Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius October 29, 2017 Spiritual Ponderings Images of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Let us once again learn more about God through learning about the person He chose to be the Mother of His Son.
St. John Vianney: “It is impossible to meditate with devotion upon the Mysteries of the Rosary and live in a state of sin.”
Our Lady Undoer of Knots The title of Mary as “Virgin Who Unties Knots” traces its roots to Argentina and back to Germany and has recently become very popular in the United States. Maybe one of the most supervising things about this devotion is that it began to flourish because of Pope Francis.
Ann Ball in her book:
The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures, of the Holy Virgin around the world writes the following: “The Virgin Maria Desatordar de Nudos (The Virgin Mary Undoer of Knots) was brought to Argentina in the early 1980’s by Jesuit Father Jorge Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis), who when rector at the Jesuit University of El Salvador ut who went onto become the cardinal archbishop of Buenos Aires. He had found the image at the Church of ST. Peter am Perlach during a visit to Augsburg, Germany. He was intrigued by the old name and image of Mary called Knotenluserin, the “One who unties Knots.”
Fr. Bergoglio brought a few post cards back with him and commissioned a painting to be made from the postcards. The devotion remained mostly unknown though for the next twenty years. Eventually word began to spread from his students to others and devotion finally took off.
Learning that this devotion grew from only a small group of people praying it to a worldwide phenomenon is quite inspiring. It reminds me of one of the most important lessons that the Blessed Virgin Mary teaches us and that is with God all things are possible.
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me. 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 exist in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exists 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 the 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!