The devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots is known around the world and more and more people from all races are becoming devoted to the one who can undo the knots of our lives.
But what are these knots?
They are the problems and struggles we face and for which we see no solution.
Knots of discord in your family, disrespect, violence, the knots of deep hurts between husband and wife, the absence of peace and joy at home. They are also the knots of anguish and despair, dissolution of the family, the knots of a drug addict son or daughter, sick or separated from home or God, knots of alcoholism, the practice of abortion, depression, unemployment, fear and solitude – the knots of our life! How they suffocate the soul, beat us down and betray the heart’s joy and separate us from God.
The devotion to Mary Undoer of Knots is not new. It is more than 300 years old. However, it is
not based on an apparition of the Virgin Mary to a person like in Lourdes or Fatima, but rather it is a respected devotion as many other in the Catholic Church, despite the fact that the Virgin Mary is only one.
How was this devotion started?
To show us the mission granted to the Virgin Mary by Her Son, an unknown painter in 1700 painted Mary Undoer of Knots with great grace. Since then his painting has been adored in the Church of St. Peter in Perlack, Germany. Its inspiration was the result of St. Irineus’s meditation. He, who in the light of the parallel made by St. Paul between Adam and Christ, created the comparison of Eve and Mary saying:
‘Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; to the contrary, Mary, by her obedience, undid it’.
The painting shows an angel giving the Virgin Mary a ribbon full of knots, which represents the ribbon of our life and our problems. Mary interceding for us with Jesus, undoing with love and mercy the knots and another angel receives the plain ribbon with no knots, which has been undone by our Holy Mother. The knots are undone with our prayers described in an infallible Novena.
The devotion to Mary Undoer of Knots is known in many different countries, and the Novena is printed in nineteen languages and in Braille. More than 1,700,000 copies were distributed and it has the Cardinal’s ecclesiastic approval, receiving the ‘NIHIL OBSTAT and IMPRIMATUR’.
This Novena is known around the world … and can change your life.
Why a Novena? Why nine days?
Mary stayed for nine days surrounded by the apostles in the cenacle, praying for the presence of the Holy Spirit.
In this persevering prayer she taught us the constancy of faith and ardour, in order for us not to be discouraged about a request directed to God. The Mother of God prayed and gave courage to the apostles to pray for nine days, in order to receive the most important and precious treasure for human life – The Holy Spirit.
To learn about the devotion to Mary Undoer of Knots and the Novena, please visit our website www.maryundoerofknots.com or contact: novena@maryundoerofknots.com
Pakistan has won the Ninth Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay Award held on Friday, 8 June 2018 on the solemn feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – a day reserved for praying for the sanctification of priests worldwide.
The Ninth Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay 2018 award was presented by Rev. Father Nazar Nawab, parish priest of St. Paul’s Parish Karachi, and the local representative of the Worldpriest Global Apostolate for Pakistan, Naveed Anjum, to His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Karachi-Pakistan on Friday 25 January 2019, on the solemn feast of the conversion of St. Paul the Apostle and The Golden Jubilee Celebration Day of St. Paul’s Parish Mehmoodabad Karachi-Pakistan (the biggest Parish of Metropolitan Karachi, Pakistan).
His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Coutts is Pakistan’s second Cardinal, elevated as Cardinal last year on 28 June, by Pope Francis, after twenty years serving with the Church in Pakistan. The first Cardinal of Pakistan, His Eminence Joseph Marie Anthony Cordeiro died on 11 February 1994, having been elevated as Cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1978.
There were five apparitions recorded at Guadalupe in Mexico.
The first apparition: At dawn on 9 December 1531, Juan Diego, an Indian convert, was going to Tlatelolco to attend catechism class and hear Mass. As he was passing Tepeyac Hill, he saw a brilliant light on the summit and heard the strains of celestial music. Filled with wonder, he stopped. Then he heard a feminine voice asking him to ascend. When he reached the top he saw the Blessed Virgin Mary standing in the midst of a glorious light, in heavenly splendour. The beauty of her youthful countenance and her look of loving kindness filled Juan Diego with unspeakable happiness as he listened to the words she spoke to him in his native language. She told him she was the perfect and eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, and made known to him her desire that a shrine be built there where she could demonstrate her love, her compassion and her protection. “For I am your merciful Mother”, she said, “to you and to all mankind who love me and trust in me and invoke my help. Therefore, go to the dwelling of the Bishop in Mexico City and say that the Virgin Mary sent you to make known to him her great desire.”
The second apparition: The bishop was reluctant to believe Juan Diego’s story. Juan returned to Tepeyac Hill where he found the Blessed Virgin waiting for him, and told her of his failure. She bade him return to the bishop the next day and repeat her wishes.
A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth. John 10:27
We wish a Happy Christmas to all bishops, priests, friends, benefactors, volunteers and the Worldpriest team.
We also wish you a Happy New Year as 2019 approaches – a year which will mark the tenth anniversary of the Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay for the sanctification of priests taking place on 26 June and the twenty-fifth anniversary of Marion Mulhall’s vocation to promote the priesthood at any price on 15 January 1994, which lead to the birth of the Worldpriest Global Apostolate as we know it today.
Founder Worldpriest
Any time of year, especially during the holidays, the most precious gift you can give the young or the old; the rich or the poor; the near or the faraway; is your prayer.
We all have family and friends that are struggling. Give them the gift of prayer for Christmas. For those family members that have so much materially, they too will benefit from your gift of prayer. And now you have the opportunity to pray for your family as part of a large prayer community (guild).
A very special global Guild has been established in honor of Father Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., (1909 – 1992) who was the worldwide Church’s advocate for family prayer, especially the Rosary. Father Peyton is a candidate for sainthood and it is hoped one day he will be revered as the “Saint for Family Prayer.” Together Guild members pray for their own personal intentions and for the advancement of Father Peyton’s cause for sainthood.
Last year on December 18, Pope Francis promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic virtues and sanctity of life of Father Peyton, recognizing him as Venerable by the Roman Catholic Church, the second of the four stages to sainthood.
“England, great cause have you to be glad … for in you is built a mansion to the honour of the Heavenly Empress and of her most glorious salutation, the first of her joys, when Gabriel said at Nazareth “Ave”.” (Pynson Ballad 1496)
The Pynson Ballad tells us that Richeldis de Faverches in 1061, wanting to do some great work for Our Lady, was transported in a dream to Nazareth, where Our Lady told her to measure the Holy House of the Annunciation and build one similar to it in Walsingham.
It was this Saxon Holy House that brought countless pilgrims from England and abroad on pilgrimage to Walsingham. It is known that an Augustinian Priory was built beside the Holy House in 1153, the Canons of which were to care for the Shrine and its pilgrims until the Reformation.
The fame of the Shrine was enriched by many visits from King Henry III (1207-1272) and from then on, every English Monarch visited the Shrine at least once in their reign, the last being Henry VIII, who came on pilgrimage in to give thanks for the birth of a son (1511) – this child soon died, and it was providing a Tudor heir to the throne that was to be the cause of the Reformation here in England.
In 1537 The Canons of Walsingham Priory were one of the first Monastic houses to sign the Act of Supremacy, the document which estranged Henry VIII from the Pope, and in effect, created the ‘Church of England’ with the English Monarch as its Head, rather than The Pope.
This is Marion Mulhall the Founder of the Worldpriest Global Apostolate making a personal appeal to all readers, wherever you may be located.
Worldpriest needs urgent financial support to continue supporting priests in a spiritual and pastoral way and to expand the Worldpriest Annual Global Rosary Relay for the sanctification of priests now in its 10th anniversary year following an inspiration from Our Lady of ‘twenty countries twenty mysteries’.
On the eight of June this year 12 to 14 million people joined in prayer as one family from every corner of the earth, with 700 million Hail Marys being prayed.
On the 28 June 2019 Annual Global Rosary Relay day our goal is to pray a billion Hail Marys as a gift to Our Lady in thanksgiving for all priests.
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Marion Mulhall recalls 7 October 2018, when she was guest speaker at Our Lady of Good Help National Shrine At Green Bay Wisconsin – the only approved apparition shrine in the USA.
It was the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and I felt so blessed to be there on my first visit. Corrie Campbell, Communications Director at the shrine, along with the shrine Rector Father Broussard and the shrine team had planned my visit so perfectly. I felt at home immediately, even though I had travelled all the way from Ireland. From my first meeting with Corrie at the airport in Green Bay, every aspect of my visit unfolded perfectly.
As we drove from my hotel to the shrine on the Sunday I was pleasantly surprised to be in such a remote place, with cornfields as far as the eye could see, an orderly landscape with scattered farm buildings and trees turning to their magnificent autumn colours in the early morning sunshine.
When we finally turned into the shrine grounds, the church first caught my attention. I felt an immediate sense of elation being in this sacred prayer-filled place where Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise on 9 October 1859. Our Lady said she was ‘the Queen of Heaven’ and asked Adele to ‘gather the children in the wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation’. Adele did this with great vigour and enthusiasm for very many years, gathering a community about her to aid her mission.
The story of Knock began on Thursday evening of 21 August 1879, when the Blessed Virgin Mary, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist appeared at the south gable of the Parish Church at Knock, County Mayo, Ireland. Beside them and a little to their left was an altar with a cross and the figure of a lamb, around which angels hovered.
There were fifteen official witnesses to the apparition – young and old – who watched and prayed for two hours in the pouring rain. The witnesses were ordinary people from the village of Knock and the surrounding hinterland.
Two Commissions of Enquiry, in 1879 and 1936, accepted their testimony as trustworthy and satisfactory. Today, Knock ranks among the world’s major Marian Shrines. Pilgrims come here seeking peace and prayer and to enjoy the beautiful landscaped gardens, meandering pathways and the wonderful sense of peace and calm.
Knock Shrine has a unique history and a number of beautiful churches as well as a rich offering of services and facilities, including an award-winning museum, a prayer centre, youth ministry, counselling centre, a contemporary café and excellent bookshop with a wide range of spiritual and religious books and resources. There are five chapels at Knock, where ceremonies take place daily. The iconic Knock Basilica houses the Apparition Mosaic, a magnificent piece of artwork representing the Apparition of 1879. The beautiful stations of the cross recently installed in the basilica are the work Westport-based artist Ger Sweeney, using oil on linen.
Marion Mulhall, founder of the Worldpriest global aspostolate and the Annual Global Rosary Relay for the Sanctification of Priests, will travel from Ireland to be the guest speaker on 7 October, at the national novena at the shrine of Our Lady of Good Help, Green Bay, in the northern US state of Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The day will begin with a Mass at 11am for the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary at the shrine, which is the only approved apparition National Shrine to Our Lady within the United States.
At 12 noon there will be a family lunch at which Marion will speak, telling her personal story behind the founding of the Worldpriest apostolate, which is now recognised in eighty countries around the world through the Annual Rosary Relay of Priests. This prayer event, which touches the lives of millions around the world every year continues to grow, and will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2019.