To Be A Pilgrim - Totus2us

Carmen (from Mexico) has been a pilgrim numerous times to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City: "Visiting Our Lady of Guadalupe in her shrine in Mexico City is always wonderful. It’s a great grace just to walk, in silence or praying the rosary. We normally walk from our parents house in the west of Mexico City .. While walking to see Our Lady, being a pilgrim and thanking her for absolutely everything because I know that she has always been there in my life. What is exciting is that I always thought we are probably the only pilgrims but no, along the road we always meet other people and then when we arrive at the main avenue that takes you to the shrine, there are many people walking along .. It’s just amazing to see the great faith of these women or couples or elderly people going over there and seeing Our Lady. There is Mass every hour from 7 o’clock in the morning until very late, and there always priests providing confessions. It’s always a treat for the soul just being there before Our La

Arianna (from England) was a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela in Spain: "Last year I went to Santiago de Compostela for a pilgrimage and it was very beautiful. I got to meet so many wonderful people on the way and it was a true blessing because there were times when you were walking for 8 hours and you just felt like you couldn't go on but then you'd say a prayer and somehow it would lift you up and it would really help you along the way. It was a truly blessed time to see God working." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Cécile (from France) was a pilgrim to Lourdes in France: "I went to Lourdes with a group of young people and I didn't really know what I was expecting from this pilgrimage, I was just happy to be with Christian friends. With one of my closest friends we decided to go to the Grotto, to be in the water at the place where the Virgin Mary appeared. While I was waiting to go to the baths, I had a really weird feeling; suddenly I really didn't want to go there, everyone was really annoying me and seeing all the ladies waiting to go to the baths and it was really irritating me. I was really angry inside of me and not feeling well, it was really a weird feeling. I wanted to leave but then I was with my friend, so I just stayed. Then I entered the room where we had to be prepared to go into the baths and all those feelings of anger started to disappear but I was really confused. Then the lady brought me into the bath and I had suddenly a deep feeling of relief and when I came out, I kept crying for an hour and a half,

Ryan (from the United States) was a pilgrim to Jasna Gora in Częstochowa, Poland: "What’s special about Czestochowa is there’s this painting by Saint Luke and it’s beautifully adorned and it has brought so many healings and so many miracles to people from all around the world who come to venerate this image. But this image was special to me because there's a part of the image that was cut by someone who was trying to attack it. It’s an image of Our Lady holding the Christ Child and it’s beautiful, you are just in awe of it when you see it. But she has these two scars across her face and it’s beautiful because it’s symbolic what they're saying, that she wanted to say to the pilgrims who come to venerate her that she is suffering with us. And we can see the scars, that she is taking our suffering. And it just brought me so much closer to our Blessed Mother through this image because I think it shows that we have a mother who is willing to not only go through the joys with us but to go through the sufferings wit

John (from London) was a pilgrim on the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela in Spain: "One of the main messages that struck me was, finishing in Santiago, a priest telling me at Santiago Cathedral they switch round the alpha and omega to the opposite way because they say the end is the beginning. So the end of the pilgrimage is the beginning of a new start. I think the two lessons that I took away from the Camino were, one, it was an opportunity for me to have a regular prayer life and that's what I've tried to take into life since finishing the Camino. The second thing is on the Camino it's very easy to live the Christian life in a very simple way. So sharing your food, carrying very little with you, having no possessions, and everyone's on a similar playing field so it's very easy to interact and people are very open. So those are the two things I've taken from the Camino. The third other thing that I didn't realise until the end was that the Hail, Holy Queen, which is probably my favourite prayer, wa

Joanne (from Australia) was a pilgrim to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, on the rue du Bac in Paris: "While I was there I prayed several rosaries, attended several Masses, and at the end of the day I really felt like a new person, completely spiritually refreshed and renewed, all my problems were put into perspective and I just made a resolution that I should once a month put some time aside to do a little pilgrimage, even if it’s just to my local church, " Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Nick (from America) was a pilgrim to St Peter's Basilica in Rome: "As part of living in Europe I got the opportunity to go on pilgrimage to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and I think what blew me away the most was getting to pray at the tomb of Blessed John Paul II. My conversion happened in High School when I was about 17 years old, just about a year after he had died, but through the years learning all that he did and his work for the new evangelisation and in particular for the youth of the world, I never really realised what an impact he’d had on me until I was there praying at his tomb. I just had this great sense that he had really fathered me in my faith through all the work that he had done for the youth in the Church. So it was a really blessed experience and a highlight of my pilgrimage, for sure." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Martha (from Scotland) was a pilgrim to the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Kraków-Łagiewniki, Poland: "I have been overwhelmed in many ways and very conscious of the graces that I have received just in the last few days while being here. I see how much Mary is so much a part of Divine Mercy her Son, and how we get so close to Him through her. I think coming from a parish which is dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and whose medal I have been wearing round my neck for a number of months now must surely feature in the fact that I softened my hard shell and took the opportunity when it came to be here.It is a very personal experience coming here and I'm sure for everyone it's similar in many ways but different in so many other ways, because it does touch one to the heart and all through oneself." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Lorraine (from Ireland) was a pilgrim to Lourdes in France: "At that moment I just had a real sense of God's healing presence, it was something so tangible and He was so real to me at that moment, it was just so real. I can remember the following days really praying at the Grotto. It was just the peace. I didn't want to leave. I can remember just saying prayers that I'd learned as a child. I knew that God was real, that Mary was real, and that I wanted to have a relationship with them. I suppose that healing that I experienced on that night, it changed the direction of my life. When I came back from Lourdes, all of my friends noticed that I just had this peace, and I was calm, and I accepted who I was and I knew at that moment and from then on that I was a child of God and that I was really loved by Him." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Ben (from England) was a pilgrim to Santiago along the Camino in Spain: "Last year I did the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage, an 800 km walk. ..I thought it would just be a nice month abroad but for me it became much more spiritual, and I grew closer to God through doing it. By living in community along the way each night, some places there'd be Mass every night, some places there wouldn't but there'd be Evening Prayer, which everyone could join in. It gives you a lot of time for prayer, and through my prayer I felt that by the end of my walk I had come so much further on my spiritual journey." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Christianne (from England) first went in 1987 as a pilgrim to Medjugorje in Bosnia Hercegovina, where Mary has been appearing since 24 June 1981: "I went to Medjugorje several times in the 80s and 90s. After our first visit, my sister and I returned with different people who had expressed a desire to see for themselves the place that Our Lady had chosen for this most special visitation in our time. After our first visit we can back so excited by everything we had felt and witnessed, and I felt that a profound change had taken place within me. Going to Medjugorje most definitely changed my life, deepened my faith. Our Lady touches us in a special way when we make the journey to hear her message. It has been a great blessing, a great challenge, a privilege and most extraordinary blessing to have her messages and presence in our world today." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Veronica (from England) first went in 1987 as a pilgrim to Medjugorje in Bosnia Hercegovina, where Mary has been appearing since 24th June 1981: "It is the most exceptional thing to be gathered with people from all over the world - they really have come from all over the world - and to be praying together. You get a very remarkable sense of the vigour and faith and unity that allows us to belong to each other because of the Holy Spirit's work in the body of Christ; it's very, very moving. Of course the best and loveliest thing about going to Medjugorje is the realisation that Our Lady knows each of us individually and cares for us in a very powerful and maternal way; and that we can entrust our lives, our needs, our fears, our anxieties and our love to her, and all of this is relayed to Jesus Our Lord in such a perfect way. So my advice would be to anybody who's thinking of going to Medjugorje and who has perhaps thought that they didn't have time or that it wasn't really for them, that they should take this

Joshua (from Singapore) was a pilgrim to San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy, where Saint Padre Pio lived and is buried: "I think what I remember most about the pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo was seeing St Pio's cell and visiting the place where his body lay. It gave me a reminder of how even the saints, who have our devotions and we ask them to pray for us and intercede for us and we know that they are in heaven, it was a reminder that they were also human and facing the same challenges just as us, subject to the same weaknesses and temptations and challenges. So it gave me hope that, even though in the day to day struggles we can fall, sometimes it's difficult, I know that ultimately, by God's grace, that we can make it, that we can be saved, because the saints were in the same place as we are in." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Paul (from England) was a pilgrim to Walsingham in Norfolk, England: "It was a time of discovering who Mary is for me in my life at this time because sometimes my relationship with Mary takes a back seat. I found through the 3 days I was there to really enjoy a love for Mary again, to discover the rosary in more depth, to understand her ideas for the world and what her example can be for me today and for the rest of humanity." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Tommy (from the USA/Poland) went with his wife for their honeymoon on pilgrimage from Poland to Spain for World Youth Day Madrid, staying with friends along their pilgrim way (they had been at their 1st WYD together with Papa Benedetto back in 2005 in Cologne, Germany): "I think the beauty of pilgrimages is that normally we go on pilgrimage through life and we never have enough time to pray and discover new things, or even the silence to hear God and speak to God. Perhaps I didn't have the silence to reflect upon different things because of all the partying with the youth, and the celebrational aspects of World Youth Day and the fact that the Pope is coming and that we are all one union, but I think we met that silence when we got to visit a priest in the south of Spain in a little, little town, so all my spiritual needs were really satisfied." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus

Frankie (from England) was a pilgrim to Lourdes in France: "As you get nearer and nearer to the Grotto, you can feel the peace, you can feel the quietness and I really do think Our Lady literally leads you by the hand to bring you closer to her son's heart in Lourdes. And I think it's a great place of challenge, but also as well in the silence realising what's important, what's worth living for and fighting for. I've been very blessed as well to witness young people go to Confession out in Lourdes, young people go to confession who haven't been for a number of years, and I've really seen them be touched by God's spirit of love, the Holy Spirit has really touched them in the Sacrament of Confession and I've really seen lives changed. I think it's to do partly with the powerful intercession of Our Lady, who invites people to come closer to the face of love, which is the face of Christ Himself as they encounter Him, not only in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments but in the face and love of other pilgrims." Musi

Rachel (from Scotland) was a pilgrim to Paray-le-Monial in France: "Each time that I've been to Paray-le-Monial (I've been there 3 times now) it's been a really blessed and a very deep experience in my faith journey. And I would say that this image of Christ and the revelation of His Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary is the image of Christ that touches me the most and that speaks to me the most: Christ's open heart that he shared with this saint and shared through her to the world, and the burning love that He has through His Sacred Heart and this desire, this thirst, for us to return some of that love that He so yearns for from us. Every time that I've been there, I've just experienced a great peace and just resting there with him, and just really experiencing Christ's heart and being with Him and receiving that grace, and experiencing this intense love that Christ has for each of us and for Christ's Church." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for much more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Bless

Kate (from London) was a pilgrim to Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegovina: "This time I knew that the Lord was calling me to something else, to that inner journey, that pilgrimage, that journey of the soul, that journey within. So my journey within started about 6 months ago and, having thought that I was going to be travelling around the world, I've realised that that was not what the Lord wanted, that was not where he was taking me. So I've been looking for little signs and asking him where he'd like me to go and one of those places was to Medjugorje ... Each day at Mass I would pray and ask Our Lady to guide me; because I wasn't on a formal pilgrimage, I asked her each day to guide me as to where I should go and each day I would meet different people and it would become very clear where she wanted me to go. So on one day I climbed the mountain of apparitions and met Our Lady in a very profound way on that mountain; and another day she called me to climb the mountain of the Cross, Krizevac, and again I journeyed

Ruth (from Britain) was a pilgrim to St Davids during Pilgrimage 2000: "It left me with a sense of 'gosh, what a reflection of life in general' it was. I'd left St David's feeling very overwhelmed by life in general really and what was this time going to include and quite what had I got myself into? All along the way, I was cared for and looked after, and the reality of God was very evident in the simplicity of every day and in the goodness of every day and just being alive. So, for me, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience of being a pilgrim." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Tom Dubois (from England) was a pilgrim to the Holy Land: "As I was walking I was often on my own and being able to reflect in silence on the places where Jesus had walked, where he'd talked, the places that had really shaped him. As I was walking I was meditating on different passages from the Bible, of Jesus walking along and his closeness to nature. I was struck by the beauty of the nature surrounding me, I was really struck by the beauty of the birds, of the Sea of Galilee, of all the very rich agriculture around. I think it really gave me an insight into Jesus's world, but more than that into his heart. into that sense of His journey, of the many journeys which He undertook, those physical journeys but also those journeys of the heart. I think Jesus always invites us to journey further, to journey deeper." Music by Olen Cesari. Visit Totus2us.com for more. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was the motto of Blessed John Paul II to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.