"Maria! Joseph! Come on downstairs!"
It's seven o'clock in the Pluta household. A cotton-candy sunset has painted the sky, the golden light of sun saying its final goodbye as it disappears behind the mountains for the night. Papa, Mama, and Elisha are gathered in the living room, and they listen as Maria and Joseph, the two eldest, come running down the stairs from the top floor. Maria leans backwards into the couch until she has fallen into place beside her father, and Joseph plops down on the floor at his mother's feet. Maria pulls her tiny wooden rosary from a pocket, a present gifted to her by her parents just before she began first grade the year before.
"Not today, love," Mama says, resting a hand over her six-year-old daughter's rosary-wrapped one. "Today, we'll be praying a little differently."
Maria cocks her head and looks with curiosity at her parents.
"Today, we are going to begin a novena," Papa declares.
"What's a novena?" Joseph pipes up from the floor, his head resting on Mama's knee.
"Here, we'll teach you as we go along..." Mama says, and she and Papa reverently make the sign of the cross.
"Novena" is a word of Latin origin, which comes from the word "nine". A novena is a nine day prayer in which you pray for a specific intention. Perhaps your grandmother is in the hospital, and needs prayers for recovery. Perhaps your father has just lost his job, and he needs prayers to find a new one. In any situation, a novena is a wonderful way to put yourself before the Lord to ask for His help when you need it most.
But a novena is not a magic charm, or a spell to send all your problems away. It comes only with a guarantee - that your prayers will be answered...though not always in the way you expect! Sometimes, our prayers might not even be answered as swiftly as we expect! Still, this doesn't mean that we have prayed so fervently for nothing! Jesus loves our prayers and wants to answer them, according to His Will...which is always more beautiful than anything we could ever imagine!
For the next nine days, we will be praying the novena to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. You can follow along each day, as the prayers will be posted daily. And remember, not all novenas are the same. We will be praying the one from praymorenovenas.com. Before you begin, take a moment to think of an intention which needs special prayers. Once you have thought of it, you are ready to begin.
Day One
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dearest Holy Mother, Most Holy Mary, you undo the knots that suffocate your children. Extend your merciful hands to me. I entrust to You today this knot [mention your request here] and all the negative consequences that it provokes in my life.
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for me.
Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, 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 exist in your heart, cast your compassionate eyes upon me and see the snarl of knots that exists 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 G'D 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.
[Mention your request here]
I beg you to undo it for the glory of G'D, once for all. You are my hope.
O my Lady, you are the only consolation G'D 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.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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