To Be A Pilgrim - Totus2us

Mimi (from Slovakia): "Coming to Santiago I was a little disappointed because all that way I had wanted to make it a spiritual impact in my life and I just couldn’t. First of all those worries of daily life: the food, the feet, where are you were going to sleep, we were cold … so it was challenging, a very challenging time. So I felt like I couldn’t really approach all that pilgrimage so much spiritually. So I thought, well I’m not sure if this is going to count into any spiritual building or anything like that. But I was really surprised coming to Santiago and we spent three days there and we really let the atmosphere of the Church and the prayers together soak in us and afterwards when I came back home, I really felt the difference. Somehow the Lord has blessed us, a different way than I was expecting and I was living from this experience for another month very strongly." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II, Papa Ben

Freya (from England): "Lourdes for me was a massive conversion in my faith. I went the first time when I was 17 and I didn’t really want to go but my teachers told me that I should, so I did! .. As I was looking out, you know how the people with the candles snake towards the Basilica, I just saw like this light, it was so insane to me. There were probably only like a couple of thousand of people there but to me it could have been hundreds of thousands, like it was full of light and I just had this sudden realisation of something that was much bigger than myself. It took my breath away a bit because I was, wow! And I felt this sudden calm in me, like, God exists, why are we ever worried about anything? And that sort of stayed with me for the past five years and it has really shaped who I am. I think that’s one of the reasons why Lourdes and why Our Lady are so important to me is that it has been a life changer." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by

Lucy (from England): "I’d prayed a prayer that was out of my heart but I knew it was stupid to pray, but God like fulfilled that in a way that just really lifted our hearts and gave us that courage and strength that we needed to know that on this Camino He was really with us and Our Lady was really with us - she’d been listening to our rosary and she was there waiting for us in that little stable. .. It was very special and very beautiful." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Cameron (from New Zealand): "Earlier this year I led a group of young adults on an unusual pilgrimage. It’s in New Zealand which is not a place known for pilgrimage since it’s not really an ancient Christian nation but the Catholic faith was brought to New Zealand in 1838 by French missionaries, they were Marist priests, and they were led by Bishop Pompallier and they paddled into the country in the north west, into a harbour and came ashore at the home of an Irish man and celebrated the first Mass ever to be celebrated in New Zealand there. So I led a pilgrimage from that harbour and we paddled for two days in kayaks, fifteen of us, paddling 12 km on day one and we stopped at the resting place of Bishop Pompallier, and then another 20 km on day two. And then we walked three days east to the other side of the country where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed… So trying to blaze a trail of pilgrimage in a very new country but I guess taking up this ancient spirit of pilgrimage of seeking the holy things in the p

Maria-Anna (from Portugal): "On 12th May I went to Fatima with some friends and my sister, and we went to see the first visit of Pope Francis in Portugal. … It was very special. When he came we had I think it was eight minutes of silence, eight minutes of prayer to Our Lady of Fatima. I don’t really have words to describe because it was really intense because it was silence. Imagine, we were half a million people! So it was incredible because it was half a million people for eight minutes in pure silence. It was really, really silent .. you could hear the birds and everything… I think if a person, even if a person who doesn’t believe, it was so intense I think it can change people because it was a moment so unique and so incredible." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Janet, from the UK: "When people who talk about Medjugorje, they talk about Our Lady but for me it is the most Christ centred place on this earth. I was drenched in daily adoration, daily Mass, my prayer life has just gone through the roof. It really is something and Scriptures come alive." Leonor, from France: "I think I really got a grace of seeing in my life the things that I didn't want to see ... I want to share - ask for the grace to find the way to see better what you need to confess and then you will feel so much better after confession." Valentina, from Italy: "If you are tired of your life, if you have a lot of questions, if you are unhappy or you're not able to see the truth or the way, this is my advice: go to Medjugorje, because you will feel and you will receive answers, and you will receive a lot of graces that you cannot imagine. Just trust in Our Lady and she will lead you." James, from England: "As soon as we got to Medjugorje, within no time at all, the fears and anxiety evaporated and I ju

Karen (from Ireland): "My favourite pilgrimage is Knock and I’ve been there four times. Every time I go I just get a sense of peace, like it overwhelms me. I love being there (lthe people are just so nice). I don't know, I can't really express it, but I'm just filled with so much joy." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Lara (from the US): "I think one of the biggest things I took away from the Camino was just a lot of love. I always knew love was important in life but I don't think I realised how important it was until I went on the Camino. The Camino is a very simple way of life, there's not a lot of money involved in it, there's not a lot of materialism at all in it, but those were such happy days because they were filled with love. And I think that I needed that to really show me that life isn't really anything unless you have someone to give love to and then to receive love from." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Marianne (from Germany): "At Taizé, it's just beautiful to participate in community with people and to share a simple life for a week there. You go to pray three times a day, you eat together very simply and you help out with the work. You have Bible study if you want to, a week of silence if you want to, and it feels like home. .. The beauty there is that it's very simple and they don't ask anything of you. You are invited to join the prayers but nobody asks you what you are, who you are, and nobody wants you to proclaim anything, and in that space something can grow." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Anne-Marie (from Ireland): "For me Knock is very special because we would tend to go as a family when I was younger, and we would go every August and we would join the other people who had come on pilgrimage at the end of the summer. .. It's in a really beautiful place where there wasn't very much and it's amazing to think that Our Lady came to somewhere so desolate in the middle of nowhere and lit it all up." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Mary (from England): "I had the experience to see Our Lady's house where she lived on earth - it was so beautiful, I can't explain it. It was such a holy, holy place. To actually see the place where Our Lady experienced the Incarnation, the Angel Gabriel, it's just amazing, it was just so holy there I was emotionally crying with it, it's so beautiful." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Joan (from Ireland): "I remember praying to St James before leaving to have an open heart and really to enter this new decade in my life with the hope of really understanding in my heart this call. I wanted to know for myself personally what this call meant for me and how I could walk this path. And, believe you me, walking every day 20 kms was a very, very good experience, very hard but it was wonderful. It combined many things. It combined suffering, it combined great joy, it combined astonishment at the way things happened. And really what I found on this journey was many other people were coming with something in their heart, some people even didn't know why they were but that there was something that had drawn them … I remember one or two people that I met, that really it struck me how St James is leading people spiritually. They want to enjoy the outdoors and walking, which is so healthy, because it's when we come in contact with nature that it gives our spirit, our soul, our body, time to think, time t

Ben (from England): "I went to Lourdes as a medical student and spent a month there studying the miracles and cures with Alessandro, who's the head doctor there. If you haven't been to Lourdes, basically, about 5 or 6 million people come every year and they come there to pay homage to Our Lady. And also they bring sick people along to pray for a miracle or a cure for themselves. In fact there are 67 miracles which have been officially recognised by the bishop, and there are 7000 miracles which have not been classified by the Church but the medical committee .. believe to be miracles or not explained by science. .. But it's not just the physical miracles which at Lourdes really struck me. It's also the atmosphere there is so encouraging, it's so maternal, it's all centred around Mary, and through Mary to Jesus." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII'

Laura (from England): "I was really blessed to first go to Paray-le-Monial in 2009, and I've been several times after. A really special place and I think because of this grace of Jesus appearing to St Margaret Mary Alacoque and revealing his heart of love, a heart of fire burning for the love of all souls. I've finished praying a novena to the Sacred Heart today, and I suppose asking for that grace to be able to surrender to the love of Jesus, for him to break down the walls of our hearts so we can love like him." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Julian (desde Colombia), en español: ".." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Julian (from Colombia): "I went as a pilgrim to Medjugorje 5 years ago with my fiancé … At the beginning I was sceptical about Medjugorje since in Latin America we never heard about the apparitions. But once I was there, my first impression was to see around 30 cubicles with priests speaking in many languages and receiving people for confession, day after day, hour after hour. That made me realise that if God is calling so many people to conversion and repentance, the work of the Holy Spirit must be in that place and especially the one with Our Lady." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Rafal (from Poland): "Me and my woman come to Rome because we are pilgrims and we do hitchhike all the way. So it was more than 24 hours without sleep on the road and finally we are here! .. That was most important thing for me because I was doing this once again hitchhike to Rome for the beatification of John Paul II. .. You've got lots of time to think, lots of time to wonder about your life, what are you doing, where you're going, to pray. So that's why hitchhiking is very good. If you took a plane it would be 2 hours, with coffee, that's it - you will never remember! But if you doing something more than 24 hours, you will never forget. It will be the best memory of your life ever." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers St 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.

Bria (from the US): "Lourdes was an incredible experience. It is such a place of love, so unique and so different from anywhere else in the world. You have people from all over who’ve journeyed to meet Our Lady and spend time with Our Lord. They’re all helping each other to get there, so that whatever ailment you may have, be it mental, physical, whatever, you can bring it there and people are able to help you. It is such a place of prayer, so peaceful and wonderful, and almost like what the world should be in a way." 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.

Catherine (from England): "I think the thing I liked the most about Lourdes (I’d never been before and I didn’t really know what to expect) was, once I got there, I realised just how much of a holy place it was. You can really, really feel that and you can feel Our Lady’s presence and definiitely just overwhelmed by love." Dante (from the Philippines): "Overall it was a really good experience. I mean it enlightened me how big the Catholic faith is, like how important it is to everyone around the world because I saw a lot of people from different nationalities all joining together as one, under one religion. .. The most amazing part about my time there was the candlelit Mass at night which was amazing because the entire place was just illuminated by just people and their candles." 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.

Father Frankie (from England) went with fellow seminarians to Auschwitz: "We went round on this tour and this tour guide filled us in and ran us up to speed with everything that had happened and the atrocities and the persecutions and the enormity and the horrendous situation of it all. But right at the end, the very last thing she showed us, she said she wanted to show us a cell and this cell she said belongs to a man. It was a true story about a couple of prisoners who had escaped from Auschwitz and the penalty for an escape was that you got everyone into the grounds, all the prisoners, and basically you picked 10 men out at random and starved them to death. This happened and this particular case, she said, one of these men burst into tears and said he had a family and that he couldn't die. And then another man stepped forward and said 'Well, I'll take your place. I'm happy to die instead of you." And she said that man was a priest and he was called Maximilian Kolbe, who went on to become a saint. And in th