Day 9: Surrender and confidence

On the ninth and last day of the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena, we close with the disposition that all the previous days have been preparing: total surrender to the Mother who has taken the ribbon of our lives into her hands. The knots have been named, brought, entrusted, and (in the order of grace) the work of undoing has begun. Today we close with thanksgiving, with confidence, and with the Marian consecration that gives the novena its lasting form.

Today's meditation

The closing day of the novena is not the day on which we expect every knot to have been visibly undone. Some of the knots in our lives are years in the tying, and they will be years in the undoing. Mary's work is patient and slow; she undoes the ribbon strand by strand, not by pulling the whole tangle apart at once. The Schmidtner painting itself shows the work in progress: angels handing her the knotted ribbon at one end, the unknotted ribbon emerging at the other end. The middle, where Mary is at work, is the part of the painting that takes the longest to look at.

What we receive on the ninth day is not necessarily the visible resolution of the matter but the deeper gift: the confident entrustment of the matter to her, and the grace to live in the meanwhile under her motherly care. This is the durable fruit of the novena.

Today's act of consecration and thanksgiving

Begin today by giving thanks. Whatever the visible state of the matter at the close of these nine days, name to Mary your gratitude for her motherly care over the past nine days.

Then pray a brief act of Marian consecration:

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, Undoer of Knots, today I consecrate to your Immaculate Heart the ribbon of my life with all its knots, both those I have named in this novena and those I do not yet see. I trust that you will continue to undo them in the time and manner most fruitful for my salvation and the glory of God. I promise to honor you as my Mother, to pray daily, to receive the sacraments faithfully, and to encourage devotion to you among my friends and family. Mary, my Mother, I am yours; do with me as you will. Amen.

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 complete Rosary today

If at all possible, today pray the complete Rosary (the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries, or the day's mysteries by the day of the week). Today's rosary is the lifelong rosary's renewal.

Reflection

The novena has been completed. The Mother of God has heard you. Her work in the order of grace, begun on Day 1, will continue beyond Day 9, and beyond the close of the year, and beyond the rest of your life on earth.

The Catholic devotional tradition holds that the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena is most fruitfully prayed three times in succession (a triduum of novenas, twenty-seven days). Many Catholics, after a first novena that they have prayed for a particular knot, repeat it once or twice more if the matter has not yet visibly resolved. Others pray a single annual novena in renewal of their Marian consecration.

The most fruitful long-term form of the devotion is its incorporation into the daily Catholic life: the daily rosary, the keeping of an image of Our Lady Undoer of Knots in the home or workplace, the periodic renewal of the consecration, the encouragement of the devotion among one's children and friends. The work of Mary in undoing the knots of our lives is meant to be the lifelong work of our Mother, not the nine-day project of a particular crisis.

Practical follow-through

In the days and weeks following the novena, consider:

• Going to confession (if you have not yet, or if it has been long), so that the sacramental remission of the deepest knot of sin underlies the continuing intercession.
• Placing an image of Mary Undoer of Knots in your home, particularly in a room of family life (the kitchen, the dining room, the family room).
• Praying the daily rosary, with the Mary Undoer of Knots intention as one of your sustained intentions.
• Making the Marian consecration of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, in the thirty-three-day preparation, at some point in the year ahead.
• Encouraging this devotion among your family and friends; the gratitude proper to the answered novena includes the spreading of the devotion to others.

Closing prayers

For the life of the Mother of God, see Mary, Mother of God. For other novenas in the Catholic tradition, see the novenas hub.

Conclude with the Memorare, the Hail Holy Queen, and the closing invocation:

Holy Mary, Undoer of Knots, our Mother and our Hope, we entrust to you forever the ribbon of our lives. Untie what is knotted. Smooth what is tangled. Lead us, with all your children, to the eternal peace of your Son. Amen.

Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.