Day 2: Mary's motherly intercession

On the second day of the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena, we deepen our trust in Mary's intercession. The knots we named yesterday are now in her hands. Today we contemplate the kind of mother she is, and the kind of intercession she offers, that we may pray with the confidence proper to children of so powerful a Mother.

Today's meditation

The Gospel scene that most clearly displays Mary's intercession is the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11). The wine has run out, a small but real social crisis. Mary notices. The Lord Jesus has not yet performed any public miracle. Mary turns to her Son and says simply: "They have no wine." The Lord answers: "Woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." Mary, undeterred by the apparent refusal, turns to the servants and gives the only direct instruction recorded of her in any Gospel: "Do whatever he tells you."

The miracle follows. The water is changed into wine. The Lord begins His public ministry of signs because of His Mother's intercession. The Catholic theological tradition has read this scene as the model of Mary's intercession through the entire age of the Church. She notices what we lack. She tells her Son. Her Son does not refuse her, and through her petition, the saving grace of Christ flows to His people.

Today's intention

Bring to Mary today the same knots you named on Day 1. Add today the petition: Mary, my Mother, ask your Son to provide what is lacking in my life. Give my Son the same instruction you gave at Cana, that He may do whatever needs to be done to free me from these knots.

The principal prayer to Our Lady Undoer of Knots

Virgin Mary, 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 (name it). 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. Amen.

The first three decades of the Rosary

Pray the first three decades of the Rosary, or three Hail Marys with a Glory Be.

Reflection

The Catholic doctrine of Marian intercession is one of the most consoling teachings of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect" (CCC 969). Mary's motherhood is not retired. She has not stopped being our Mother since the Lord on the Cross said to Saint John, the disciple representing the whole Church: "Behold, your mother" (John 19:27).

The reformed Protestant theology that has shaped much of modern Western Christianity has tended to suspect Marian intercession as if it competed with the unique mediation of Christ. The Catholic answer is that Mary's intercession is in Christ's mediation, not against it. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Mary is not a second mediator. She is a perfect intercessor within the mediation of her Son, the first creature to participate fully in the redemption He won.

Today, when you pray, do not approach Mary as a competitor with Christ but as the Mother He gave you from the Cross. Speak to her with the trust of a child speaking to its mother. Tell her what is lacking in your life. She is already turning, even as you pray, to her Son with the words: they have no wine.

Closing prayers

Conclude with the Memorare and:

Holy Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.