With yesterday being the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I’ve been thinking a lot about Mary. Every year, I’m blown away by Mary’s faith when she said “yes” to God. Especially as a young teenager, I can only imagine what her faith was like.
Pope Francis recently spoke about this and said: Mary’s faith unties the knot of sin. What does that mean? The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council took up a phrase of Saint Irenaeus, who states that “the knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by the obedience of Mary; what the virgin Eve bound by her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith”.
When children disobey their parents, we can say that a little “knot” is created. This happens if the child acts with an awareness of what he or she is doing, especially if there is a lie involved. At that moment, they break trust with their parents. You know how frequently this happens! Then the relationship with their parents needs to be purified of this fault; the child has to ask forgiveness so that harmony and trust can be restored.
Something similar happens in our relationship with God. When we do not listen to him, when we do not follow his will, we do things that show our lack of trust in him – for that is what sin is – a kind of knot is created deep within us. These knots take away our peace and serenity. They are dangerous, since many knots begin to tangle which gets more and more painful and difficult to undo.
But we know one thing: nothing is impossible for God’s mercy! Even the most tangled knots are loosened by his grace. And Mary, whose “yes” opened the door for God to undo the knot of the ancient disobedience, is the Mother who patiently and lovingly brings us to God, so that he can untangle the knots of our soul.
Let us take this opportunity to ask in our hearts: what are the knots in my life? We may say, “Father, my knots cannot be undone!” But that would be a mistake to say that. All the knots of our heart, every knot of our conscience, every knot within our very being can be undone. Let us ask Mary to help us trust in God’s mercy, to undo those knots, to change! She, as a woman of faith, will surely tell us: “Get up, go to the Lord: he understands you.” And she will lead us by the hand as a Mother, our Mother, to the embrace of our Father, the Father of mercies. Let us go to Him now in prayer. Let us ask Mary to show us the way.
