Man For Others - Totus2us

Fr James Mary, from Nigeria: "I have discovered that my priesthood has been influenced by Our Lady. I have a particular devotion to her and any time I’m in a problem, I run to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And I also believe so much in divine providence. Believing in divine providence means that when things are hard, when there are no resources or talents around, God will always provide. .. What makes the priest is spirituality and conformity with the grace of God and the divine will. The priestly life is not a life of what makes our pleasure or riches, it is a life of following Christ, in accordance with Philippians ch 2 v 5-11: ‘Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not consider himself equal to God. He stripped himself of all human dignity and became obedient unto death. For this reason God has exulted him and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.’ So no matter whatever problems that come before us in the priestly life, we must revert back and move closer to Jesus on our knees, through inter

Andrew, a seminarian from the United States: "So God had put Father Nick in my life a year earlier so that when He called my to priesthood I’d be able to respond and feel open to talking to this priest about my vocation." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed 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.

Fr Andrew, Catholic chaplain at St Andrew's University in Scotland: "I remember Pope John Paul II’s visit to Great Britain in 1982 and in the preparation for that visit in the parish (I was only 14 at the time), the great slogan was ‘Saying Yes to God.’ But my experience with my calling and my vocation was not so much saying yes to God but giving in to God, 'Ok God, I'll do this.' God had been calling me for a long, long time, and He just needed to have me in that right place, in that right time, where I would have enough courage and enough trust in Him to say 'Ok God.' So I would say that saying yes to God is one thing, but there's also that giving in to God, handing everything over to God, and once you hand that over to Him, He takes control and He leads you." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Ephrem, originally from Eritrea, brought up in Ethiopia and now chaplain to the Eritrean Catholic Gheez-Rite community in London: "I’m really happy that the Lord has called me. The greatest gift for every priest, I think, is his calling. You are no better than anyone else but the Lord calls you, you follow Him and that gives you joy beyond explanation really." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Padre José Manuel, sacerdote de las Siervas de Jesús, de México. En español. Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Padre José Manuel, sacerdote dei Servi di Gesù, dal Messico. In italiano. Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Peter, a priest of the Congregation of St Michael the Archangel, from Poland: "At the beginning I didn't know too much about St Michael but because of my vocation to the congregation, the angels became very close to me and I got to know a lot about the angels, especially about St Michael the Archangel. And I didn't know too much about vows, of chastity, poverty and obedience, I just wanted to become a priest, to answer to the call of Jesus, to serve other people, but when I was in my novitiate it came to me that I must take my vows. But I understood how great is this grace: to have Jesus as a part of you, as your second part. So I discovered what it means practically to have the vocation to religious life and every day I thank Jesus for it and I ask Him that I may be faithful till the end of my life. Because there are 2 things: to be called by Jesus, to have a vocation, and then to be faithful to the end of your vocation. So I ask for prayer because St Faustina said that the devil attacks the priests twice

Ojciec Piotr, ksiądz ze Zgromadzenia św Michała Archanioła, z Polski, w języku polskim. Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Edmund, from Ghana: "I've never regretted one day or one moment in my life of being a priest. I've always enjoyed my priesthood and I know that I will always enjoy it because I live it one day at a time: "Every day, God, you give me another day. Do you still trust in me? I don't trust in myself but I know that you know what you have the day for. Never permit me to separate myself from you. Grant that I will love you always and then do with me what you want.' That has been my daily prayer, and one of the things that I tell myself always is that I did not create myself, the priesthood is a gift not for me but for the Church, and not because I did anything to earn it, but it's God that gave it to the Church and I am just his instrument, so I live one day at a time. So that's my story. To God be the glory for the great things He has done. I pray that every day I will do his will and may his will be accomplished in my life. Amen." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Bl

Fr Phillip, a diocesan priest from England, describes how God led him by small steps along his road to the priesthood: "God works with all our unworthiness and through his wonderful grace can actually work and bring new life into the world, new hope into the world. So I thank God every day for the journey he's taken me through, the journey that I'm still on and which He's leading me on. I pray for all you who might listen to this podcast that you will have the trust in the Lord that He will guide your little steps towards Hiw own purpose, His own will in your life and His will for the life of the world too." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr David, a Sacred Heart father in the Irish province, describes how working at a retreat centre during his GAP year with the Sacred Heart Fathers, changed the direction of his life: "I believe that God's plan will continue to unfold, a plan that He's had from the beginning of time and He is drawing me along a very exciting, life-giving adventure and I'm really looking forward to that with great hope. I thank God every day for my life and I seek now to help people to understand that God has a plan for each of them, it's not necessarily priesthood but it's a very clear plan, and so I hope and pray that they find that, anyone listening will find their plan, God's plan for them, and seek to respond with generosity and with joy." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Bert, a member of The Spiritual Family the Work, talks of his road to the priesthood, which included a pilgrimage to Medjugorje in 1989 where, aged 35, he went to confession for the first time in many years: "A profession you choose yourself, a vocation is something that comes from God. I did not make the decision to be a priest, God did. I wanted to be an engineer but God wanted me as a priest. And I only had to say 'Yes. Yes God, I will do your will, I follow your way' and then He gives the strength for it; Day by day, not in advance, years before. No. He gives His light, His graces, His strength at the moment you need it. And we have to go day by day His way, to hear His voice, to go His ways, work with the graces you're given at the moment, and in that you can far, far overcome yourself, because He wants it. And He doesn't want us to make borders, 'I can't get over that'. When God wants it, He asks only to jump over that border and go further in Him, with Him, and that is special for the priesthood, so

Fr Philip, the diocesan youth chaplain for Lancaster in the UK, has chose Blessed JPII as his Man for Others: "John Paul II really, really inspired me at World Youth Day in Rome and I suppose in my journey to be a priest, he helped me to understand how actually priesthood isn't just something we do for God, or that we've got to sacrifice my life for the Lord, it's a gift. When I came to understand it as a gift, it transformed everything; when you realise something is a gift, you learn how to receive and this changes your whole attitude. It's not something you do for God, it's something God is doing for you; He chose us; we didn't choose Him, He chose us and we respond. John Paul II helped me to understand how it's a real mystery we're entering into and a really amazing privilege to participate in Jesus' life today and to make His life present, and to continue to receive this as a gift." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI.

Doug, from the United States, talks of the witness given by his parish priest who 'raditated the joy of Christ', and of how the Sacrament of Confession was central to his vocation story: "When the priest was giving me absolution, I just felt the really intense call to the priesthood. It was the most powerful I had ever felt God in my life, and I just knew it was from Him, and I had to answer the call even though I had a lot of fears about celibacy and loneliness. I just knew I had to follow His call because He's God and He really cares for me. So, after answering the call, I've come to realise a lot more joy in the priesthood in following the Lord's will." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr Charles, from England, who has been a Benedictine monk for over 60 years: "I've always wanted to be a priest, ever since I can remember as a boy, quite young, and probably due to my uncle, who was a Benedictine priest who was good friends with his sister, my mother. But of course I owe a great deal also to many other Benedictine monks ... Well of course I've learnt a great deal since those very early childhood days, when I clearly hadn't taken on board, in fact not until fairly recently really, that the vocation of a priest is to be another Christ, alter Christus, to act 'in persona Christi', in the person of Christ, offering the sacrifice of the Mass. So it should involve and must involve sacrifice and one should welcome suffering. But I'm afraid I don't welcome suffering - I hope I accept it when it comes. It's the same as the will of God. The rule of St Benedict can be summed up I think in the word obedience, or listen, if you like. The first word of the rule of St Benedict is listen, in other words lis

Fr Austin, a Dominican priest from the USA: "I started thinking about being a priest when I was 10 years old, because in my home parish there was a young priest who came and I started serving Mass, and the witness of his life, the way that he said Mass, the reverance with which he said Mass, the way that he dealt with people just really struck me and I just had this very deep sense that that's what I wanted to do when I grew up, that I wanted to be just like him. It took me almost 20 years later, when I was actually ordained a priest, to actually understand what that meant. On the day I was ordained I had about 80 people ask me 'Do you feel any different?' And, to be quite honest, the answer was no, I didn't feel different. But I knew that something was different because everyone from my mum and dad to complete strangers I met that day, treated me differently because I was a priest, because they knew that I'd been ordained for them, that I'd been set aside by God, to serve God and to serve his Church and to s

Fr Tom, from England, on Canon Liam O'Driscoll: "I think for me being with someone who'd been a priest for so long (he celebrated while I was therehis 50 years of priesthood), just still had this incredible energy and this incredible joy in his ministry and just a real vibrancy about him, really encouraged me, who was just on my way to priesthood. I think it really encouraged me to see the heart of priesthood, to see that heart founded in Jesus. As St Jean-Marie Vianney says, the priest is the heart of Jesus for the world, open to the world. I think that was something I saw very real, in a very simple way, in Canon Liam and something that really inspired me in my own journey to priesthood." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Br Reginald, from the USA and a Dominican brother studying for the priesthood in Washington, talks about his own patron in religious life, Blessed Reginald of Orleans, and the function of Marian devotion in the mission and life of the Order of Friar Preachers: "Blessed Reginald was one of the first Dominicans, a companion of St Dominic, and received a special grace from the Blessed Mother - he actually received what we call the scapular of our habit from the Blessed Mother herself (which is the large rectangular white piece which hangs on the front and the back of the Dominican habit), as a sign of protection and motherly affection from the Blessed Mother. Blessed Reginald received this grace on what would have been his deathbed; he was about to enter the Order and fell deathly ill, but instead of dying St Dominic prayed for him and he received a special grace and was healed, by the intercession of Mary. At this instance Mary showed him the full habit which included the scapular .. So when Dominicans wear the

Fr Neil, a parish priest from England: "One day my spiritual director asked me a question and that was: "Have you ever thought of being a priest?"Well the answer was, "Yes, I had", but no-one had ever asked me, until then. And of course it was as if the flood gates opened and I said yes, and from then on the rest is my own history because I began to follow God more closely in the way of a vocation to the priesthood... Here was God calling me through one man, a priest." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Fr José Alberto, a parish priest from Spain: "From this parish have come 10 priests. It has also been an experience of brotherhood among us; I can rely on them on my 10 friends. In the life of a priest it is a very important thing to have other priests as your brothers. .. I think we are not supermen, we are very ordinary people. That is what amazes me is that God has chosen us to be priests. I have discovered along the years that God knows me better than I know myself, he knows me very well and even though he knows how I am, God has chosen me." Music by Mike Mangione. For much more, visit Totus2us.com which is inspired by Blessed John Paul II and Papa Benedict XVI. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.