LITURGY MATTERS: Untangling the messy threads of our lives

By Michael McKenna, Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies

Across cultures and throughout history, knots have served as powerful metaphors for the complexities of the human condition. While not all knots are bad, certainly there are those of us who have willingly ‘tied the knot’ seeking lasting happiness.

The metaphor vividly captures that sense of inner turmoil which so often accompanies the more complex, often messy ways in which people become spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and socially knotted up with one another or with circumstances.

Each poor choice, each moment of pride or fear, adds another twist to the cord of our lives and before long we are almost hopelessly entangled and prevented from living freely in God’s grace, peace, or purpose.

As the frustration of our situation overwhelms, the more we try to fix things ourselves, pulling at the knots only seems to make them tighter.

Thankfully, help is at hand!

A spiritually rich aspect of the Church’s patrimony of Marian devotions is the devotion to Our Lady Undoer of Knots, that Marian title symbolising Mary’s intercessory power to patiently and lovingly undo the ‘knots’ of sin, despair, and hardship that bind us and prevent us from living freely in God’s grace.

Theologically, the devotion is grounded in the belief that Mary, through her obedience and faith, untied the knot of Eve’s disobedience – a concept articulated by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century, who wrote that “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary.”

The origin of the devotion’s contemporary expression is connected to an early 18th century Baroque painting titled ‘Maria Knotenlöserin’ (‘Mary, Untier of Knots’) by German artist Johann Georg Melchior Schmidtner.

The painting depicts Mary surrounded by angels, serenely untying a long ribbon of knots, with one angel handing her the knotted ribbon and another presenting it smooth and free of tangles.

In a 2013 homily, Pope Francis, whose papacy was defined by the fervent belief in God’s mercy, reflected that Mary’s obedience opened the door for God to undo humanity’s ancient knot of disobedience.

A devotee who first encountered the image while studying in Germany, Pope Francis in 2021 crowned a statue of Our Lady Undoer of Knots in the Vatican Gardens, praying for her intercession to untangle the global crisis of the pandemic and bring peace and healing to the world.

The novena to Mary, Untier of Knots is an increasingly popular devotion. Inviting the faithful to reflect on their struggles and entrust them to Mary’s care, it is a devotion through which we may find renewed hope, peace, and a sense of God’s divine mercy in our lives.