Immaculate Heart of Mary Pilgrimage
“How will I know when God is speaking to me?” Felicia Anunoby asked when discerning her career path as a young person. She recalled the conversation and her winding path toward a vocation in nursing to pilgrims at The National Shrine of Mary, Mother of the Church on Saturday, July 17.
Felicia, originally from Nigeria, frequently encountered hardships and chaos in her life but has found solace and refuge in her commitment to following the will of God and her devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
She attributes her experiences of heaven on earth to a providential discovery of a prayer card, “In The End, My Immaculate Heart Will Triumph,” which led her to the 33 day Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This experience became one of the greatest transformations of her life in learning to be obedient and to surrender to the will of God for her life even when it doesn’t make any sense, she explained to the pilgrims, and encouraged them to do the same: Ask God for his guidance and then have faith and follow His will.
“All he wants from us is our ‘yes’, like our Blessed Mother said ‘yes.’ Trust him, have Faith in Him and be obedient.”
Felicia Anunoby
She also encouraged pilgrims to emulate our Blessed Mother by helping others. “I would have fallen by the way side without prayer group members who have stood by my side … and have become beacons of light in times of darkness,” she said. She reminded those in attendance we are all “pilgrims on Earth” and that our real home is in Heaven with the Father.
The day included time for Adoration and Confession, along with a tour of the Mothers’ Shrine, lunch and the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Pilgrims were also invited to join St. Patrick Catholic Church for evening Mass after the pilgrimage programming concluded.