mgr Leo Maasburg: "John Paul II was a very courageous man, not only during the Nazi occupation when he was studying for the priesthood himself secretly and was ordained priest. But also later on in his life he never shrank back from things which his heart told him to do. A few weeks after his election to the See of St Peter, I had a friend with advanced cancer and she asked me if it would be possible to meet the Pope ... After Mass, he came out and greeted us and said to her: "Il tuo sorriso mi indica la presenza di Dio in te' - 'Your smile indicates to me the presence of God in your heart.' .. When I had the occasion to meet him together with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the way they met, how they communicated with each other, it was such a joy, but the atmosphere was so normal, although there was a big, big tenderness in their relationship. And I noticed that when they had finished talking about their business hardly anything was said, they didn't speak anymore. The Pope normally accompanied Mother Teresa to the door, but they didn't speak, they just walked and sometimes the Pope put his arm round Mother Teresa. So I thought real love doesn't need any words and maybe even forbids small talk, and they were two such big personalities they didn't need to cover something through their talking but they could let love shine through them just by a simple gesture." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Pope John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr John Edwards SJ: "It's 1673 in France. A nun aged 26 has been 2 years in the convent, she's pale, she's thin, she's ill, big eyes, nervous, it's dark, she's praying. What's she doing? She's talking to Jesus who will reveal to her in 4 visions over the next 2 years the mystery of His Sacred Heart. This woman, St Margaret Mary Alacoque, is terribly important, massively important. What she sees and hears will alter nearly every Catholic church to be built and the devotional life of every good Catholic. It will restore the Church after the blight of Jansenism, it will give rise to religious orders and devotional practices. Until the devotion to the Divine Mercy in the late 20th century, it will do more than anything else to assure us that God loves us - loves us humanly as well as divinely, that God thinks we're worth dying for." Music by John Bevan and sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Mgr Keith Barltrop: "It's a message that although we have so much to distrust in ourselves, we can have an absolute complete confidence in God's mercy towards us. St Faustina was not only the 'secretary', the mouthpiece of this message but she lived it herself in the convent, through many ups and downs, as did St Thérèse. She had to learn to trust the message of mercy, she had to learn to detach herself, as we all do, from doing what she wanted, she had to experience many, many trials, disbelief, people thinking that she was deluded. Even after her death for many years the message of Divine Mercy was suspect. .. Eventually, thanks to the very providential appointment of John Paul II as Pope, these messages became known and accepted, and with them obviously it was only right to honour St Faustina, the very unknown, humble saint." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr Emmanuel Mansford CFR: "St Francis had everything - from a very wealthy family, properous father, very popular young man, bit of a party boy, went off to be a knight when he was about 20 which was sort of the equivalent of being the winner of the X-Factor, very respected and loved by his friends, the one who was at the centre of the life in Assisi - and yet when Jesus came into his life, it was like a revolution for him and he simply responded whole-heartedly. Just as he had given himself totally to partying, totally to fighting in the war, suddenly when Christ comes into his life he's changed and the encouraging thing for all of us is that it wasn't just overnight. Sometimes we think with the saints they're bad and then they become good but for Francis it was probably over a period of 5 years where Jesus is taking more and more of his heart captive." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr Anthony Doe: "Thérèse embodies an extremely important truth that Jesus clearly enunciated to his disciples many times. Thérèse with that transparency of faith, that openness of heart, that childlike trust in the power, the mercy and love of the Lord, embodies for us this message so profound of Jesus: unless we become like little children, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. To become a little child, not to become childish but childlike: open, receptive, willing to receive what God wishes to give us, just as a child so desires the gifts that the parents wish to give, the gifts of their love, of their strength. And Thérèse above all embodies that spirit of openness, childlike willingness to receive from God. And in her teachings she very clearly enunciated a pattern of life, what she called her 'Little Way', a way of surrender to the person of Jesus in the minutest details of daily life, but particularly when she and we are confronted by our weakness, our failure, our human frailty, our vulnerability, all those things that we cannot change in ourselves. Thérèse had that wonderful insight to see that these were moments not to deplore but in fact to rejoice in because they were opportunities to give herself, give ourselves, to the person of Jesus and to recognise that it's His power, His strength, His love, His wisdom that in the end is meant to empower us. And she encourages us constantly to see our daily life in terms of moving more deeply into this bond of love with the person of Jesus who can only give himself to us when we are open and receptive to His gifts like children." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr Ed Tomlinson: "Today's the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, calling us to prayer for Christian unity. Why this connection between Mary's appearance in Britain and Christian unity? Because Our Lady's appearance was not accidental but a moment of grace and the start of a chain of events connected to England's conversion which involves, I believe, the implementation of the ordinariate in our day. To better understand, let us travel back together to the day it all started. The year is 1061 and, under a Catholic banner, England is known as Our Lady's dowry and its flourishing like never before. This was a great golden era, a time of renewal: cathedrals are built, churches are erected and they're going to define the landscape for so many different generations. Catholic devotion suits the English people and it leads to a great cultural flowering, producing in my opinion the greatest art, music and architecture that this land has ever seen. And in a tiny Norfolk village we find a noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches, deep in prayer. To her amazement, the Blessed Virgin appears to her in a vision 3 times, instructing Richeldis to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. Richeldis undertakes this work with obedience and soon a spring of living water is unearthed. Once built, the priory shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham became the beating heart of Catholic England. From all over Europe people flocked, to be healed, to pray, to receive the sacraments, to give devotion to the Lord. Peasants and kings were equal here, in this place of profound grace, miracle and favour." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Mgr Leo Maasburg: "Jesus redeemed us because he accepted all that suffering without hating us. Because the normal human reaction if we are hurt, if we're offended, if we suffer, is at least resentment, if not hatred. And Christ did not hate us for a single second (had he hated us for a single second we would not be here). So in that moment on the Cross, instead of reacting humanly, he reacted divinely. He said 'Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.' And maybe the young people of our day have understood that there is suffering in the world - there is no life without suffering, we cannot avoid, we cannot flee suffering; so suffering is part of our human condition. But the answer, our reaction to suffering, is a revelation either of our human state or of our divine state. And I believe that this celebration of the Exultation of the Cross is for us a question mark: where are you standing? How are you reacting to suffering? Are you so close to Christ that you say "His example, his suffering on the Cross will give me the strength to at least attempt not to hit back, not to hate, not to have resentments, but to say 'Father help me to the will of forgiveness and please forgive.'"" Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.

Fr John Edwards SJ: "In 590 he became Pope; he was Pope for 13 years and what a lot he did. He was only Pope for 2 years before he had to make treaties with the invading Lombards. He reformed the administration of Church lands, managed to devote an awful lot to charity, he kept the Church free from civil power. He had to deal with barbarian Franks and Visigoths, as well as the Lombards. A busy man, a very able man and, of course, he did something about the Anglo-Saxons. In the slave market in Rome he saw these 3 handsome young men and he said 'Where do they come from?' and they told him 'They're Angli' and he said 'Non Angli sed angeli' - 'Not Angles but angels.' And he realised that here was a country that needed evangelizing and so in 597 he sent St Augustine to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons." Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was Blessed John Paul II's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus 2us.