THE UNFAILING NOVENA TO OUR LADY UNDOER OF KNOTS: DAY 9 – UNDOING THE KNOT OF DESPAIR

(IT CAN BE PRAYED ANYTIME IN THE DAY)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

ACT OF CONTRITION

Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all, because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER

Holy Mary, full of God’s presence during the days of your life, you accepted with full humility the Father’s will, and the devil was never capable of tying you up with his confusion. Once with your Son, you interceded for our difficulties, and full of kindness and patience, you gave us examples of how to untie the knots in our lives. By remaining forever Our Mother, you put in order and make more clear the ties that link us to the Lord. Holy Mother, Mother of God and our Mother, to you who untie with a motherly heart the knots of our life, I ask for you to undo this knot: (mention request here). Through your grace, your intercession and your example deliver us from all evil, Our Lady, and untie the knots that prevent us from being united with God, so that we, free from sin and error, may find Him in all things, may have our hearts placed in Him, and may serve Him always in our brothers and sisters.

(Proposed Bible texts for Mary undoer of Knots: Luke 1:26-40 & John 2:1-12)

Meditation/Prayer for Day 9

“Despair, ethically regarded, is the voluntary and complete abandonment of all hope of saving one’s soul and of having the means required for that end.” It is not a passive state of mind: on the contrary, it involves a positive act of the will by which a person deliberately gives over any expectation of ever reaching eternal life. There is presupposed an intervention of the intellect in virtue of which one comes to decide definitely that salvation is impossible. This last is motived by the persuasion either that the individual’s sins are too great to be forgiven or that it is too hard for human nature to cooperate with the grace of God or that Almighty God is unwilling to aid the weakness or pardon the offenses of his creatures, etc. No wonder the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God’s goodness, to his justice – for the Lord is faithful to his promises – and to his mercy. (CCC #2091). Dear friends, Despair is when we stop believing in God’s promise of mercy. Put in plain words, it’s essentially a state that calls God a liar and all of His promises, worthless. There is no hope and no salvation. I am a bad person, I don’t deserve anything good, I, I, I, me, me, me. While despair wears the mask of reality, it’s far from it. While it’s true that none of us is worthy of salvation, God in His goodness extends Himself through space and time to make us worthy. We are worthy not by our own merits, but by His. There’s always hope, there’s always salvation, and there’s always a way back.

Having been through this novena (and also others in the past), there is also the tendency to feel that God has abandoned you. Having read the testimonies of others, you happen to think of yourself as one who cannot even receive God’s grace and testify; you have lost hope – the hope of receiving God’s grace precipitated by a lack of faith. Today, being the last day, we call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary to root out and undo these dealy knots of despair and lack of faith in us. May she enable us to believe that God can still save us, God can still make us testify to His goodness, we too shall tell of His wonders. Pause and reflect on these knots.

PRAYER TO MARY, UNDOER OF KNOTS (Closing Prayer)

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 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 (state your intentions). 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!

(Please say at least five decades of the Rosary)

Blessing+

Through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary undoer of knots, may the Lord bless + us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Final Anthem to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Shalom!
Written and Compiled by Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, OSJ
Paroquia Nossa Senhora de Fatima, Vila Sabrina, São Paulo, Brazil
nozickcjoe@gmail.com / fadacjay@gmail.com
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PS: Have you prayed your Rosary today?