Totus Tuus: Pope John Paul’s Great Love for Mary

Pope John Paul II is one great Marian pope and figure of our times. Early in his life, Pope John Paul II made his Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary according to the formula of St. Louis de Montfort. This union with Jesus through His Mother has been the guiding force for his priesthood, episcopate and papacy.

Totally Yours

Totus Tuus is the Latin for “Totally Yours”. It is giving everything to Jesus through Mary. In giving our merits to Mary, she purifies and multiplies them by her own incalculable merits before giving it to her divine son, Jesus.

Pope John Paul II explains this devotion in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope: “Totus Tuus. This phrase is not only an expression of piety, or simply an expression of devotion. It is more. During the Second World War, while I was employed as a factory worker, I came to be attracted to Marian devotion. At first, it had seemed to me that I should distance myself a bit from the Marian devotion of my childhood, in order to focus more on Christ.

“Thanks to Saint Louis of Montfort, I came to understand that true devotion to the Mother of God is actually Christocentric, indeed, it is very profoundly rooted in the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity, and the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption.

“And so, I rediscovered Marian piety, this time with a deeper understanding. This mature form of devotion to the Mother of God has stayed with me over the years, bearing fruit in the encyclicals Redemptoris Mater and Mulieris Dignitatem.”

“In regard to Marian devotion, each of us must understand that such devotion not only addresses a need of the heart, a sentimental inclination, but that it also corresponds to the objective truth about the Mother of God. Mary is the new Eve, placed by God in close relation to Christ, the new Adam, beginning with the Annunciation, through the night of His birth in Bethlehem, through the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee, through the Cross at Calvary, and up to the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Mother of Christ the Redeemer is the Mother of the Church.”

To Jesus through Mary

St. Louie de Montfort said that Mary is the easiest, safest, fastest, most secure and sure path to Jesus. When we approach Mary she always points us to her son and says “Do whatever He tells you.”

Pope John Paul’s life is a witness of the power of uniting ourselves to Jesus through Mary. Pope John Paul II will go down in the history as one of the great popes who has brought Christ to all parts of the world. His deep love for Mary has drawn him closer to Jesus and thus drawing others closer to Jesus as well.

We too can experience the fullness of Christ’s grace in our lives when we unite ourselves to Jesus through Mary. It only took one request by Mary to her son Jesus to turn water into wine at the wedding at Cana. Mary too can change our mediocre life to a life of fullness and of joy.