Day 1, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "The light of faith: with this expression, the tradition of the Church has indicated/shown the great gift brought by Jesus, who, in the Gospel of John, presents himself thus: "I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in me may not remain in darkness" (Jn 12:46). Saint Paul also expresses it in these terms: "And God who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ shines in our hearts" (2 Cor 4:6). In the pagan world, hungry for light, the cult to the Sun god developed, Sol Invictus, invoked each day at sunrise. Yet though the sun was born anew each morning, it was clearly incapable of radiating its light on man's entire existence. The sun, in fact, does not illuminate the whole of reality, its beam cannot pierce through to the shadow of death, there where the human eye is closed to its light. "No one — affirms Saint Justin (the) Martyr — has ever been ready to die for his faith in the sun". Aware of the great horizon which faith opened to them, the Christians called Christ the true sun "whose rays give life". To Martha, who wept over the death of her brother Lazarus, Jesus said: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (Jn 11:40). The one who believes, sees; sees with a light that illuminates the whole route of the road, because it comes to us from the risen Christ, the morning star that never sets." Music performed by seminarians Daniel Weatherley and John Watts. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is dedicated to Our Lady and inspired by our holy Papas - Blessed John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Day 9, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "" Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 8, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "" Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 7, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "" Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 6, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "Does this mean that the Redemption accomplished by Christ is not complete? No. It only means that the Redemption, worked through the power of reparatory love, remains constantly open to all love which is expressed in human suffering. In this dimension — in the dimension of love — the Redemption already totally and fully accomplished is, in a certain sense, being accomplished constantly. Christ has worked the Redemption completely and to the very end; but, at the same time, he has not closed it: in this redemptive suffering, through which is worked the Redemption of the world, Christ has opened himself from the beginning, and constantly opens himself to every human suffering. Yes, it seems to be part of the very essence of the redemptive suffering of Christ that it requires to be unceasingly completed. In this way, with such an openness to every human suffering, Christ has worked through his own suffering the Redemption of the world. For indeed, this Redemption, even though accomplished in all its fullness by the suffering of Christ, lives and develops at the same time in its own way in the history of man. It lives and develops as the body of Christ, which is the Church, and in this dimension every human suffering, by virtue of the union in the love of Christ, completes the suffering of Christ. It completes it as the Church completes the redemptive work of Christ. The mystery of the Church — of this body which completes also in itself the crucified and risen body of Christ — indicates at the same time that space in which human sufferings complete the sufferings of Christ. Only within this radius and in this dimension of the Church-Body of Christ, which continually develops in space and time, can one think and speak of "what is lacking" in the afflictions of Christ. The Apostle, moreover, puts this clearly in relief when he writes of "completing" what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the Church." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 5, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "The Song of the Suffering Servant contains a description in which it is possible, in a certain sense, to identify the stages of Christ's Passion in their various details: the arrest, the humiliation, the blows, the spitting, the contempt for the prisoner, the unjust sentence, and then the scourging, the crowning with thorns and the mocking, the carrying of the Cross, the crucifixion, the agony. Even more than this description of the Passion, what strikes us in the words of the prophet is the depth of the sacrifice of Christ. Here, He, though innocent, takes upon himself the sufferings of all men, because he takes upon himself the sins of everyone. "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all": all the sin of man in its breadth and depth becomes the true cause of the suffering of the Redeemer. If the suffering "is measured" by the evil suffered, then the words of the prophet enable us to understand the extent of this evil and this suffering, which Christ loaded upon himself. It can be said that this is "substitutive" suffering; but above all it is "redemptive". The Man of Sorrows of that prophecy is truly that "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". In his suffering, sins are erased precisely because he alone as the only-begotten Son could take them upon himself, accept them with that love for the Father which overcomes the evil of every sin; in a certain sense he annihilates this evil in the spiritual space of the relationship between God and humanity, and fills this space with good. Here we touch upon the dual nature of a single personal subject of redemptive suffering. He, who by his Passion and death on the Cross brings about the Redemption, is the only-begotten Son whom God "gave". At the same time this Son who is consubstantial with the Father suffers as a man. His suffering has human dimensions; it also has - unique in humanity's history - a depth and intensity which, while being human, can also be an incomparable depth and intensity of suffering, as the Man who suffers is in person the same only-begotten Son: " God from God". Therefore, only he — the only-begotten Son — is capable of embracing the measure of evil contained in the sin of man: in every sin and in "total" sin, according to the dimensions of the historical existence of humanity on earth." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 4, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "Above all Christ drew close to the world of human suffering through the fact of having taken this suffering upon his very self. During his public activity, he experienced not only fatigue, homelessness, misunderstanding even by those closest to him, but, more than anything, he was ever more tightly encircled by hostility encircled by hostility and the preparations for putting him to death became ever clearer. Christ is aware of this, and often speaks to his disciples of the sufferings and death that await him: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; they will condemn him to death, hand him over to the Gentiles, they will mock him and spit upon him, scourge him and kill him; but after three days he will rise again". Christ goes towards his Passion and death with full awareness of the mission that he has to fulfil precisely in this way. Precisely by means of this suffering he must bring it about "that man should not perish, but have eternal life". Precisely by means of his Cross he must get at the roots of evil, planted in the history of man and in human souls. Precisely by means of his Cross he must accomplish the work of salvation. This work, in the plan of eternal Love, has a redemptive character. And therefore Christ severely reproves Peter when the latter wants to make him abandon the thoughts of suffering and of death on the Cross. And when, during his arrest in Gethsemane, Peter tries to defend him with the sword, Christ says, " Put your sword back into its place... But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, according to which it must be so?" And he also says, "Shall I not drink the chalice which the Father has given me?". This response - like others that reappear in different points of the Gospel - shows how profoundly Christ was imbued with the thought that he had already expressed in the conversation with Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life". Christ goes toward his own suffering, aware of its saving power, he goes in obedience to the Father, but above all he is united to the Father in this love with which He has loved the world and man in the world. And for this reason St Paul will write of Christ: "He loved me and gave himself for me." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 3, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "But in order to perceive the true answer to the "why" of suffering, we must turn our gaze to the revelation of divine love, the ultimate source of the meaning of everything that exists. Love is also the richest source of the meaning of suffering, which always remains a mystery: we are conscious of the insufficiency and inadequacy of our explanations. Christ makes us enter into the mystery and makes us discover the "why" of suffering, in so far as we are capable of understanding the sublimity of divine love. In order to discover the profound meaning of suffering, following the revealed word of God, we must open ourselves wide to the human subject in his manifold potentiality. We must above all accept the light of Revelation not only insofar as it expresses the transcendent order of justice but also insofar as it illuminates this order with Love, as the definitive source of everything that exists. Love is: also the fullest source of the answer to the question of the meaning of suffering. This answer has been given by God to man in the Cross of Jesus Christ." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 2, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "Thus the reality of suffering prompts the question about the essence of evil: what is evil? This question, in a certain sense, seems inseparable from the theme of suffering. The Christian response to it is different from that given by certain cultural and religious traditions which hold that existence is an evil from which we must be liberated. Christianity proclaims the essential good of existence and the good of that which exists, acknowledges the goodness of the Creator and proclaims the good of creatures. Man suffers because of evil, which is a certain lack, limitation or distortion of good. We could say that man suffers because of a good in which he does not participate, from which in a certain sense he is cut off, or of which he has deprived himself. He particularly suffers when he 'ought' — in the normal order of things — to partake in this good and does not. Thus, in the Christian view, the reality of suffering is explained through evil, which always, in some way, refers to a good. Human suffering in itself constitutes as it were a specific "world" which exists together with man, which appears in him and passes, and sometimes does not pass, but which consolidates itself and becomes deeply rooted in him. This world of suffering, divided into many, numerous subjects, exists as it were "in dispersion". Every man, through his personal suffering, constitutes not only a small part of that a world", but at the same time" that world" is present in him as a finite and unrepeatable entity. Parallel with this, however, is the interhuman and social dimension. The world of suffering possesses as it were its own solidarity. People who suffer become similar to one another through the analogy of their situation, the trial of their destiny, or through their need for understanding and care, and perhaps above all through the persistent question of the meaning of suffering. Thus, although the world of suffering exists "in dispersion", at the same time it contains within itself a singular challenge to communion and solidarity." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.

Day 1, Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes. Quote from John Paul II's apostolic letter on the salvific meaning of suffering, Salvifici Doloris: "Human suffering evokes compassion; it also evokes respect, and in its own way it intimidates. For in suffering is contained the greatness of a specific mystery. This special respect for all human suffering must be set at the beginning of what will be expressed here later by the deepest need of the heart, and also by the deep imperative of faith. These two reasons seem to draw particularly close to each other and join together on the theme of suffering: the need of the heart commands us to overcome fear, and the imperative of faith — formulated, for example, in the words of St Paul quoted at the beginning — provides the content, in the name of which and by virtue of which we dare to touch what seems so intangible in every man: for man, in his suffering, remains an intangible mystery." Music sung by the Holy Redeemer Choir. Visit Totus2us.com for much more.