Yesterday's evening service was led by a religious sister who introdcued us to the icon of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, or Mary, Untier of Knots.  This icon, beloved of Pope Francis, evidently arises from a story of a couple whose marriage was in tatters and were seeking divorce (rather tricky if you are a Catholic!).  Their priest, to whom they had gone for guidance asked then to bring along their marriage ribbon which was crumpled and knotted.  (In their culture, the marriage ribbon was symbolically tied during the ceremony, a little like a celtic "handfasting" or even the practice to this day where Anglican priests bind the couple's hands with their stole as they pronounce them married).  As the priest began to smooth out the ribbon, it began to glow and he had a vision of Mary undoing the knots.

However we feel about Mary, this is a very gentle, lovely image to have in mind, and one that is surely helpful... we offer to God our knotted, crumpled, tattered lives, and God smooths, unties, mends them for us.  The paraclete we choose may be Sophia, God's Spirit wisdom, or Jesus, God's Christ, but the aim is the same.

We were all given little handmade bookmarks with the icon and a prayer, as follows:

Dear God:
Please untie the knots
that are in my mind,
my heart and my life.
Remove the have nots,
the can nots and the do nots
that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,
may nots,
might nots that may find
a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,
would nots and
should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all,
Dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life all of the 'am nots'
that I have allowed to hold me back,
especially the thought
that I am not good enough.
AMEN

Author: Father Ronnie Knott of Rhodelia, Kentucky

Whatever today or this week brings us, this prayer is helpful, as is the image of a gentle God who will

Take the time to call my name

Take the time to mend

Who I am and what I've been

All I've failed to tend

John Bell & Graham Maule (c) WGRG