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Day 7 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

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Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Seventh day:

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Bible reading:

“ It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.”(Luke 23, 44)

Brief Reflection:

The Father’s will is about to be acomplished; Our Lord Jesus Christ will die on the cross for our salvation, in the promise of his Resurrection. From the darkness the light will shine to illumine us, freedom from darkness. We already see our problems with more clarity. Our ties loosen, in the measure in which they conform to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. At this time we are closer to his Mother, the Virgin Mary.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Day 6 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sixth day:

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Bible reading:

4 Jesus replied, “Woman, your thoughts are not mine! My hour has not yet come.” 5 However his mother said to the servants, “Do what-ever he tells you.” (John 2, 4-5)

Brief Reflection:

In the wedding feast of Cana , the patient Virgin Mary interce-des for the guest. With this act, she inaugurates her Mediation between the Son of God and men. The faithful servant of the Lord, is our most humble and maternal servant, in our afflictions, despairs, tribulations and wrongs doings. She is the Mediatrix of all graces, to which we commend ourselves in our intricate problems, that with her maternal hands, she will untie the knots that still imprison us.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Day 5 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Fifth day:

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Bible Reading:

« 7 Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. 8 For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and the door will be opened to him who knocks. » (Mathew 7, 7-8)

Brief Reflection:

The Heart of Mary is opened to us, like the door to heaven. We only need to ask for her help and her maternal arms will open for our tor-tured spirits. In her we will find the solution to our problems, balm for our pain, and answers to our doubts. Mary our help, intercede for us.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Day 4 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

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Fourth day:

Bible reading:

« 15 When the angels had left them and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go as far as Bethlehem and see what the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came hurriedly and found Mary and Joseph with the baby lying in the manger. 17 On seeing this they related what they had been told about the child, 18 and all were astonished on hearing the shepherds.19 As for Mary, she treasured all these messages and continually pondered over them.» (Luke 2, 15-19)

Brief Reflection:

They went to Bethlehem, where they found the Child, “The word made flesh”, the only Truth. Let us walk through our desert, that with the guidence of the Archángel Raphael, that we may come closer to Mary Mother of the Church, and with her to Jesus. Little by little, the knots of error that make us prisoners will be untied. “The Truth shall set us free”. Let us walk in confidence towards our liberation.”

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton – a Eucharistic Saint!

(The following wonderful reflection on the life of St. Elzabeth Ann Seton is from Fr. Mark Kirby which can be found on his website Vultus Christi ….I highly encourage you to check it out!!!
Dom Mark Daniel Kirby is Prior of the Diocesan Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle in Tulsa, Oklahoma.His Excellency Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa established the monastery in 2009 with the distinctive mission of Eucharistic Adoration for the sanctification of priests.)

William Magee Seton gave this lithograph of Christ the Redeemer to his beloved wife, Elizabeth Ann Seton, sometime between 1774 and 1803. Its Eucharistic theme prophetically reflected the profound devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist that would characterize her piety as a Catholic.

Below is a photograph of a copy of a variant of the Memorare handwritten by Elizabeth Ann Seton. At the end of text she added the touching plea, “Love me, my Mother.

The Italian Experience

The conversion of Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton began in 1803 while she, a twenty-nine year old widow with one of her five children, were the guests of the Filicchi family in Livorno, or Leghorn, Italy. The Catholic Filicchis, Antonio and his wife Amabilia, offered her a gracious hospitality and unfailing emotional support in a time of crisis.

The Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin

In one of Signora Filicchi’s prayer books, Mrs. Seton came upon the text of Saint Bernard’s Memorare; she found in the Virgin Mary the tenderness and the pity of a mother. “That night,” she writes, “I cried myself to sleep in her heart.”

The Tabernacle

The Filicchi home contained a private chapel where the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. Elizabeth was drawn to the tabernacle. Even before her mind had been instructed in the mysteries of the Catholic faith, her heart recognized the living presence of the Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. Her American Protestant sensibility was perplexed and, yet, she could not deny her heart’s fascination with the Lamb of God hidden beneath the sacramental veils.

Return to New York

Elizabeth’s long personal memoir, The Italian Journal, recounts the intimate details of her inner struggle and conversion to Catholicism. Elizabeth and her ten year old daughter, Anna Maria, returned to New York on June 3, 1804, accompanied by Antonio Filicchi — a man to whom Elizabeth had become deeply attached. He had become for her a friend and a spiritual counselor.

Read more

Day 3 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

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Third day:

Bible reading:

« Mary said, “ Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. “Then the Angel departed from her.” » ( Luke 1, 38 )

Brief Reflection:

The Virgin Mary meekly undergoes the designs of God, although with certain reservations. “.. How can this be if I do not know man?…she accepts, with some concerns. How many doubts will we have when we have moved away from God, and in our mistakes, we have knitted a useless cobweb of knots. Let us give our griefs to the council of Mary.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

A History of Apologetics… In Conversation with Cardinal Avery Dulles

Bruce and I had the great blessing in 2005 of having a conversation with the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the foremost American Catholic theologians of the post-Vatican II era about “A History of Apologetics”.

It seemed appropriate, especially during the Year of Faith, to listen once again to his words of wisdom about the importance of our individual Christian testimony over the winning of a “faith debate”. We also discuss the legacy of Bl. John Newman and Bl. John Paul II, and so much more. Cardinal Dulles died December, 27, 2008.

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You can find the book here
From the description:“Written by one of American Catholicism’s leading theologians, A History of Apologetics also examines apologetics in the 20th and early 21st centuries including its decline among Catholics following Vatican II and its recent revival, as well as the contributions of contemporary Evangelical Protestant apologists. Dulles also considers the growing Catholic-Protestant convergence in apologetics. No student of apologetics and contemporary theology should be without this superb and masterful work”.

St. Basil the Great – the “Doer” with Mike Aquilina – Discerning Hearts

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Known as the “Doer”, St. Basil the Great is an extraordinary figure in our Christian heritage.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has said,

Saint Basil the Great, one of the most eminent Fathers of the Eastern Church, showed to all those who wished to give themselves completely to God the way of monastic life, “where the precept of concretely lived charity becomes the ideal of human coexistence, where the human being seeks God without limitation or impediment” (cf. Orientale Lumen, 9). Saint Basil is for you a model of perfect service of God and the Church. His whole life consisted in the harmonious exercise of the virtue of faith and in acts of practical love in the spirit of the evangelical counsels. Down the centuries the teaching of Saint Basil has borne mature fruits of religious life, especially in the East.

Take a listen to the interview above with Mike Aquilina and learn so much more about this “great” Father of the Church

Day 2 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Second day:
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Bible reading:

…« And the Angel said to her in reply, ”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

( Luke 1, 35 )

Brief Reflection:

The Holy Spirit, Third Person of God, overshadowed the womb of the Virgin Mary full of grace, and the power of the most High was with her so that she would give birth to our savior made man. That is why the Virgin Mary is blessed and holy. In her, The Son of God inhabited. ¡ Who better than his Mother, to aid us and help us to dismantle our tangled conflicts!

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Day 1 The Virgin Mary, Untier of Knots Novena – Discerning Hearts

(A brief note why I felt the Novena is so important to promote…you can find the text for Day 1 lower in the post)

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

“Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by Her obedience, undid it…For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the Virgin Mary set free through faith.” Saint Irenaeus, in his writings, titled Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies).

I once experienced a situation in which I was totally flummoxed in how to proceed; the result was a tremendous piercing of the heart, all very painful and sad. A large messy misunderstanding arose and the ability to communicate with the other person involved completely disappeared. I wasn’t sure how to pray or even what to pray for, and frankly, it just hurt so much I couldn’t think what to do next. So, like any confused child, I went to my mother for help…our Blessed Mother to be more specific.

As indicated by the great saint above, St. Irenaeus, the role of Our Lady as the one who “unties” the knots in our lives goes way back to the early years of the Church. The “knots” of course can be anything that separates us from God and our fellow man. And in particular, those knots that tie up and strangle loving relationships in families and friendships.

The image most closely associated with this devotion was one in the 1700s by an unknown painter. As you can see in the picture, in her hands is a knotted white ribbon, which, with the aid of the angels, she is peacefully untying. All of this is done under the watchful gaze of the Holy Spirit. All the while she is crushing, under her feet, the head of the serpent whose body is coiled and knotted.

In her booklet, Dr. Suzel Frem Bourgerie’s writes about the knots each of us suffers. “How they suffocate the soul, beat us down, betray the heart’s joy and even the will to continue living.” She goes on to say: “… The Virgin Mary does not want this to continue anymore in your life. She comes to you today for you to give her all these snarls because she will undo them one by one.”

In the personal situation that I cited above, I found great comfort and peace knowing that our Blessed Mother was handling everything. I grew to trust in her loving care for the relationship. She, in turn, has taught me to totally trust her Son in all things That was the first knot she needed to untie for me, now she’s working on the others.

Click here for the complete text and audio for the Mary, Untier of Knots Novena

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

First Day

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Bible reading:

…« and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins.»

( Mathew 1, 21 )

Brief Reflection:

Our Lord Jesus, was born of the flesh and blood of the Holy Virgin Mary, spouse of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, untied the tongues of the mute, the obstacles to the paralytics, he remove the yoke of the oppressed , and he liberated the sinners with his death. Jesus, through his Death and Resurrection is the Great Untier of Knots of our humanity united to sin. His Mother, first disciple and co re-demptrix, will untie our knots.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Seventh day:

Bible reading:

“ It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.”(Luke 23, 44)

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Sixth day:

Bible reading:

4 Jesus replied, “Woman, your thoughts are not mine! My hour has not yet come.” 5 However his mother said to the servants, “Do what-ever he tells you.” (John 2, 4-5)

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Fifth day:

Bible Reading:

« 7 Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. 8 For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and the door will be opened to him who knocks. » (Mathew 7, 7-8)

Brief Reflection:

The Heart of Mary is opened to us, like the door to heaven. We only need to ask for her help and her maternal arms will open for our tor-tured spirits. In her we will find the solution to our problems, balm for our pain, and answers to our doubts. Mary our help, intercede for us.

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Fourth day:

Bible reading:

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Third day:

Bible reading:

« Mary said, “ Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. “Then the Angel departed from her.” » ( Luke 1, 38 )

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Bruce and I had the great blessing in 2005 of having a conversation with the late Cardinal Avery Dulles, one of the foremost American Catholic theologians of the post-Vatican II era about “A History of Apologetics”.

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

Bible reading:

…« And the Angel said to her in reply, ”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

( Luke 1, 35 )

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross Act of Contrition

First Day

Bible reading:

…« and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins.»

( Mathew 1, 21 )

Brief Reflection:

( Brief meditation: meditate with one decade of the Holy Rosary: One Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, One Glory be and the Prayer to “The Virgin Mary untier of Knots”)

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition

Sign of the Cross
Act of Contrition