Mary, Undoer of Knots

I get emails reminding me to pray novenas, from Pray More Novenas.  (They send prayers to your inbox each morning -- helpful, though I still sometimes fail.)  Today is the beginning of the Novena to Mary, Undoer of Knots.

I always have intentions for novenas, but this one asks for a specific type of intention -- knots that need undoing.
The knots in my life are not hard to find, but after I mentioned them, I prayed this line: “I run to you, Mary, Undoer of Knots, because I trust you and I know that you never despise a sinning child who comes to ask you for help.”

What a line!  I realized, as I told Our Lady that I was running to her with these problems, that I had not done this yet.  That, while I used to take everything to God first, I now am taking my grown-up, Real Life problems to the Real World first, and to God only in a cursory way.  However, despite the need for Responsible Adult components in their solutions, my knots belong with God first and foremost.  After all, with Him, I can best be a real grown-up person.

I should be asking Him to be with me during my boring (or busy) work days, while I write checks to pay bills, and when I have to make stressful phone calls to insurance companies.  After all, if He was with me during research papers, long reading nights, job hunting, and wedding planning, why should I expect less now?  And if His Mother has spread her mantle over me during road trips, emotional nights and exams, why should I stop asking for her intercession?

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us!



Day 1 - Mary, Under of Knots Novena

1. Begin each day of the novena with the Sign of the Cross.

2. Make an Act of Contrition. 

3. OPTIONAL, but recommended: Pray the first three decades of the Rosary. 

4. Make the meditation for the particular day:

Day 1: Dearest Holy Mother, Most Holy Mary, you undo the knots that suffocate your children. Extend your merciful hands to me. I entrust to you today this knot (mention your request here) and all the negative consequences that it provokes in my life. I give you this knot that torments me and makes me unhappy and so impedes me from uniting myself to you and your Son Jesus, my Savior. I run to you, Mary, Undoer of Knots, because I trust you and I know that you never despise a sinning child who comes to ask you for help. I believe that you can undo this knot because Jesus grants you everything. I believe that you want to undo this knot because you are my Mother. I believe that you will do this because you love me with eternal love. Thank you, Dear Mother.  Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me.

5. OPTIONAL, but recommended: Pray the last two decades of the rosary.

6. Pray the Prayer to Mary, Undoer of Knots: 

Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, Mother who never refuses to come to the aid of a child in need, Mother whose hands never cease to serve your beloved children because they are moved by the divine love and immense mercy that exists in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exist in my life. You know very well how desperate I am, my pain, and how I am bound by these knots, Mary, Mother to whom God entrusted the undoing of knots in the lives of His children, I entrust into your hands the ribbon of my life. No one, not even the Evil One himself, can take it away from your precious care. In your hands there is no knot that cannot be undone. Powerful Mother, by your grace and intercessory power with your Son and my Liberator, Jesus, take into your hands today this knot. 
(Mention your request here.)
I beg you to undo it for the glory of God, once for all. You are my hope. O my Lady, you are the only consolation God gives me, the fortification of my feeble strength, the enrichment of my destitution, and with Christ, the freedom from my chains. Hear my plea. Keep me, guide me, protect me, o safe refuge!

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me. Amen.