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IRAQ - العراق

Here below are responses to Totus2us podcasts given by Iraqis
- many thanks to you all    ♥

To download the free mp3 Totus2us audio recordings, right/double click on the play buttons.
لتحميل مجانا mp3 Totus2us التسجيلات الصوتية، والحق / النقر المزدوج على أزرار اللعب

Prayer for Iraq

God of refuge and mercy,
we pray for the people of Iraq,
for all those whose lives have been shattered and are living in fear.
We pray for an end to the brutality of persecution,
for a renewal of tolerance and mutual respect
amongst the different peoples and faiths of this ancient land.
We pray especially for the Christian community,
for those who have died and for those forced from their homes,
that they may find safe sanctuary and
be strengthened in hope. Amen.

...

Andrew      

"Mary is beautiful."

Cummar      

"Mary for me is everything, is my life. I'm always trusting her and every day, she's in my prayer every day."

Cummar gives her something about Mary in English & Aramaic.

Fadia      

"I see Mariam as a pure, beautiful lady who I always tend to go back to whenever I feel the need to cry out to my Mum. I always pray for her to protect me and bless me and be near me and guide me."

Fadia gives her something about Mary in English & Arabic.

James      

"I believe with our Catholic faith that Mary is our mother, she is the mother of all of us. Through her prayers and intervention with her Son, our Lord and Saviour Christ, she gives us as freely as we receive all the time from the Lord. And I had an experience back home witnessing the Virgin Mary in one of churches in the north of the country and she healed me from a physical illness, and the consultants and doctors back home confirmed that I was healed completely from that illness. She's wonderful in the way that she gives us the comfort that we do when we trust in her and most importantly we trust in her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and through her prayers we are granted all the graces that Christ granted to us of peace, joy, glory, strength, happiness and love."

James is an Assyrian & gives his response in English & Aramaic.

Maijadh      

"I believe the Blessed Lady is the Queen for peace and for the Church. I love her! I pray to her every day the rosary, every day, I never miss the rosary, my rosary, for all the world, for all the church, for all peace in the world, for all families, for all people. I believe her, at all times she's with us. Thanks be to God!"

Maijadh gives her something about Maria in English & Aramaic.

Mariam       

"I feel the Virgin Mary is like a ray of hope and a ray of light to me coz, whenever I'm down or sad or I get low sometimes, a Hail Mary or a prayer to her always lifts me up and says that my good mother is always looking after me, and that she will be like a mother and protect me and guide me. So the Virgin Mary is very special. She always gives me hope and grace, and I hope she can do that for you as well. Whether you say a Hail Mary or just think about her and ask for her help, I'm sure she'll be there for you and listen to your needs and to your prayers and give you a mother's affection, which is like no other."

Incredible St Padre Pio of Pietrelcina      

"Padre Pio really gives me hope even when we are hopeless. And he always said ‘Pray, hope and don’t worry. God is merciful and He will hear your prayer.” So I always carry these words with me and I remember them whenever I feel like my life is a bit torn. So those are miraculous words really for the heart and I hope you can take them with you as well: 'Pray, hope and don't worry. God is merciful and He will hear your prayer.'"

Nafi      

"Mary is everything  ... She’s our mother, the mother of all."

Nafi gives his شيء ما عن ماري in English & Arabic.

Nagham       

"Mary, she's everything in my life. She has always supported me and I can't live without praying the rosary, and showing her how much I love her, and showing Jesus Christ how much he is more than my Saviour."

Nagham gives her شيء حول ماري in English & Arabic.

Stephanie      

"Mary forgives my sins and helps me not to sin."

Wisam      

"For us Iraqis, Iraqi Christians, Mary means a lot to us . She’s our mother, our true mother. We love her so much. She’s the bridge to Jesus. We go always to her and through her to Jesus. She doesn’t keep anything for herself, she's very humble. So when you go to her she'll always lead you to Jesus and from Jesus in the Spirit to God the Father."

TOP CHAT about Aid to the Church in Need's trip to Northern Iraq in September 2016, the genocide there and the hope of the people      

Father Dominic Robinson SJ: "They cannot stay in the refugee camps in Erbil forever. They want to go back to Mosul, to Qaraqosh, to the little villages in the Nineveh plains where in August 2014 they were driven out. What we encountered there, with these people, with the clergy, with the government officials who we met as well in the Kurdistan regional government, was above all hope. And this always is a surprise .. When you actually meet people who in the most terrible situations  in which they've been separated from their families, from their careers, children's education has been disrupted ... and you hear people say 'We want to stay here. This is our homeland. Christianity has been here since the time of St Thomas and it's our country and we want to go back to our homes and practice our Catholic faith or our Orthodox faith or the religious minorities in the coutnry, Yasidis, Turkmen, these other groups, 'We want to practice our faith in freedom', then it affects you. You realise that this is something that you've got to take back. That there is something deep within these people in the most tragic of circumstances which is driving them on. So that was what the trip was really about.  ....  The sooner that we can have the international community be clear that what has happened, especially since 2014 but which has been building up since Saddam Hussein fell in 2003, to be clear that this is a genocide, it is on religious grounds, then the sooner we can start rebuilding."

If you'd like to give Our Lady a bunch of flowers by saying your something about Mary,
please, pretty please, do get in touch with the Totus2us team

- as well as hopefully bringing you joy,
you'd really be helping Totus2us   ♥

Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.
Accipio te in mea omnia. Praebe mihi cor tuum, Maria. - St Louis de Montfort

Saint John Paul II took his motto Totus Tuus from this quote.

"I am totally yours and all that I have is yours.
I accept you for my all. O Mary, give me your heart.”

Pope Benedict XVI's Message for the Funeral Mass of the Victims
of the Terrorist Attack on the Syro-Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad, 2 November 2010
- in English, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish

To Archbishop Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka
Archbishop of Baghdad of the Republic of Iraq for the Syro-Catholics

Deeply shocked by the violent death of so many faithful and of Frs Tha'ir Saad and Boutros Wasim, I desire, on this occasion of the Sacred Rite of the funerals, to be spiritually present, by praying that these brothers and sisters may be welcomed by the merciful Christ to the House of the Father.

For many years, this beloved country has suffered unspeakable hardship and Christians have also become an object of heinous attacks with total lack of respect for life, the inviolable gift of God, desiring to undermine trust and civil coexistence.

I renew my Appeal so that the sacrifice of these brothers and sisters of ours may be a seed of peace and true rebirth, and because many have reconciliation at heart, brotherly and supportive coexistence, so that they may find reason and the strength to do good.

Dear brothers, sisters and children, I willingly extend my Apostolic Blessing to the wounded and to your families so gravely tried.

BENEDICT XVI