Day 5, Novena - The Redeemer of Man. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Redemptor Hominis: "The Church cannot abandon man, for his "destiny", that is to say his election, calling, birth and death, salvation or perdition, is so closely and unbreakably linked with Christ. We are speaking precisely of each man on this planet, this earth that the Creator gave to the first man, saying to the man and the women: "subdue it and have dominion". Each man in all the unrepeatable reality of what he is and what he does, of his intellect and will, of his conscience and heart. Man who in his reality has, because he is a "person", a history of his life that is his own and, most important, a history of his soul that is his own. Man who, in keeping with the openness of his spirit within and also with the many diverse needs of his body and his existence in time, writes this personal history of his through numerous bonds, contacts, situations, and social structures linking him with other men, beginning to do so from the first moment of his existence on earth, from the moment of his conception and birth. Man in the full truth of his existence, of his personal being and also of his community and social being - in the sphere of his own family, in the sphere of society and very diverse contexts, in the sphere of his own nation or people (perhaps still only that of his clan or tribe), and in the sphere of the whole of mankind - this man is the primary route that the Church must travel in fulfilling her mission: he is the primary and fundamental way for the Church, the way traced out by Christ himself, the way that leads invariably through the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption." Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in your love. Let us hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach us how to profess our faith, bestow our love and impart our hope to others. Make us convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make us the new people of the Beatitudes, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the 3rd Christian millennium. Amen. Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, pray for us. Music by Fr Stan Fortuna CFR. Visit Totus2us.com for more info.

Day 4, Novena - The Redeemer of Man. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Redemptor Hominis: "When Jesus Christ himself appeared as a prisoner before Pilate's tribunal and was interrogated by him about the accusation made against him by the representatives of the Sanhedrin, did he not answer: "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth"? It was as if with these words spoken before the judge at the decisive moment he was once more confirming what he had said earlier: "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free". In the course of so many centuries, of so many generations, from the time of the Apostles on, is it not often Jesus Christ himself that has made an appearance at the side of people judged for the sake of the truth? And has he not gone to death with people condemned for the sake of the truth? Does he ever cease to be the continuous spokesman and advocate for the person who lives "in spirit and truth"? Just as he does not cease to be it before the Father, he is it also with regard to the history of man. And in her turn the Church, in spite of all the weaknesses that are part of her human history, does not cease to follow him who said: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth"." Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in your love. Let us hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach us how to profess our faith, bestow our love and impart our hope to others. Make us convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make us the new people of the Beatitudes, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the 3rd Christian millennium. Amen. Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, pray for us. Music by Fr Stan Fortuna CFR. Visit Totus2us.com for more info.

Day 3, Novena - The Redeemer of Man. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Redemptor Hominis: "Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus". The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer", and if God "gave his only Son "in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life"." Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in your love. Let us hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach us how to profess our faith, bestow our love and impart our hope to others. Make us convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make us the new people of the Beatitudes, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the 3rd Christian millennium. Amen. Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, pray for us. Music by Fr Stan Fortuna CFR. Visit Totus2us.com for more info.

Day 2, Novena - The Redeemer of Man. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Redemptor Hominis: "What shall I say of all the initiatives that have sprung from the new ecumenical orientation? The unforgettable Pope John XXIII set out the problem of Christian unity with evangelical clarity as a simple consequence of the will of Jesus Christ himself, our Master, the will that Jesus stated on several occasions but to which he gave expression in a special way in his prayer in the Upper Room the night before he died: "I pray... Father... that they may all be one". The Second Vatican Council responded concisely to this requirement with its Decree on ecumenism. Pope Paul VI, availing himself of the activities of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, began the first difficult steps on the road to the attainment of that unity. Have we gone far along that road? Without wishing to give a detailed reply, we can say that we have made real and important advances. And one thing is certain: we have worked with perseverance and consistency, and the representatives of other Christian Churches and Communities have also committed themselves together with us, for which we are heartily grateful to them. It is also certain that in the present historical situation of Christianity and the world the only possibility we see of fulfilling the Church's universal mission, with regard to ecumenical questions, is that of seeking sincerely, perseveringly, humbly and also courageously the ways of drawing closer and of union. " Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in your love. Let us hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach us how to profess our faith, bestow our love and impart our hope to others. Make us convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make us the new people of the Beatitudes, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the 3rd Christian millennium. Amen. Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, pray for us. Music by Fr Stan Fortuna CFR. Visit Totus2us.com for more info.

Day 1, Novena - The Redeemer of Man. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Redemptor Hominis: "The Redeemer of Man, Jesus Christ, is the centre of the universe and of history. To him go my thoughts and my heart in this solemn moment of the world that the Church and the whole family of present-day humanity are now living. In fact, this time, in which God in his hidden design has entrusted to me, after my beloved Predecessor John Paul I, the universal service connected with the Chair of Saint Peter in Rome, is already very close to the year 2000. At this moment it is difficult to say what mark that year will leave on the face of human history or what it will bring to each people, nation, country and continent, in spite of the efforts already being made to foresee some events. For the Church, the People of God spread, although unevenly, to the most distant limits of the earth, it will be the year of a great Jubilee. We are already approaching that date, which, without prejudice to all the corrections imposed by chronological exactitude, will recall and reawaken in us in a special way our awareness of the key truth of faith which Saint John expressed at the beginning of his Gospel: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us", and elsewhere: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life"." Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, keep us in your love. Let us hear your voice and believe what you say, for you alone have the words of life. Teach us how to profess our faith, bestow our love and impart our hope to others. Make us convincing witnesses to your Gospel in a world so much in need of your saving grace. Make us the new people of the Beatitudes, that we may be the salt of the earth and the light of the world at the beginning of the 3rd Christian millennium. Amen. Mary, Mother of Christ and of the Church, pray for us. Music by Fr Stan Fortuna CFR. Visit Totus2us.com for more info.

Day 9, Novena - Faith and Reason. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio: "I ask everyone to look more deeply at man, whom Christ has saved in the mystery of his love, and at the human being's unceasing search for truth and meaning. Different philosophical systems have lured people into believing that they are their own absolute master, able to decide their own destiny and future in complete autonomy, trusting only in themselves and their own powers. But this can never be the grandeur of the human being, who can find fulfilment only in choosing to enter the truth, to make a home under the shade of Wisdom and dwell there. Only within this horizon of truth will people understand their freedom in its fullness and their call to know and love God as the supreme realization of their true self." Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas: Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.' Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us. Music by Benedict Nichols. For more info, visit Totus2us.com

Day 8B, Novena - Faith and Reason. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio: "Wherever men and women discover a call to the absolute and transcendent, the metaphysical dimension of reality opens up before them: in truth, in beauty, in moral values, in other persons, in being itself, in God. We face a great challenge at the end of this millennium to move fromphenomenon to foundation, a step as necessary as it is urgent. We cannot stop short at experience alone; even if experience does reveal the human being's interiority and spirituality, speculative thinking must penetrate to the spiritual core and the ground from which it rises. Therefore, a philosophy which shuns metaphysics would be radically unsuited to the task of mediation in the understanding of Revelation." Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas: Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.' Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us. Music by Benedict Nichols. For more info, visit Totus2us.com

Day 8, Novena - Faith and Reason. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio: "Wherever men and women discover a call to the absolute and transcendent, the metaphysical dimension of reality opens up before them: in truth, in beauty, in moral values, in other persons, in being itself, in God. We face a great challenge at the end of this millennium to move fromphenomenon to foundation, a step as necessary as it is urgent. We cannot stop short at experience alone; even if experience does reveal the human being's interiority and spirituality, speculative thinking must penetrate to the spiritual core and the ground from which it rises. Therefore, a philosophy which shuns metaphysics would be radically unsuited to the task of mediation in the understanding of Revelation." Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas: Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.' Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us. Music by Benedict Nichols. For more info, visit Totus2us.com

Day 7, Novena - Faith and Reason. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio: "Christian Revelation becomes the true point of encounter and engagement between philosophical and theological thinking in their reciprocal relationship. It is to be hoped therefore that theologians and philosophers will let themselves be guided by the authority of truth alone so that there will emerge a philosophy consonant with the word of God. Such a philosophy will be a place where Christian faith and human cultures may meet, a point of understanding between believer and non-believer. It will help lead believers to a stronger conviction that faith grows deeper and more authentic when it is wedded to thought and does not reject it. It is again the Fathers who teach us this: “To believe is nothing other than to think with assent... Believers are also thinkers: in believing, they think and in thinking, they believe... If faith does not think, it is nothing”. And again: “If there is no assent, there is no faith, for without assent one does not really believe"." Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas: Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.' Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us. Music by Benedict Nichols. For more info, visit Totus2us.com

Day 6, Novena - Faith and Reason. Quotes from Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio: "There are signs of a widespread distrust of universal and absolute statements, especially among those who think that truth is born of consensus and not of a consonance between intellect and objective reality. In a world subdivided into so many specialized fields, it is not hard to see how difficult it can be to acknowledge the full and ultimate meaning of life which has traditionally been the goal of philosophy. Nonetheless, in the light of faith which finds in Jesus Christ this ultimate meaning, I cannot but encourage philosophers—be they Christian or not—to trust in the power of human reason and not to set themselves goals that are too modest in their philosophizing. The lesson of history in this millennium now drawing to a close shows that this is the path to follow: it is necessary not to abandon the passion for ultimate truth, the eagerness to search for it or the audacity to forge new paths in the search. It is faith which stirs reason to move beyond all isolation and willingly to run risks so that it may attain whatever is beautiful, good and true. Faith thus becomes the convinced and convincing advocate of reason." Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas: Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.' Mary, seat of wisdom, pray for us. Music by Benedict Nichols. For more info, visit Totus2us.com