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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

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 pr

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 h

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

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,

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.

Day 9, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Papa Benedetto. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "From the Cross you became a mother in a new way: the mother of all those who believe in your Son Jesus and wish to follow him. The sword of sorrow pierced your heart. Did hope die? Did the world remain definitively without light, and life without purpose? At that moment, deep down, you probably listened again to the word spoken by the angel in answer to your fear at the time of the Annunciation: “Do not be afraid, Mary!” How many times had the Lord, your Son, said the same thing to his disciples: do not be afraid! In your heart, you heard this word again during the night of Golgotha. Before the hour of his betrayal he had said to his disciples: “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” “Do not be afraid, Mary!” In that hour at Nazareth the angel had also said to you: “Of his kingdom there will be no end.” Could i

Day 8, Novena Prayer by Papa Benedetto to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope: "What does Mary tell the city? Of what does her presence remind us? It reminds us that "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rom 5: 20), as the Apostle Paul wrote. She is the Immaculate Mother who tells people in our day too: Do not be afraid, Jesus has defeated evil, he has uprooted it, delivering us from its rule. How great is our need of this good news! Every day, in fact, in the newspapers, on television and on the radio bad news is broadcast, repeated, amplified, so that we become used to the most terrible things and inured to them, and in a certain way poisoned, since the negative effect is never completely eliminated but accumulates day after day. The heart hardens and thoughts grow gloomy. For this reason, the city needs Mary whose presence speaks of God, reminds us of the victory of Grace over sin and leads us to hope, even in the most difficult human situations. In the city invisible people live or survive who ever

Day 8, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "Christians likewise can and must constantly learn from the strict rejection of images that is contained in God's first commandment (cf Ex 20:4). The truth of negative theology was highlighted by the Fourth Lateran Council, which explicitly stated that however great the similarity that may be established between Creator and creature, the dissimilarity between them is always greater. In any case, for the believer the rejection of images cannot be carried so far that one ends up, as Horkheimer and Adorno would like, by saying “no” to both theses — theism and atheism. God has given himself an “image”: in Christ who was made man. In him who was crucified, the denial of false images of God is taken to an extreme. God now reveals his true face in the figure of the sufferer who shares man's God-forsaken condition by taking it upon himself. This innocent sufferer has attained the certitude of hope: there is a God,

Day 7, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Papa Benedetto. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "To suffer with the other and for others; to suffer for the sake of truth and justice; to suffer out of love and in order to become a person who truly loves — these are fundamental elements of humanity, and to abandon them would destroy man himself. Yet once again the question arises: are we capable of this? Is the other important enough to warrant my becoming, on his account, a person who suffers? Does truth matter to me enough to make suffering worthwhile? Is the promise of love so great that it justifies the gift of myself? In the history of humanity, it was the Christian faith that had the particular merit of bringing forth within man a new and deeper capacity for these kinds of suffering that are decisive for his humanity. The Christian faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities. It has shown us that God — Truth and

Day 6, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Papa Benedetto. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer. When no one listens to me any more, God still listens to me. When I can no longer talk to anyone or call upon anyone, I can always talk to God. When there is no longer anyone to help me deal with a need or expectation that goes beyond the human capacity for hope, he can help me. When I have been plunged into complete solitude ...; if I pray I am never totally alone. The late Cardinal Nguyen Van Thuan, a prisoner for 13 years, 9 of them spent in solitary confinement, has left us a precious little book: Prayers of Hope. During 13 years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope — to that great hope which does not wane even in the

Day 5, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Papa Benedetto. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "In this sense it is true that anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2:12). Man's great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues to love us “to the end,” until all “is accomplished” (cf. Jn 13:1 and 19:30). Whoever is moved by love begins to perceive what “life” really is. He begins to perceive the meaning of the word of hope that we encountered in the Baptismal Rite: from faith I await “eternal life”—the true life which, whole and unthreatened, in all its fullness, is simply life. Jesus, who said that he had come so that we might have life and have it in its fullness, in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10), has also explained to us what “life” means: “this is eternal life, that they know

Day 4, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Papa Benedetto. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "As far as the two great themes of “reason” and “freedom” are concerned, here we can only touch upon the issues connected with them. Yes indeed, reason is God's great gift to man, and the victory of reason over unreason is also a goal of the Christian life. But when does reason truly triumph? When it is detached from God? When it has become blind to God? Is the reason behind action and capacity for action the whole of reason? If progress, in order to be progress, needs moral growth on the part of humanity, then the reason behind action and capacity for action is likewise urgently in need of integration through reason's openness to the saving forces of faith, to the differentiation between good and evil. Only thus does reason become truly human. It becomes human only if it is capable of directing the will along the right path, and it is capable of this only if it looks beyond itsel

Day 3, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Blessed John Paul II. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "I think that in this very precise and permanently valid way, Augustine is describing man's essential situation, the situation that gives rise to all his contradictions and hopes. In some way we want life itself, true life, untouched even by death; yet at the same time we do not know the thing towards which we feel driven. We cannot stop reaching out for it, and yet we know that all we can experience or accomplish is not what we yearn for. This unknown “thing” is the true “hope” which drives us, and at the same time the fact that it is unknown is the cause of all forms of despair and also of all efforts, whether positive or destructive, directed towards worldly authenticity and human authenticity. The term “eternal life” is intended to give a name to this known “unknown”. Inevitably it is an inadequate term that creates confusion. “Eternal”, in fact, suggests to us the idea

Day 2, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Blessed John Paul II. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "The First Letter to the Corinthians (1:18-31) tells us that many of the early Christians belonged to the lower social strata, and precisely for this reason were open to the experience of new hope, as we saw in the example of Bakhita. Yet from the beginning there were also conversions in the aristocratic and cultured circles, since they too were living “without hope and without God in the world”. Myth had lost its credibility; the Roman State religion had become fossilized into simple ceremony which was scrupulously carried out, but by then it was merely “political religion”. Philosophical rationalism had confined the gods within the realm of unreality. The Divine was seen in various ways in cosmic forces, but a God to whom one could pray did not exist. Paul illustrates the essential problem of the religion of that time quite accurately when he contrasts life “according to C

Day 1, Novena to Mary Immaculate, Star of Hope. Prayer by Blessed John Paul II. Quote from Benedict XVI's encyclical on hope, Spe Salvi: "We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were “without God” and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing): so says an epitaph of that period. In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making. In the same

Day 9, Novena to Bl John Paul II - Pope Benedict XVI, at JPII's beatification: ""In his Testament, the new Blessed wrote: “When, on 16 October 1978, the Conclave of Cardinals chose John Paul II, the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, said to me: ‘The task of the new Pope will be to lead the Church into the Third Millennium’”. And the Pope added: “I would like once again to express my gratitude to the Holy Spirit for the great gift of the Second Vatican Council, to which, together with the whole Church – and especially with the whole episcopate – I feel indebted. I am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to draw from the treasures that this Council of the twentieth century has lavished upon us. As a Bishop who took part in the Council from the first to the last day, I desire to entrust this great patrimony to all who are and will be called in the future to put it into practice. For my part, I thank the Eternal Shepherd, who has enabled me to serve this very great cause in th

Day 8, Novena to Bl John Paul II - Pope Benedict XVI, at JPII's beatification: "Today’s second reading also speaks to us of faith. Saint Peter himself, filled with spiritual enthusiasm, points out to the newly-baptized the reason for their hope and their joy. I like to think how in this passage, at the beginning of his first Letter, Peter does not use language of exhortation; instead, he states a fact. He writes: “you rejoice”, and he adds: “you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for youare receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet 1:6, 8-9). All these verbs are in the indicative, because a new reality has come about in Christ’s resurrection, a reality to which faith opens the door. “This is the Lord’s doing”, says the Psalm (118:23), and “it is marvelous in our eyes”, the eyes of faith. Dear brothers and sisters, today our eyes behold, in the full spiritual light of the risen Christ, the belov

Day 7, Novena to Bl John Paul II - Pope Benedict XVI, at JPII's beatification: "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” (Jn 20:29). In today’s Gospel Jesus proclaims this beatitude: the beatitude of faith. For us, it is particularly striking because we are gathered to celebrate a beatification, but even more so because today the one proclaimed blessed is a Pope, a Successor of Peter, one who was called to confirm his brethren in the faith. John Paul II is blessed because of his faith, a strong, generous and apostolic faith. We think at once of another beatitude: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven” (Mt 16:17). What did our heavenly Father reveal to Simon? That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of this faith, Simon becomes Peter, the rock on which Jesus can build his Church. The eternal beatitude of John Paul II, which today the Church rejoices to proclaim, is wholly contained in these s

Day 6, Novena to Bl John Paul II - Cardinal Ratzinger, at JPII's funeral: "Divine Mercy: the Holy Father found the purest reflection of God’s mercy in the Mother of God. He, who at an early age had lost his own mother, loved his divine mother all the more. He heard the words of the crucified Lord as addressed personally to him: "Behold your Mother." And so he did as the beloved disciple did: he took her into his own home" (eis ta idia: Jn 19:27) – Totus tuus. And from the mother he learned to conform himself to Christ." 'Blessed are you, beloved Pope John Paul II, because you believed! Continue, we implore you, to sustain from heaven the faith of God's people.' 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 - Totus 2us.