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Day 9, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "“How many are your works, O Lord!” (Ps 104, 24). These words of the responsorial psalm evoke gratitude from our hearts and a hymn of praise from our lips. Indeed how many are the works of the Lord, how great are the effects of the Holy Spirit’s action in Confirmation! When this Sacrament is conferred, the words of the psalm are fulfilled among us: “You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth” (Ps 104 30). On the first day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and upon Mary and filled them with his power. Today we remember that moment and we open ourselves again to the gift of that same Holy Spirit. In that Spirit we are baptized. In that Spirit we are confirmed. In that Spirit we are called to share in the mission of Christ. In that Spirit we shall indeed become the People of Pentecost, the apostles of our time. “Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithf

Day 8, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Jesus breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained’.” On that first Pentecost our Saviour gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins when he poured into their hearts the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit comes to you today in the Sacrament of Confirmation, to involve you more completely in the Church’s fight against sin and in her mission of fostering holiness. He comes to dwell more fully in your hearts and to strengthen you for the struggle with evil. My dear young people, the world of today needs you, for it needs men and women who are filled with the Holy Spirit. It needs your courage and hopefulness, your faith and your perseverance. The world of tomorrow will be built by you. Today you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that you may work with deep faith and with abiding charity, so

Day 7, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "I cannot come to the Midlands without remembering that great man of God, that pilgrim for truth, Cardinal John Henry Newman. His quest for God and for the fullness of truth - a sign of the Holy Spirit at work within him - brought him to a prayerfulness and a wisdom which still inspire us today. Indeed Cardinal Newman’s many years of seeking a fuller understanding of the faith reflect his abiding confidence in the words of Christ: “I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive since it neither sees nor knows him” (Jn 14, 16-17). And so I commend to you his example of persevering faith and longing for the truth. He can help you to draw nearer to God, in whose presence he lived, and to whose service he gave himself totally. His teaching has great importance today in our search for Christian unity too, not only in this country

Day 6, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Let me recall for a moment the memory of two great Englishmen who can inspire you today. Study the example of Saint Boniface, born at Crediton in Devon, one of your greatest fellow-countrymen and also one of the Church’s greatest missionaries. And the Holy Spirit, given to Boniface through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, strengthened his personal love for Christ and brought him to a maturity of faith. This faith radiated through his whole life. He longed to share it with others, even with those in other lands. And so, with complete trust in God and with courage and perseverance, he helped to establish the Church on the continent of Europe. You too are strengthened inwardly today by the gift of the Holy Spirit so that each of you, in your own way, can carry the Good News to your companions and friends. You, too, must show courage and perseverance in living by the standards of the Gospel in all the circum

Day 5, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Today you must understand that you are not alone. We are one body, one people, one Church of Christ. The sponsor who stands at your side represents for you the whole community. Together, with a great crowd of witnesses drawn from all peoples and every age, you represent Christ. You are young people who have received a mission from Christ, for he says to you today: “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”" Music: Traditional Arabic Hymn to the Virgin, played by The Seminarians. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers - St John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Day 4, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Christ’s gift of the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon you in a particular way. You will hear the words of the Church spoken over you, calling upon the Holy Spirit to confirm your faith, to seal you in his love, to strengthen you for his service. You will then take your place among fellow-Christians throughout the world, full citizens now of the People of God. You will witness to the truth of the Gospel in the name of Jesus Christ. You will live your lives in such a way as to make holy all human life. Together with all the confirmed, you will become living stones in the cathedral of peace. Indeed you are called by God to be instruments of his peace." Music: Traditional Arabic Hymn to the Virgin, played by The Seminarians. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers - St John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Day 3, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "I would now like to speak especially to the young people who are about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Today’s Gospel has special meaning for you, for it says that Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (Jn 20, 20-22)." Music: Traditional Arabic Hymn to the Virgin, played by The Seminarians. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by our holy fathers - St John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

Day 2, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Yet the cathedral of peace is built of many small stones. Each person has to become a stone in that beautiful edifice. Al people must deliberately and resolutely commit themselves to the pursuit of peace. Mistrust and division between nations begin in the heart of individuals. Work for peace starts when we listen to the urgent call of Christ: “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1, 15). We must turn from domination to service; we must turn from violence to peace; we must turn from ourselves to Christ, who alone can give us a new heart, a new understanding. Each individual, at some moment in his or her life, is destined to hear this call from Christ. Each person’s response leads to death or to life. Faith in Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, will bring us into the way of peace." Music: Traditional Arabic Hymn to the Virgin, played by The Seminarians. Visit Totus2us.com for much more - dedicated to Our Lady, it is

Day 1, Novena for Peace. Extracts from St John Paul II's homily at Pentecost in England, 1982: "Wherever the strong exploit the weak; wherever the rich take advantage of the poor; wherever great powers seek to dominate and to impose ideologies, there the work of making peace is undone; there the cathedral of peace is again destroyed. Today, the scale and the horror of modern warfare - whether nuclear or not - makes it totally unacceptable as a means of settling differences between nations. War should belong to the tragic past, to history; it should find no place on humanity’s agenda for the future. And so, this morning, I invite you to pray with me for the cause of peace. Let us pray earnestly for the Special Session of the United Nations on Disarmament which begins soon. The voices of Christians join with others in urging the leaders of the world to abandon confrontation and to turn their backs on policies which require the nations to spend vast sums of money for weapons of mass destruction. We pray this Pen

Day 9, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: " In the family, faith accompanies all the stages of life, starting with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their parents. This is why it is important that parents cultivate in the family common practices of the faith, which accompany the maturation of the faith of their children. Above all young people, who go through a stage of life so complex, rich and important for their faith, must feel the closeness and attention of the family and of the ecclesial community on their pathway of growth in faith. We have all seen how, at the World Youth Days, young people show the joy of faith, the commitment to live a faith ever firmer and more generous. Young people have the desire for a great life/desire a life that is great. The encounter with Christ, letting oneself be caught and guided by his love, widens the horizon of existence, gives it a solid hope which does not deceive. Faith is not a refuge

Day 8, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: " In the family, faith accompanies all the stages of life, starting with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their parents. This is why it is important that parents cultivate in the family common practices of the faith, which accompany the maturation of the faith of their children. Above all young people, who go through a stage of life so complex, rich and important for their faith, must feel the closeness and attention of the family and of the ecclesial community on their pathway of growth in faith. We have all seen how, at the World Youth Days, young people show the joy of faith, the commitment to live a faith ever firmer and more generous. Young people have the desire for a great life/desire a life that is great. The encounter with Christ, letting oneself be caught and guided by his love, widens the horizon of existence, gives it a solid hope which does not deceive. Faith is not a refuge

Day 7, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "Two other elements are essential to/in the faithful transmission of the memory of the Church. First, the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father. In it the Christian learns to share in the same spiritual experience as Christ and begins to see with the eyes of Christ. Starting from the One who is Light from Light, from the Only Begotten Son of the Father, we too know God and can light in others the desire to draw near to Him. Just as important is the connection between faith and the Decalogue. Faith, we have said, appears like a pathway, a road to be taken/followed/tread, open to the encounter with the living God. For this reason, to the light of faith, of total entrustment to God who saves, the Decalogue acquires its deepest truth, contained in the words which introduce the ten commandments: I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of the land of Egypt" (Ex 20, 2). The Decalogue is not a set of negative prec

Day 5, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "Christian faith, inasmuch as it proclaims the truth of God's total love and opens to the power of this love, arrives at the deepest centre of the experience of every man, who comes to the light thanks to love and is called to love so as to remain in the light. Motivated by a desire to illuminate the whole of reality starting from the love of God made manifest in Jesus, in seeking to love with this same love, the first Christians found in the Greek world, with its hunger for truth, a suitable partner for dialogue. The encounter of the Gospel message with the philosophical thought of the ancient world constituted a decisive passage for the Gospel to come to all peoples, and encouraged a fruitful interaction between faith and reason, which went on developing through the centuries, down to the present day. Blessed John Paul II, in his encyclical Letter Fides et ratio, showed how faith and reason each strengt

Day 4, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "If love needs truth, truth also needs love. Love and truth cannot be separated. Without love, the truth becomes cold, impersonal, oppressive for the concrete life of the person. The truth which we seek, that which offers meaning to our steps, illuminates us when we are touched by love. The one who loves understands that love is an experience of truth, that it opens our eyes to see all of reality in a new way, in union with the person loved. On this meaning, Saint Gregory the Great wrote that "amore ipse notitia est", love itself is a knowledge, bears with it a new logic. It is a relational way of looking at the world, that becomes shared knowledge, a vision in the vision of another and a common vision upon all things. William of Saint Thierry, in the Middle Ages, follows this tradition when he comments on a verse in the Song of Songs in which love says to the beloved: Your eyes are the eyes of a dove (cf

Day 3, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "Now, the death of Christ reveals the total reliability of God's love in the light of his Resurrection. As the risen one, Christ is the reliable witness, worthy of faith (cf Ap 1, 5; Heb 2, 17), the solid support for our faith. "If Christ is not risen, your faith is in vain", affirms St Paul (1 Cor 15, 17). If the Father's love had not made Jesus rise from the dead, if it had not been able to restore life to his body, then it would not be a fully reliable love, capable of illuminating even the darkness of death. When St Paul speaks of his new life in Christ, he refers to "faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). This "faith in the Son of God" is certainly the faith of the Apostle of the gentiles in Jesus, but also presupposes the reliability of Jesus, which is based, yes, on his love even unto death, but also in his being the Son of God. Precisely because Jesus is the Son

Day 2, Novena to Mary, Mother of our faith. Quote from Papa Francisco's encyclical on faith, Lumen Fidei: "Faith opens the pathway before us and accompanies our steps in history. This is why, if we want to understand what faith is, we must recount its course, the way of believers, testified in the first place in the Old Testament. A unique place belongs to Abraham, our father in faith. In his life an overwhelming fact happens: God gives him the Word, reveals himself as a God who speaks and who calls him by name.Faith is linked to hearing. Abraham does not see God, but hears his voice. In this way faith assumes a personal character. God is thus not the God of a place, nor the God tied to a specific sacred time, but the God of a person, (indeed) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, capable of entering into contact with man and establishing with him a covenant. Faith is the response to a Word which summons personally, to a You who calls us by name." Music performed by seminarians Daniel Weatherley and John Watts

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 su

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.