Fr Leo Maasburg: "The Immaculate Conception of Mary in the womb of her mother Anna - it starts us off to think: Why is that something so exceptional? Why do we celebrate it in a special feast day? I believe it is because we rejoice in the Lord for the unique holiness He has given to Our Lady. Her unique holiness was not a special gift for her, she was not just a privileged woman whom the Lord has chosen, but He has chosen the whole of humankind in her, she is only you could say the point where He entered that human history. She is the entrance door and also at the same time the symbol and the aim, the fulfilment and the example for that unique holiness to which all humankind is called. God has somehow promised in that vocation which He gave to Our Lady that He will lead the whole of humankind to that holiness. Our Lady in Lourdes calls herself "I am the Immaculate Conception". We know that in baptism, which is symbolised by the waters in Lourdes, we are called to follow her into that holiness, into that complete cleanliness in front of God; and humankind will not find its peace unless it is clean, unless it is holy whole." 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: "St Francis Xavier is one of the patrons of the missions .. when he turned to Jesus, he was ambitious for Jesus. The thing is he was totally unselfish which is the vital thing. Unselfishness is really almost what we mean by charity, by love: not having self first. Incredible journeys in those 10 years in the East, massive responsibility, India, Malaysia, islands of the East Indies, Japan, very nearly China; greatest hardship and through it all immense prayer life, immense charity, immense love. " 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 Nathan Cromly CSJ: "St Catherine Labouré was a woman to whom Mary revealed the desire of God to give grace. In a special way therefore in celebrating this feast day, we need to celebrate this saint who allowed herself to receive that message: the humility of her heart to enable herself to be so loved by God that she could even receive Mary as a mother, mediatrix (which means channel) of His gift of Himself to her; to allow oneself to be loved in a way that we can't even understand. For example to think about those graces for which we haven't even asked - what must those graces be like? That's what Our Lady told St Catherine: God wants to give even more than what you ask for. It's like plunging St Catherine on a spiritual path of desire, saying 'Do you really want to cooperate with God?' then desire for the rest of your life." 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 Leo Maasburg: "The Church celebrates all saints - all the saints of all the centuries.. all those who have gone to heaven through the grace of God. Sanctity, Mother Teresa once said, is not the privilege of the few, sanctity is the simple duty for you and me, we have all been created for that. That is her view and she echoes very well what the Second Vatican Council tells us: the common call to sanctity. .. Of course none of us can live the virtues but we all can open up to the guidance, to the strengthening, to the counselling of the Holy Spirit .. Sanctity is the path and it is the narrow path into the kingdom of God. It is a path which Jesus says is comparable to the eye of a needle - it cannot be found by ourselves. It is very difficult for ourselves to enter the kingdom of heaven but what for us is impossible, for God is possible. So sanctity has a lot to do with us being linked closely to God. And how do we get linked to God? By the means by which the Holy Spirit guides us and the Church teaches us; it is very simple. It is by getting into silence first, into the silence of our hearts. God speaks in the silence of our hearts." 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: "There wasn't a slacker or a coward among them. These men were on fire with the love of God and of Jesus crucified and love of the indigenous people they came to serve. Men of total generosity, faithful to God, gifted in prayer, unsparing in their unselfishness, courageous, tough, spiritual giants .. But physically how did this weak man, Noel Chabanel, stand up to martyrdom - superbly; he died, like the others, without a murmur. You see he was hit on the head with a tomahawk by a renegade Huron while they were going through the forest and he never knew a thing, he just woke up in heaven. He wasn't a wimp but I like to think he is the patron of those of us who are." 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 Ian Ker: "When the Catholic Church canonises somebody they are talking about heroic virtue, heroic sanctity, that a person was heroic, they are not talking about somebody being faultless. I think sometimes people used to say 'O well, Newman had this fault and that fault, so he couldn't be a saint.' That is actually not relevant because no-one is perfect and indeed all the saints have faults. What the Church is looking for is a heroic quality, it is not looking for impeccability, it is looking for heroism and Newman heroically followed the kindly light of truth through his life." 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.

Mother Teresa: "The young people, especially in their applications, write: 'I want a life of poverty, prayer and sacrifice that will lead me to a service of the poor.' … The lonely, the unwanted, the unloved – we try to bring Jesus to them, by involving them in the service of the poor, by our presence among them, they must be able to look up and see Jesus in us. And also I believe in helping them to come in touch with the poor, because the poor give us much more than we give to the poor." Father Leo: "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. On her feast day this is the biggest wish I want to express. When we celebrate the memory of her death on 5th September, we can even liturgically invoke that favour from her: to be able to collaborate for the redemption of the world." 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 Anthony Meredith SJ: "One of the most vital and important elements of St Augustine's spiritual vision is his stress on the importance of the heart; he is not simply a mental thinker or a mental prayer. He believes the heart is important and he has famous sentence in the opening of The Confessions when he says 'Thou has created O Lord for Thyself and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.' The word heart occurs on many, many occasions. The inner truest self.. the heart directing itself always inwards and upwards, upwards and outwards to God." 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 Anthony Doe: "This is really the meaning of Our Lady as Queen of Heaven: Queen of Mercy, Queen of the compassionate outreach of the Father's love in her Son. And so she stands as the greatest gift to the human race. She is one of us, somebody who is now living her humanity to the full, and who is living it for us, for our salvation, and is there always with that power and authority that comes from God, to take every single human being by the hand and lead them into His merciful presence." 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 Iain Matthew OCD: "To be assumed into heaven means to be taken into the fullness of love. It does not mean to be taken away, it means be taken into the fullness of love, into the life of the Blessed Trinity. So the whole of Mary is taken into God's love, which means that she is completely here with me, with you. Assumed into heaven means more in God, so more with you, able to embrace you, to take you into her heart, to carry you in her heart." 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.