Have you ever noticed how just when you’re ready to sink your teeth into a project you’ve wanted to do forever, something else gets in the way? Well, maybe not every time, but it happens often enough! That happened to us: just as we were planning an upcoming project for the Webathon, here’s what got in the way…
The generator that serves the entire motherhouse and publishing house during power failures… died.
This past year at the motherhouse we experienced repeated power failures as heavy snowfalls and windstorms downed dozens of trees. With one of those storms, our generator gave out.
Truth to tell, we never think about the generator. It’s been in the basement doing its thing longer than most of us have even been in the convent! But this past winter the lights went out—and no emergency lights came on.
The generator maintains the power to our infirmary elevator: without it, our elderly sisters were stranded in their rooms (or couldn’t get back to the infirmary floor if they were in another part of the house). This means they could not get to chapel or to the dining room. The generator also backs up the infirmary oxygen system; thankfully, none of our sisters are oxygen-dependent at this time.
The refrigerators and freezers in the motherhouse lost electricity and our central administration offices lost power to the servers that sustain communication between our bookcenters and our offices in Boston. And with no phone service or internet connection, we are isolated from emergency assistance.
Pope Francis has urged us again and again to turn to Mary Undoer of Knots to help us with our problems.
I guess you could say that our failed generator is our knot. But as we think about the annual Webathon Novena and asking you for help with our knot, we realize that we aren’t the only ones with knots. Maybe not everyone has financial knots like ours, but everyone has some kind of knot.
Perhaps they are:
- relationship knots,
- knots that have broken up families,
- knots in our own personalities,
- struggles in a marriage,
- pain over the direction a child has decided to take in life,
- loss of a job,
- and, yes, certainly, financial knots.
Really, knots are everywhere! So for our Webathon Novena this year we will be taking our knots—and yours—to Mary, trusting that she will help us undo the longstanding problems that cause us so much suffering and concern.
We want you to join us for this novena on October 5th. Here’s what you’ll get:
- You will receive a short daily email
- You can tune in to a live broadcast of the novena prayers of the day noon or 8:00 in the evening at www.pauline.org/webathon2016
- You’ll find yourself in solidarity with many, many other people who trust in Mary’s intercession
We’ll be like one great procession of prayer offered to Our Lady for all our special intentions!
Go here to download the prayer to Our Lady of Knots we’ll be using.
Download Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouvé’s testimony to the power of Our Lady Undoer of Knots.
Visit our Webathon Novena Page Today
Let us know in the comments below if you’ll be joining us for the novena to Mary Undoer of Knots. And if you could tell us one other thing we’d really appreciate it: let us know where you’re from!