Mary, Ever Interceding for Marriage
Mother Mary is always happy to help us untie the knots we or others have created in our relationships. All we have to do is be willing to ask her to accompany us. When we pray to her, especially with regards to our relationships, we find a kind, compassionate mother walking or sitting alongside us, giving us confidence and encouragement. There is no condemnation, no shame. She in particular knows what it’s like to have something happen that is hard to describe or talk to her beloved about for fear of rejection–only God could explain the conception of Jesus. She in particular knows how to navigate life’s circumstances that others would never be able to relate to–she raised the Son of God. She in particular knows the harsh realities of life as people are given the freedom to say, think, and do what they desire–she accompanied her son during his passion as he endured the mocking, the crown of thorns, the scourging, and his crucifiction. She also in particular knows the great love God has for all of His children–Jesus provided for her and ensured her needs were taken care of in placing her in John’s care while he was in agony as he struggled to even breathe hanging on the Cross.
Discovering a New Devotion
I found this wonderful devotion to Our Lady, the Undoer of Knots, while I was serving in ministry at my parish. Part of my work included sending anniversary cards to the couples who had been married at the parish. Each year I enclosed a different saint or blessed card in order to encourage them to ask that saint for intercession. For the fifth year, I chose this image of Our Lady, discerning that by the fifth year of marriage, many couples may have had arguments, disagreements, and life challenges that may have created knots of confusion, disagreement, and altercations that she could help release within the relationship.
Just a few weeks after I ordered the cards, the Holy Spirit guided a woman to me who would use this devotion to heal her marriage in a powerful way. That morning, I was so frustrated by my tardiness and just wanted to start my day. As I turned off my car, and turned to grab my purse, I gave an audible exhale as I took in the scene the Holy Spirit presented for me. In the car next to mine there was a woman weeping in her vehicle. My first inclination was to ignore her because I was so incredibly late already. Afterall, she was a stranger, I owed her nothing. But my heart wouldn’t allow me to ignore her. Her pain was real, and my heart ached with hers. When I asked if I could help her, wiping away her tears and blowing her nose she said no, she was okay. She told me she had just been in the church praying for her husband, because he was Catholic, and this was his parish.
Thinking he may have been in an accident I inquired further, and she shared further saying that no, her husband wasn’t hurt. She was. He had hurt her because he had been unfaithful. She was crying because she didn’t know if she could stay married to him, if he wanted to stay married, and what was going to become of them and their children. I sat with her for some time and then connected her with our priest who witnessed her distress while praying at the church. Before she left that day, she came back to thank me. At that moment I felt spurred by the Holy Spirit to provide her with the Our Lady Undoer of Knots holy card. I encouraged her to reach out to Our Lady and we prayed to Mary asking her to untangle the skeins of her marriage, and to keep intact all of the wonderful memories they had shared together so that the infidelity wouldn’t mar those.
Fruits of this Devotion
Mary was true to her intention and the woman’s husband contacted her after looking through their pictures, saying he was ready to reconcile and put his behaviors behind him because they have a rich, fruitful past, and that past will provide them blessings in the future. His alluding to their memories encouraged her prayer and devotion to Our Lady, and their marriage has become a true sacrament to others.
While I intended to give the first holy card of Mary the Undoer of Knots to a couple celebrating their marriage, the Holy Spirit prompted me to give it to a wife who was devastated and contemplating divorce. While I intended it to go to a couple married at our parish, it went to a couple who’s civil marriage needed ministering to. While I intended it to uplift and support a healthy marriage to become stronger, it healed a marriage dredged in guilt,shame, anger, and sadness. This experience reminds me that God’s plans are always better, bigger, and more amazing than anything we could ever dream of. Through my willingness to share this devotion with someone I had not planned to, I gained an amazing friend and the ability to share an amazing witness of Love–the Love that God has for all of us, and the love Mother Mary points to every time she undoes a knot in our lives.
If you find yourself staring at a tangle in your marriage or the marriage of someone you love, I pray that this image and a devotion or novena to Our Lady the Undoer of Knots brings you the assurance that God desires to have all things we encounter in our lives–even the seemingly worst things–work together for our good as we love and serve our God, and confidence that allowing Mary to work through those knots will bring you or your loved ones to greater depths of intimacy with your beloved or theirs.
For a Novena of Our Lady the Undoer of Knots visit: https://m.theholyrosary.org/maryundoerknots/
