Today we shall be reflecting on Call to Action 5, "Entrust yourself to the Immaculate Heart (consecration)"—a theme which we as Marian devotees are so accustomed to. We (and I mean Marian devotees including myself) have grown so used to reciting prayers from published and unpublished sources consecrating ourselves and loved ones to Our Mother Mary to protect us. However, our call to action does not stop at reciting prayers, we need to fully entrust ourselves to Her.

Why should we entrust to the Immaculate Heart?

To entrust ourselves to Her means that we are willing to do two things:

• We are willing to assign the responsibility for fully protecting us to the Immaculate Heart.

• We are willing to put everything into Her care. The first implies prayer which we are good at but the second, which focuses more on our actions, we may not be so good at.

When we assign responsibility through prayer to the Immaculate Heart we should not soon after prayer continue to worry. For surely this must mean that we have not fully entrusted everything to Our Lady. Worry is a negative action that leads us to despair and sin.

Therefore when we stop worrying and consecrate ourselves often to Our Lady we give Her permission to come to our aid and make us holy like Jesus. One way of reflecting daily on how well our actions align with our consecration prayers is to continually check how we feel after praying. We should not consider prayers completed if our worries still exist and overwhelm us. We need to learn the art of trusting Our Lady. Keep in prayer until all worries are dispelled.

Can you imagine how much closer to Jesus we shall be? Entrusting ourselves to the Immaculate Heart takes us straight to Jesus. How profound!!!

Our Lady of Aokpe, the Mediatrix of All Graces…Pray for us who have recourse to thee. Amen