There seems to be one observation with which everyone can agree, no matter how much discord there might be around other issues, and here it is: there are a lot of problems in our culture. Seemingly insurmountable problems.
Knots, we might call them.
For over 300 years there has been a special devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots. It is one of Pope Francis’ favorite devotions. And it’s not difficult to see why. Our culture needs healing, it needs transformation, it needs an influx of love and caring and application of the Gospel precepts. And who better to help us get there than our loving Mother?
I remember when I first went away to college and was confronted with all the issues that a young adult faces for the first time. I felt overwhelmed. And when I did, I would call home, just to touch base with something familiar. My mother would chat about the ordinary things happening around the house, and then when I was calmed down enough to talk she’d say, gently, “So tell me what’s wrong,” and I knew in that moment, I absolutely knew, that everything would be all right. As long as I had her on the other side of that call, that lifeline, I could face anything.
We have our own Mother on the other side of another lifeline—prayer. No matter how overwhelming our circumstances, no matter how impossible our problems feel, she is there and she’s waiting to hear from us. She, too, is saying, “So tell me what’s wrong,” and she’s going to help us unravel the knots in our lives.
And not just for us as individuals: our culture is knotted tightly with pain and death and destruction. Today’s March for Life addresses one of those knots and affirms the need for compassion and change. We look around us and see that people sleep on cold city streets at night, the elderly don’t have enough to eat, children are dying of preventable diseases, and all of this is happening in the wealthiest country on the planet. Obviously we have our priorities wrong; obviously we have knots to undo.
If we can pick up a rosary the same way that we pick up a telephone, if we can accept that we cannot alone unravel the knots in our community, if we can find the humility to admit that we need help, then it’s there. The promise is as fresh and new today as it was when it was first made.
That lifeline is there. All that we have to do is make the call.
by Jeannette de Beauvoir
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