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 Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Totus Tuus (All Yours) was JPII's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

To be a Pilgrim

Santiago de Compostela, Spain - Pilgrim: Mimi - Totus2us

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 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.

Lourdes, France - Pilgrim: Freya - Totus2us

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.

Camino from Le Puy - Pilgrim: Lucy - 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 places that we are." 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.

New Zealand - Pilgrim: Cameron - Totus2us

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.

Fatima, Portugal - Pilgrim: Maria-Anna -on 100th anniversary of miracle of the sun - 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 just found myself full of a lot of joy and peace and love and I found that there was a real tangible love amongst the group. It was a miracle. I think it was a real anointing that Our Lady gave us, we were just like this one family. Some of us didn't even know each other before but there was just such a closeness, a bond." Matthew, from the UK: "For me on this trip I saw that peace that I could have and I realised that forgiveness is really for me the way that I can at last finally open my heart to God, to have no reservations, no boundaries or inhibitions for Him. If I'm closed off, if I can't forgive my brother or sister, how can God enter that bit. So I did! .. Ever since, peace at last has been upon me." Rebecca, from London: "When you go to Medjugorje, you see lines and lines of people going to confession and I just thought 'I just have to go' and honestly I was saying things I never thought I would ever confess, just telling everything, and the love and forgiveness I felt .. it was incredible. I really feel like I've had a conversion." Karol, from London: "I don't know quite what it is about Medjugorje but it just leaves a smile on your face. For those that haven't gone, go, because it's something you have got to experience for yourselves. You can't read about it or watch on youtube or whatever. You have to go and have the personal experience of God." 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.

Medjugorje - Pilgrims: Janet, Leonor, Valentina, James, Matthew, Rebecca and Karol - Totus2us

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.

Knock, Ireland - Pilgrim: Karen -on Feast of Our Lady of Knock - 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.

El Camino from Pamplona, Spain - Pilgrim: Lara -on Our Lady's birthday - 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.

Taizé, France - Pilgrim: Marianne -on Feast of Our Lady, Queen of Heaven - 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.

Knock, Ireland - Pilgrim: Anne-Marie -on Feast of Our Lady of Knock - 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.

Nazareth in the Holy Land - Pilgrim: Mary -on Feast of Our Lady's birthday - 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 to be, time to experience just the every day toil of tiredness, of hunger, of thirst, and the joy of being with people. But when you met people on the way, on this walk, you really didn't talk about superficial things. You'd certainly say hello and where do you come from, but people really very quickly spoke from the heart." 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.

El Camino to Santiago de Compostela in Spain - Pilgrim: Joan -on Feast of St James the Apostle - Totus2us

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's motto to Mary. Our Lady is also everything to us - Totus2us.

Lourdes, France - Pilgrim: Ben -on Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Totus2us

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.

Paray-le-Monial, France - Pilgrim: Laura - 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.

Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina - Peregrino: Julian -el 33 º aniversario de las apariciones de Nuestra Señora - Totus2us

Pilgrims tell their tales of pilgrimage: along Il Camino to Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, to the Holy Land, Lourdes, Guadalupe, Częstochowa, Divine Mercy Shrine Krakow, Medjugorje, Paray-le-Monial, St Davids, to the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania and Chapel on the Rock in the USA. St JPII at World Youth Day 1989 / JMJ Compostela: "Pilgrimage has a very deep spiritual significance.. In the world today there is a revival of the practice of going on pilgrimage, especially among the youth. Today, you are among those more inclined to experience a pilgrimage as a "way" to interior renewal, to a deepening of faith, a strengthening of the sense of communion and solidarity and as a help in discovering your personal vocation." St JPII was a pilgrim to 129 different countries on 104 apostolic voyages: "Each trip made by the Pope is 'an authentic pilgrimage to the living sanctuary of the People of God... the Pilgrim-Pope feels at home everywhere, even 'among strangers'." Music by Olen Cesari. For much more, visit Totus2us.com - dedicated to Our Lady, it is inspired by Saint John Paul II, Papa Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

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To be a Pilgrim

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