As you read this, your mind and your heart might be heavy with all the problems that weigh you down. They may seem myriad. They may seem unfair. But the truth is, they all have a solution!
Back around 1700, a German priest commissioned a special piece of art as an act of thanksgiving for a favor Our Lady had bestowed upon his grandparents. The couple had a terrible problem—they were in fact on the verge of divorce—with no solution in sight.
The husband went to seek counsel from a priest, and together they asked for Mary’s intercession in the matter. As they did, the priest held up the husband’s wedding ribbon (most likely part of a wedding tradition of the time), untied its knots, and offered it to Mary, a symbolic way of entrusting the couple to Mary’s tender intercession. He asked the Blessed Virgin Mary “to untie all knots and smoothen them” between the couple. Immediately peace was restored and the couple never separated. They reconciled their differences and lived together happily for the rest of their lives.
And so their grandson commission the painting of Our Lady Undoer of Knots, the solution to all of our “knotty” problems.
Devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots was subsequently promoted throughout South America by Pope Francis when he was still known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ. He bought a postcard of the painting at the German chapel and brought it to Argentina sometime in the 1980s.
Today, more and more people all over the world are turning to Our Lady Undoer of Knots for help with the “knots” in their own lives.
What are your knots?
Knots are the problems and struggles we face for which we don’t see a solution. Knots of discord in our family, lack of understanding between parents and children, disrespect, violence, the knots of deep hurts between husband and wife, the absence of peace and joy at home.
They are also the knots of anguish because of abortion, drug addiction, children who are sick or separated from home or God. They are knots of alcoholism, depression, unemployment, financial problems, fear, solitude…
The knots in our life suffocate our spirit and make us suffer!
For that reason, Mary who undoes the knots, the woman chosen by God to crush the evil one with her feet, comes to us to reveal herself. Mary comes to provide jobs, good health, to reconcile families, because she wants to undo the knots which dominate our lives, so that we can receive the promises reserved for us from all eternity. She comes with promises of victory, peace, blessings and reconciliation.
Then, free from our knots—filled with happiness—we can be a testimony of the Mercy of God in this world. Like ambassadors of Jesus Christ, we can rescue those who in turn cry out for our compassion and bring them also to Mary, the Mother of God.