By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
MIAMI| Archbishop Thomas Wenski has asked the South Florida community to prepare for the Holy Father’s visit to Cuba with a novena (nine days of prayer) to the Mother of God under her title of “Desatanudos” (Undoer of Knots). This devotion originated in Germany and is a favorite of Pope Francis.
Daily prayer:
Our Lady, Mother of God and our Mother,
intercessor and advocate in all our spiritual and material needs,
we ask that you untie all the knots that imprison our Cuban people,
the knots of despair, of fear, of loss of God and loss of the values of the
faith;
help us break the ties of suspicion, of indifference,
and the sin of not seeing our brother in the other;
of expecting more from the powers of this world than from the strength of God.
We beg you to help us untie, along with you,
all the knots of evil, injustice and sin. Amen.
“Cubans have always been
united, regardless of race, class or views, along the same path: the path that
leads us to El Cobre.” *
Ninth knot: the knot of lack of mercy
“We find that there is an increase in merciless language among us. Violence is everywhere. There is aggressiveness in families, in the workplace, in communities� And Pope Francis, Missionary of Mercy, wants to invite us not to tire of practicing mercy.” **
We ask you, Our Lady of Charity,
to undo all of the knots that imprison and harden the heart
and close it to mercy.
Transform us from within
so that we will respond always with compassion, understanding and love,
and so that we may distance all harshness in the way we treat others.
May we always be sensible to human pain,
so that we may be like your Son,
the visible face of the Father’s mercy.
For these intentions and for
those of Pope Francis on his visit to Cuba, we pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary
and a Glory Be to the Father.
Final prayer for all days:
Our Lady of Charity, Mother of God and our mother,
Queen and Patroness of Cuba,
we come before you to present with faith and love our needs and desires.
Blessed are you, Mother of all Cubans,
who bear in your arms and offer us Jesus, your son,
who through his love for us and for our salvation,
was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross,
and who, risen and glorious, is the Way, Truth and Life.
Holy Mary of Charity, disciple and missionary,
teach us to listen and to live according to His word,
to not be indifferent to human suffering,
to reach out in order to forgive and be forgiven,
to respect all out of love, to overcome division, rancor and enmity,
to come together as brothers,
to be more human and better Christians.
Teach us to love and live in charity.
Happy are you, Virgin of Charity!
Mother of beautiful Love,
pray to God for us, Amen.
Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI
before Our Lady of Charity, March 27, 2012.
*Texts culled from the pastoral letter of the Catholic bishops of Cuba, “Hope does not disappoint,” September 8, 2013.
**Text taken from the “Message of the bishops of the Catholic Church in Cuba on the occasion of the upcoming visit of Pope Francis,” June 29, 2015.
