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Novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots

Day 4

10 min
Sign of the Cross

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

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

Novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots

Opening prayer:

O Mary, Undoer of Knots, with the same patient hands that untied the knot of our first parents' disobedience, take into your care the tangles of my life. There is no knot too tight for your maternal fingers, no situation beyond the reach of your Son's mercy. I come to you trusting, and I will not lose heart. Amen.

Read the meditation and offer the intention of the day.

Day 4: The knot of sin and habit

Sin tightens into habits that we cannot loosen by willpower alone. Mary, refuge of sinners, draws these knots toward the mercy of her Son, where every chain is at last undone. The harder I yank at a habit, the tighter it pulls, for sin is not broken by force but dissolved by grace. She does not condemn me for the knot but carries it to the only One whose mercy can loosen what my own strength never could.

O Mary, refuge of sinners, you do not condemn me for the habit I cannot break. Take this knot, drawn tighter every time I struggle alone, and carry it to the mercy of your Son. Where my willpower fails, let His grace dissolve every chain. Amen.

Today's intention:

I bring you the knot of a sin I cannot break; untie it by grace.

Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,

sanctificétur nomen tuum.

Advéniat regnum tuum.

Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.

Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.

Benedícta tu in muliéribus,

et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta María, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatóribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostræ.

Amen.

Glory Be

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto.

Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper,

et in sǽcula sæculórum.

Amen.

Closing prayer:

O Blessed Mother, I thank you for taking my knots into your gentle hands. Untie them in the order and the time that God knows is best, and where they cannot yet be loosed, grant me the patience to wait in peace. Lead me, freed and unburdened, ever closer to your Son. Amen.

Sign of the Cross

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

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

About this prayer

A nine-day novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, who with patient hands unties the tangled situations of our lives. Each day we name a kind of knot and place it in her care, learning trust, patience, and surrender.

History

This devotion springs from a Baroque painting in Augsburg, Germany, where Mary is shown patiently untying the knots of a long ribbon while she crushes the serpent underfoot. The image draws on St. Irenaeus, who taught that the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience. Popularized by Pope Francis, who encountered the image in Germany and spread the devotion from Argentina, the devotion has spread worldwide as a prayer for tangled and seemingly hopeless situations.

How to pray it

Pray once each day for nine consecutive days. Begin with the Sign of the Cross and the opening prayer, prayerfully read the meditation and offer the day's intention, then conclude with an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, and the closing prayer.

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