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Church of the Divine Church Divine Child, Child,Dearborn, Dearborn,Michigan Michigan
Our Lady, Untier of Knots A few years ago, Pope Francis did something somewhat remarkable. He called then-Israeli president Shimon Peres and the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican for an “Invocation of Peace.” Something that went largely unnoticed during the event was what happened immediately before the two presidents met. Before the presidents were brought together, Pope Francis met with each one individually in a parlor for receiving heads of state. For both brief meetings, Pope Francis and the respective president met underneath a copy of the German image of “Our Lady, Untier of Knots” (German: Maria Knotenlöserin). While I am not sure if the placement of the meeting and image was intentional, something about the circumstance struck me as coming from Pope Francis’ subtle intuition and devotion. Our Lady, Untier of Knots, is meant to “untie” the knots in our lives. What could be a bigger knot than the decadeslong tension and unrest between Israel and Palestine? It seemed that Pope Francis was placing the situation before Mary and saying to her, “Mary, this is a situation none of us can solve because of the complex political and historical factors and there seems to be no possible resolution. In spite of these problems, can you help untie and resolve this tension?” While there is still not peace in the region, hopefully this knot too can be undone with the help of Our Lady. Mary, the mother of Jesus, under the title of “Our Lady, Untier of Knots” is one of Pope Francis’ favorite devotions to the Blessed Mother, and mine as well. The origin of the term comes from the writings of the early Church Father, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, who said “the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith.” Irenaeus saw the link between Eve and Mary. While Eve tied a knot by her disobedience to God’s will, Mary more than compensated, and undid the knot, by her humble “yes” to the angel Gabriel. The fall of Adam and Eve led to original sin, the cause of disorder and sin in our world. However, Jesus came to save us from original sin by becoming man through Mary. Mary played an important part in the “untying” of original sin. The title “Untier of Knots” shows the important way Mary cooperated with God and his plan of salvation. Many of us today can be “tied up” in the course of our lives. We all have those worries and problems that seem to have no possible resolution. We all have our own knots. Maybe the concerns and weight of everyday life even seem to bind and trap you in a tangled mess of knots. Possibly, you, or someone you know, might feel that their sins are too great for God to forgive them. I would simply encourage you to ask Our Lady, as the “Untier of Knots,” to loosen those places of tension so that you can know God’s mercy in a new way. Sometimes, for myself, when I find myself wishing for something that seems impossible or am struggling to resolve a difficult situation, I just give my desire or struggle to Our Lady, Untier of Knots, and let Mary handle the rest. If I try and resolve the situation myself, I tend to just get more tied up. Instead, giving the problem to Mary, I know that Our Lady, who is a tender and loving mother, can slowly and peacefully loosen the knots. Our Lady, Untier of Knots, pray for us -and untie our knots! - Fr. Matthew Hood
Mary, Untier of Knots
Please pray for Claire Griffin who celebrated her 1st Holy Communion on Saturday, May 12, 2018 !!! We apologize that Claire Griffin was omitted from our 2018 communicant list.
ATTENTION: ALL HOMEBOUND & NURSING HOME MINISTERS Every person who brings Communion to the homebound will be asked to go through a short training session to be certified as homebound ministers. WHO: Everyone who brings the Eucharist to someone after Mass. WHEN: There will be one more training session before the June 3 deadline. The next training session will be on May 29th at 7PM in the Elementary School Multi-Purpose Room. Please plan on attending one of the training sessions. There will be additional training sessions after June 3 on a regular basis. If you have any questions, please contact the Rectory Office at 313-277-3110.