Today is the feast of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, a very old and traditional devotion. Here is a novena for
Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation and in preparation for the feast of Our Lady of Victory on October 7.
Prayer to Mary, Undoer of Knots.
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 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. (Mention your requests here - especially for Judge Kavanaugh to be confirmed to the Supreme Court) 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.
I support Archbishop Vigano and his attempt to bring some clarity to a terrible situation, while weeping for the infamy heaped upon the Chair of St. Peter. Emmett O'Regan views the calamity in the light of Sacred Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, and approved apparitions. From Unveiling the Apocalypse:
It is no coincidence that Christ's discourse on the binding of the "strong
man" occurred in the immediate context of the appearance of the "Sign
of Jonah" in Matt 12 (which originally took the form of a total solar
eclipse over ancient Nineveh just before Jonah's arrival into the city). Or
that the start of the First World War at the beginning of the period of Satan's
greater power coincided with the appearance of yet another solar eclipse
crossing the site of ancient Nineveh on the feast day of Our Lady of Knock, on
21st August, 1914. The fact that the end of the Sabbath Millennium discussed by
the Early Church Fathers was preceded by a century of genocide foretold in the
vision of Pope Leo XIII leaves us with little room for doubt that the siege of
the camp of the saints at the end of the thousand years mentioned in Rev 20
began to unfold at the opening of the 20th century.
The current age of apostasy we are enduring is the fruit of Satan's unbinding
at the end of the thousand years, during which he has managed to blind the
minds of unbelievers to the truth of the Gospel (2Cor 4:4), and the love of
many had grown cold because of the increase of evil (Matt 24:12). This evil has
manifested itself most prevalently within the Church itself in the form of the
clerical sexual abuse scandal, which has turned baptised Catholics away from
the pews en masse, and sullied the wedding gown of the Bride of Christ.
Now just over a year on from another total solar eclipse which took crossed
America on the feast day of Our Lady of Knock, on 21st August 2017 - the
centenary year of Our Lady of Fatima, one of the most shocking accusations
against a reigning pontiff by a high-ranking prelate in the Catholic Church
took place at the site of the Knock apparition - which represents the Divine
Throne Room seen in Zech 3. This accusation has rocked the Catholic Church in
America, and is symptomatic of the wider rebellion that is being plotted
against the Holy Father by many high-ranking officials in the Church hierarchy.
Just as the sullied robes of the Jewish High Priest are removed and replaced
with fresh linen after Satan makes his accusation against him, we can only hope
and pray that we are on the cusp of the purification of the Church which is
promised to take place before the coming of the Antichrist. (Read more.)
I ask whoever is able to join me in this novena to Our Lady of Mercy, also known as Our Lady of Ransom, for the women and girls who are enslaved throughout the Middle East, and for all victims of human trafficking. The novena begins today and ends on September 23. September 24 is the feast of Our Lady of Ransom, a feast especially dedicated to the deliverance of the enslaved and unjustly imprisoned.
Blessed be Thou, O Mary, the honor and the joy of Thy people! On the day of Thy glorious Assumption, Thou didst take possession of Thy queenly dignity for our sake; and the annals of the human race are a record of Thy merciful interventions. The captives whose chains Thou hast broken, and whom Thou hast set free from the degrading yoke of the Saracens, may be reckoned in the millions. We are still rejoicing in the recollection of Thy dear Birthday; and Thy smile is sufficient to dry our tears and chase away the clouds of grief. And yet, what sorrows there are still upon the earth, where Thou Thyself didst drink such long draughts from the cup of suffering! Thou alone, O Mary, canst break the inextricable chains, in which the cunning prince of darkness entangles the dupes he has deceived by the high-sounding names of equality and liberty. Show thyself a Queen, by coming to the rescue. The whole earth, the entire human race, cries out to Thee, in the words of Mordochai: “Speak to the King for us, and deliver us from death!” (Esther 15: 3)
(State your request here)
Let us Pray. O God, Who through the most glorious Mother of Thy Son wast pleased to give new children to Thy Church for the deliverance of Christ's faithful from the power of the heathen, grant, we pray Thee, that we who affectionately honor her as the Foundress of so great a work, may, by her merits and intercession, be delivered from the slavery of sin and the eternal flames of Hell. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, One God, forever, unto ages of ages. Amen.
We need
life jackets to persevere and ride out the raging storm. God gave us
many warnings of the current crisis we are passing through. Warnings
with instructions on how to successfully pass over the raging waters.
The first warnings were given in scriptures, the most relevant is the
book of Jude. It is the shortest book of the Bible aptly depicting the
current crisis we are living in. Read and pray over the book to see how
God wants us to live through these days.
Also recall the visions of St John Bosco in the 1840s. Remember the 2 Columns and the ship, representing the church. It was traveling in a fierce storm other ships were bombing it with
canons and it almost capsized. Finally seeing two columns in the
distance it made its way towards them and found safety and anchored
between them. The first column was the Eucharist and the second was Our
Lady. Placing its anchor here the storm could no longer toss them about
in this safe harbor. Let each one of us find that safe harbor!
We must
continually work on our own faults and deepen our personal union with
Jesus. Taking the speck from our own eyes first so we can see clearly
how to help our brethren. Our strength will come from the Eucharist and
Our Lady!
Let us
renew our dedication to Christ and the Church offering our prayers and
sufferings for all the bad priests bishops cardinals who failed us.
Commend them to Our Lord asking God to give them the grace to repent. (Read more.)
We rightly speak of the Church as indefectible, for Christ said to Peter, And
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:18-19).
Be careful, though: The indefectibility of the Church does not pertain to land, building, power, or glamor.
Consider, by contrast, the Church at her most victorious moment: Good
Friday on an ugly hillside called Golgotha. Only one clergyman, St.
John the Apostle, and four women were there with Christ. The Church was
very small at that moment. There were no marble altars, no stone
churches or basilicas, no papal estates or gold-embroidered vestments.
It was just Jesus, the head of the body, and a few of his members. The
rest of the clergy and disciples, even Peter, were hiding in fear,
disavowing knowledge of him and standing a safe distance away. Yet this
small gathering of the Church saw the greatest victory of all: By dying,
Christ destroyed death and broke Satan’s power.
Yes, sometimes the Church gets small and seems quite
powerless. Sometimes the Gospel is preached from a jail cell or at an
execution site. The blood of martyrs is seed for the Church. So, we ought not to imagine the indefectibility of the Church as
something rooted in external glories such as power, land, buildings,
titles, golden chalices or elaborate vestments. The Liturgy of the Hours has been warning us of the possibility of
disaster if we do not repent. If you think St. Peter’s Basilica could
never be taken or the pope exiled from Rome (or even killed), think
again. Of the first 33 popes, 30 died as martyrs. Two others died in
exile. Only one died in his own bed. The Church had no basilicas or land
until A.D. 313. Popes were exiled numerous times during the Middle
Ages. They also took refuge in Avignon for far too long a time. If you
think St. Peter’s will always be there, consider that the Hagia Sophia
in Constantinople, a basilica arguably as glorious as St. Peter’s,
became a mosque and is now a secular museum.
Yes, God’s warnings are as real today as ever. He is more interested
in our souls than our buildings. Our museums and works of art are
trinkets to Him compared to the holiness of our lives, which he seeks.
We are too easily mesmerized by the worldly splendor of such things and
think it can substitute for the holiness and truth to which it points. During this painful crisis of clergy sexual abuse, vague leadership,
and lack of accountability, the call goes out with an urgency that
rivals the greatest cries of biblical times: the Church must repent.
This cry is addressed to all, from the laity and the lowliest of clergy
to the Pope himself. Serious sins must be acknowledged and repented of.
The Church must accept a deep purification that, though sure to be
painful, is necessary.
For too long we have tolerated sin and toyed with compromise and
heresy. Too many Catholics, even high-ranking bishops, have sought to
excuse sin and have even tried to alter the very words of Christ. Some
have stayed silent or turned a blind eye to sin and dissent. Still
others have “majored in the minors,” focusing on matters of lesser
importance.
Reform in the Church does not usually begin at the top. That is why
it is so important for the hierarchy to listen, as never before, to the
cries of the lay faithful, who plead with the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Vatican to take reform seriously,
reassert the truth of the Gospel with clarity, and rebuke dissent. While
no one in the Church lives the gospel perfectly, the outright denial of
central truths of our faith without any reproof from the Church
hierarchy has been a source of great scandal and confusion. Silence from
shepherds, who should be chasing the wolves away, is malpractice of the
worst kind. There is simply no acceptable excuse for the deafening
silence that has come from too many in the hierarchy in the face of
dissent and even outright heresy. It is being taught routinely, openly,
and ever more boldly by renegade theologians, wandering clerics, and
even certain conferences of bishops. The faithful are bewildered,
saddened, and justifiably angry. (Read more.)
"...Bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters. Give ye a sweet odor as frankincense. Send forth flowers, as the lily...and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in his works."
—Ecclesiasticus 39:17-19
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