We come at last to the end of our 33 days of preparation. Tomorrow we will make the act of complete entrustment into the hands and the heart of our heavenly Mother…and, through her, into the Heart of our loving God. Hopefully, however, this time has already been filled with innumerable little acts of entrustment, countless movements of prayer and love toward Mary, and especially toward God who reveals his love to us in and through her. The more “formal” act of entrustment or consecration which we are to make (or renew) is simply an expression of the growing relationship that already exists between us and Mary, between us and the Trinity—a relationship that endures even when we do not feel it.
We have seen that Mary, knowing herself to be constantly and completely loved by God, gave herself to him totally in simple childlike trust. And she yearns to take us by the hand and to help us make the same act of loving and childlike surrender—to place ourselves lovingly in the hands of the God who loves us. This is indeed her only desire: to facilitate the meeting between God and ourselves, to help us to receive the outpouring of his mercy into our whole being, especially where we need it the most, and to trustingly abandon ourselves into his hands in return.
The entrustment of ourselves to God through Mary, therefore, is simply our consent to allow her to do this—and to allow God to do it through her. Indeed, it is simply our recognition of God’s Love, our grateful and faith-filled abandonment into the arms of this Love that already cradles us unceasingly. However imperfect we may feel our surrender to be, God receives it without hesitation—seeing our desire, our hope, and the innermost beauty of our heart—and, cradling us in himself, brings this surrender to perfection in complete intimacy with himself.
It is recommended that, today or tomorrow, you write your own personal “Entrustment to Mary” prayer—as an expression of the true desires and aspirations of your heart. There is a prayer provided below, however, which you may use. In either case, it is good to write it out in your own hand and, after praying it, to sign and date it. If it is possible to attend Mass and receive Communion tomorrow, then the thanksgiving after Communion is a beautiful and fitting time to make this formal act of total entrustment to Mary. But she is ever close to us, holding our hand within her hand, our heart within her heart, and so at any time and any place, she is there to receive this act of love and trust…
Yes, Mary, hold us tenderly, shelter us lovingly…and through your motherly presence, help us to know and to experience God’s perfect Love. Let us know this Love which surpasses all comprehension—yet which is ever present to us, intimately cradling us, and in our certainty in this Love to abandon ourselves into his arms as a little child!