Man for Others

Father Robbie D'Lima, a priest from Pakistan, gives his vocation story: "I was finishing school in 1995 and it was a time when I was searching for a deeper meaning in life. Like any young person, you start to wander what's more in life, is there something more than just living? I just kept wondering about this and at that time one of my religion teachers kept telling us that 'you know, God has a plan in your life. He made you not just to eat, drink, make merry and die.' But then he also told us 'Only God can tell you what this plan is. No priest, no sister, nobody else can give you the answer.' Well, I was looking for something deeper at that point in life and I decided to actually do what he said. I would go on my balcony, the 4th floor of an 11 storey building, and just look up to the sky and say 'Lord, what do you want to do with me? Do you have a plan for me?' And, to be honest, I don't think I ever wanted an answer, I don't think I expected an answer, but the frightening thing was that within about two weeks time something started to happen, answers were coming. It's hard to describe what was happening; there was something happening in me, something was going on." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Alan Neville MSC, from Ireland: "In that parish there were two priests, Father John and Father Jim, who were just really wonderful priests, great sense of humour, lovely sense of humanity, and as I grew up with them, because I was an altar server there and then I was a reader when I was considering a vocation to the priesthood, it didn't occur to me to consider any other group. It was always going to be the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Padre Pablo Zamora, de Mexico, en español: "..." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Gareth Leyshon, from Wales: "From there I was headhunted by Cardiff University and spent four years doing a PhD on dust in distant galaxies. But half way through the doctorate I asked the big question again 'Lord, what should I do next?' and this time the answer was different. I was driving a friend home from another Youth 2000 retreat when, somewhere past Reading on the motorway, I turned to her and I said "Still don't know what I'm doing after this PhD but when I become a priest, I shall ..' Oh, what did I just say? It was then that I knew that the idea had gone from somewhere in my head to somewhere in my heart and it was time to take the next step. So I approached the archdiocese of Cardiff and, after finishing the PhD, I went to seminary at Wonersh and was ordained priest in 2006. I served five years in the parish of St Dyfrig, Pontypridd, and then came to the city of Cardiff where I now serve as a Catholic priest. The journey with God hasn't finished yet. I don't know what's in store next but I don't need to know. I know I'm in the right place, doing what He has asked me to do: "Do this in memory of me."" Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Charles, from Burkino Faso: "Priesthood for me is a way of serving people so when I applied to go to the seminary it was maybe to become a priest to please people first, but then it was to serve them and make them discover the Gospel of God." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Richard Nesbitt, a parish priest from England: "The parish priest came bounding up to me, big smile on his face, and he just gave me this big hug and said 'Richard, don't worry, be happy!' And I just knew - when he gave me that hug, when he said those words to me - that that's what I wanted: I wanted to be happy, to know real, deep joy in a way that I hadn't really in my life up to that point, and that this man, this Church, this community, this Christ whom they worshiped, that was the key to this happiness. And that began my journey. I began to go back to that church week after week, and not only on Sundays. I would find other churches in the city that were open during the day and between English lessons I would go in and just sit down. Every church had a copy of the Divine Mercy painting in, and I couldn't speak very much Polish but when I could look at that image literally walking towards me, almost coming out of the painting towards me, I began to talk to Him, I began to share my heart, my hopes, my anxieties, my ups, my downs, and that was the beginning of a relationship for me with Christ, the beginning of my prayer life really. And I've always been really grateful to that, that's how God brought me to prayer, in such a direct way, heart to heart with Jesus." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Alan Robinson, a parish priest from England: "The heart of Fr Augustine Hoey's whole life - and we're talking about a man now who's approaching 100 - the thing that is consistent in his life is his life of prayer. He has always been a huge prayer, whether it's within the community, in Mirfield, in Sunderland, whether he's been in South Africa, when he was setting up a flat in Manchester as a sort of hermitage praying in the middle of quite a deprived area, the routine is always the same: huge amounts of prayer and it's that which has been the consistent thing in his life. Now, in his 100th year, he still rises very early and spends about three hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament, concelebrates a public Mass, goes from church to church saying the Divine Office, praying for the unity of Christians. And that's really the heart and answer to everything for Augustine. He's a great prayer and he always says 'There are thousands of books about how to pray but the only way to learn how to pray is to pray, is to get on with it. It's like cookery books: you can buy so many cookery books but in the end you've just have to go in the kitchen and get on with it, start cooking!"" Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Hugh MacKenzie, a diocesan priest from London: "I think my vocation to the priesthood is rooted in my prayers as a small child with my father. He was ill during my teenage years and he didn't continue it then and maybe I didn't want to anyway, but the quite strong experience of knowing God as a small child, particularly praying with my Dad, I think rooted much of my priesthood and my vocation. As a teenager I still went to Mass and for some reason when I was under the stars, looking up at the beautiful sky, I had a real sense of the Creator behind this amazing universe. But outside of that, as a teenager, I didn't really pray and I drifted. But I still enjoyed discussing philosophy and the existence of God, a bit. Then, as I was leaving school in my sixth form, I have the distinct memory of praying under the stars again actually, saying 'Look, you're there God, but where are you? I don't know you. I know you're there but surely you're not just beyond the universe. Have you come into the universe?' Even though I was going to Mass, I didn't link the two at all. .. I do remember saying 'I'm quite happy to give up being Catholic in order to know you, so where are you?' … I've sensed that this type of family, this type of fatherhood, this type of commitment that is the priesthood is the one that I happened to be called. .. I just never really lost for more than a few hours this basic peace and excitement of loving people and being loved by God." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Danny Horan, a diocesan priest from Ireland: "For me, the Holy Mass is beyond all doubt the most powerful prayer in the world. There's nothing to compare with it … That is my belief, that is my trust, that Jesus becomes really and truly present for all us through me. I'm the most unworthy servant to be on his altar but, by his grace and the love and the mercy of the Mother of God, I am there and I'm proud to be a priest." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Father Francisco Javier Oseguera, a Legionary of Christ priest from Mexico: "What I would like to share with everybody is just the reality that God really is present in our lives more than maybe we can imagine and He really has a plan for us. But it's up to us to really be open, to be in his hands totally, to really trust Him that, when He permits something in our lives, it's really for the good of us and for the good of others. Sometimes we may not understand those things, maybe they are going to be painful or difficult, but if we really hope that He is there and trust Him, He really surpasses our expectations. I've been very happy in my congregation, in my religious vocation, and excited about the things that God wants to do through my priesthood." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.