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The United Kingdom

Responses to Totus2us podcasts given by Brits with Christian names beginning with E - many thanks to you all       ♥

Father Ed Tomlinson      

"Today's the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, calling us to prayer for Christian unity. Why this connection between Mary's appearance in Britain and Christian unity? Because Our Lady's appearance was not accidental but a moment of grace and the start of a chain of events connected to England's conversion which involves, I believe, the implementation of the ordinariate in our day. To better understand, let us travel back together to the day it all started. The year is 1061 and, under a Catholic banner, England is known as Our Lady's dowry and its flourishing like never before. This was a great golden era, a time of renewal: cathedrals are built, churches are erected and they're going to define the landscape for so many different generations. Catholic devotion suits the English people and it leads to a great cultural flowering, producing in my opinion the greatest art, music and architecture that this land has ever seen. And in a tiny Norfolk village we find a noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches, deep in prayer. To her amazement, the Blessed Virgin appears to her in a vision 3 times, instructing Richeldis to build a replica of the Holy House of Nazareth. Richeldis undertakes this work with obedience and soon a spring of living water is unearthed. Once built, the priory shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham became the beating heart of Catholic England. From all over Europe people flocked, to be healed, to pray, to receive the sacraments, to give devotion to the Lord. Peasants and kings were equal here, in this place of profound grace, miracle and favour."

Fr Ed has also given 3 2us on Blessed John Henry Newman      

"Newman declared that he would not convert, that he couldn't convert, until someone walked barefoot from Rome to convert him. Elsewhere in Italy and because God has a sense of humour, another inspirational character, Bl Dominic Barberi, was praying for England with a truly missionary heart. He had received visions from Our Lady and told he must love this nation, which he came to do. And so, with barely a word of English, he approached the Vatican, asking permission to establish a Passionist order in this place. On a bleak October day, this rather shabby little monk arrived at Folkestone in what is probably comical attire. Having corresponded with Newman some years previously, he decided to make for Oxford and as he entered Newman's lodgings, soaked from the rain of a terrible storm and with his sandals removed, Newman realised with incredible awe that the Holy Spirit was at work. Here he was, Newman, and he was facing one who had come barefoot from Rome. Newman fell to his knees and there at the hands of Blessed Dominic he was received into the holy Catholic Church."

Father Ed Tomlinson is a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Eddie      

"A word about Our Lady - wow, amazing, beautiful, beyond, and the love for everybody. Doesn't matter who you are, it really does not matter who you are, she loves us. Amen."

Edmund       

"For me Our Lady is the intercessor that carries the prayers that I have for my family."

Edward     

World Youth Day Madrid 2012: "It was such a fantastic experience to see all these young people here for the Pope, here for the Church, here for Jesus, here for the universal Church. There were so many translation barriers but we all had in common: adoration, the Mass, the rosary, the set prayers, praise and worship songs. This was our language, this was the language of the Catholic Church and it was just fantastic to see."

Edward      

"When I think of Our Lady, I think of her in terms of the Hail Mary: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God’."

Edwin      

Isaiah, 46 - From the beginning I foretold the future and predicted beforehand what is to be. I say 'My purpose shall last, I will do whatever I choose. No sooner is it said than done, no sooner planned than performed. Listen to me, faint hearts, who feel far from victory, I bring my victory near, already it is close. My salvation will not be late.
- "It reminds me that everything that happens in my life is part of a plan that God has given me and that His victory is near at hand. So when my heart is faint, I know that he is bringing his victory near to me."

Eileen      

"Just to say thank you to Our Lady for all the gifts and blessings she has bestowed on me after I say a prayer to her."

Eileen      

"Jesus’s mother was Mary and my mother was Mary too."

Eileen      

"I absolutely love Our Lady and thank her more and more each day. My mother died about eight years ago and now Our Lady has taken over the duty of being my mother. We are so lucky to be born Catholics and to have this wonderful faith."

Eileen      

"I have a very close bond in my mind with Our Lady. I went to Lourdes last year as a pilgrim helper and I found it transforming, and I had the privilege of helping in the baths and it touched me very deeply. And I find everything I asked of Our Lady at Lourdes, she answered my prayers in abundance. And I've found since Lourdes I have enjoyed the rosary, whereas before Lourdes I found it a bit tedious. I feel very comfortable talking to Our Lady and I know she's very patient and very loving with me."

Eleanor      

"I had a real struggle a couple of years ago with self-worth and just seeing yourself as beautiful .. and I really struggled with body image, I suppose most girls do. Anyway I kept coming to the New Dawn conferences and there you can feel the Holy Spirit in you, He's working in you and He's giving you the strength. You're told by society you're something that you are not and it gets into your head. But at these conferences, you are just taught that Jesus loves you, no matter what you look like, no matter how much you weigh, He loves you so much. And this brings me on to Mary - I feel like Mary has been really strong in my life. If you look at her as a woman, as a woman of Christ, how much she just loved Jesus and how beautiful she is. She has really helped strengthen me. Anyway, I went through a rocky part in my life - I took Philosophy & Ethics A level and I felt that really put me off my faith. I had 5 hours of lessons a week and for that 5 hours I was told why God is not omnipotent, why God isn't omnibenevolent, why God isn't this, this and this, which I was told to believe. And then I came to these conferences and I really felt like God was just telling me the truth, the absolute truth. And I went to confession.  .. And that's when I knew that Jesus truly loved me for who I am."

Elena      

"As Mary is the perfect mother, she both wants the absolute best for us and also knows what the best for us is. Which is why she constantly points towards Jesus and gives us her help in order to find God's will for us, and she rejoices in our joy in Him. So she is a real gift to us all and I feel very blessed to have a relationship with her as a Catholic."

Elizabeth      

"Mary means a lot to me."

Elizabeth       

"I want to thank Our Lady for the many wonderful trips we've had to Lourdes, I want to thank her for St Peter's Woolwich, where Our Lady of Woolwich is so active, bringing so many blessings to the people that go there, and I want to pray that we go to Medjugorje. So thank you very much for all you're doing on this earth and may we all be together in heaven one day."

Elizabeth       

"Mary is my mother. She speaks to your heart. She only wants your good. She wants to lead you on the path to eternal life through her son Jesus."

Sister Elizabeth PCC      

"I consecrate myself to Mary every morning. I entrust myself to her, and those I love. I have great confidence in her intercession, in her love and in her motherly protection."

Sister Elizabeth is a Poor Clare Sister in enclosed community at Ty Mam Duw in North Wales.

Elizabeth      

"I particularly feel Mary close to me at times when my own children are suffering or going through hard times, and I think how hard it must have been for her to stand at the foot of the cross and yet she stayed there. When all the tough fishermen had run away, Mary was there at the foot of the Cross with her Son."

Ella      

"For me our Holy Mother is the mother of the Church and the mother of everyone who goes to Church and who prays in the Church; and she is a symbol of femininity and she looks out for women in the Church; and I think that it's important for us to know where we belong in relation to Christ and our role in relation to Christ, and for Mary symbolises that - she's meek, mild but she's a strong woman who does what God wants."

Ella      

"I’ve started recently trying to pray the rosary every day and that’s been my way of kind of, when I kind of lose myself with prayer a bit and feel like I'm falling away from it. So Mary for me is always my way back into a regular prayer routine. She means a lot to me and I love praying the rosary - it's my favourite thing to pray!"

Ellie      

"My husband and I have been on an amazing journey together, falling in love really with the Virgin Mary .. and through prayer and through her mercy we have been blessed with a beautiful child."

Ellie      

"Mary is my mother."

Elsa      

"Our Lady is a mother for me and a role model to look up to and somebody who has always got my back."

Emilia      

"I think of Mary especially in that moment at the foot of the cross as somebody who teaches us in a profound way how the gladness, the joy that come through a life of faith can be sustained even through deep sorrow.  So even in the most difficult moments, somehow through the mystery of those difficult moments, we can unite to Christ's suffering, we can experience a very profound joy; through the poverty that we experience in those moments, we can open ourselves up to the love of Christ and abandon ourselves more fully to God's plan for our life - those are the things that Mary teaches me first and foremost."

Emily      

"I don't know what my next steps with Mary are but I'm sure she'll carry me all the way through, through many decades. I wish I'd started to pray the rosary in earnest, properly, like a few years ago, because she is so good and she brings such peace, and she brings you right back to Christ, all through his life. - so through his birth, through his death, through his resurrection, through every part of his life she's there and so she helps you to be there as well."

Emily, with TOP CHAT about the Alliance of Pro-Life Students      

"So when you're at university, university is not really a place that accepts a prolife viewpoint, because they're seen as these incredibly 'liberal' - and by liberal they mean like left wing and pro-abortion - places. And so if you're a pro-life student, you can feel quite isolated and if you want to go into any kind of student politics, you find yourself alienated very quickly and ostracised. So the idea of the Alliance of Pro-Life Students was to be like an umbrella organisation so that any pro-life student society can go to the APS for help, can find out what their legal rights are,  can get in touch with other students across the country.  So it's basically getting students in contact with one another, making sure they know their rights, making sure they know they're not alone and making sure they have the tools and the training that they need to be effective pro-life advocates on campuses today."

Emily       

"For me, Mary has always been an all-loving and safe and trustworthy and reliable presence in my prayer, who I've always known I can turn to."

Go in Peace      
"I suppose confession can be a struggle and difficult and sometimes embarrassing but I know that God has really used it in my life to affirm me of his love for me. And suddenly I find myself not thinking about my failings and my faults but somehow realising quite how much He loves me and has reached out to me in the Sacrament through his priests, for which I am always deeply grateful and so touched."

Emily      

"The Eucharist is so important to me because I believe that it is the most intimate gift that God has given us."

Word on the Street       
Romans 5
- Let us exult too in our hardships, understanding that hardships develop perseverance and perseverance develops a tested character, something that gives us hope and a hope which will not let us down because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. - "It encourages me in times of suffering that God will be with me and He's given me the Holy Spirit which will lead me to hope."

Emily      

"Mary is always there in the background; she's always present."

Emlyn      

"I love the Holy Family and I love the sacrifices that Mary made and the faith that she had and that inspires me a lot."

Emma      

"Our Lady is a blessed intercessor and a strong protector of our souls and she really is our Blessed Mother."

Sister Emma Mary      

"I experience Mary as my mother.  I experience her help, her words, her encouragement and her intercession."

Sr Emma Mary of the sweet name of Mary is a Servant Sister of the Home of the Mother.

Father Emmanuel CFR       

"Mary is a mother and I most run to her when I'm in trouble or struggling."

Fr Emmanuel talks about 3 priests who have helped & inspired him: Fr Harry, from his childhood parish, and CFR Fathers Glenn Sudano and Jean Fulton       

"So this is for me a priest: someone who's normal, someone who's in touch with the Holy Spirit … and also and primarily a father, one with whom you can be yourself, through whom you experience the love of God the Father."

Father Emmanuel Mansford is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal

Emmanuelle      

"For me Our Lady is a constant motherly presence in my life who seems to guide me a lot every day."

Emmett      

"Confession is liberating. It allows you to speak from the soul and gives you inner peace. So, who doesn't want that?"

Esther      

"Mary is the one that teaches me about womanhood. She teaches me to appreciate the beauty of it and to appreciate the gift that it is. And she teaches me what I can offer the world and what I can offer God through my own femininity."

Esther      

"Mary is my beautiful Mother and my soul companion and I love her dearly."

Esther      

"Mary is my mother, she is like a mother to me, she is my rock and my comforter."

Esther      

"Mary is an honourable woman, she's very sacrificial. I think it's really hard to give up your only son, for the world that's not even worthy. So I feel like she's an amazing woman."

Ettie       

"For me, Mary is the mother of Our Lord and, just as I turn to my mother, I turn to her when I need reassurance and guidance, and I pray to her every day and ask her for her help and support essentially. So for me I am particularly aware of her role as a mother."

Euan      

"Mary is the motherly guardian of Jesus .. and at the same time she takes care of us because she is our mother as well."