Our Lady, Undoer of Knots

Using the devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots (a favorite of Pope Francis) is the occasion of a guided novena in this book. Felton uses the places Pope Francis visited during his visit to the Holy Land.
This isn't your usual novena, instead each day looks at a source of knots in our lives, connecting them to a place in the Holy Land.

Each day of the novena begins with a quote by Francis. Next there is a reflection on this particular source of knots and how it might affect us. The following section relates this to a particular place. Then there is a prayer. Finally there are some questions for you to think about and answer.

Felton was one of the journalists selected to accompany the Pope on this trip and the visit affected her greatly. Often she was seeing these sites shortly after the Pope did.

The book is wonderful for popularizing this devotion and for bringing attention to the need for peace in that troubled place. But I think most folks will find the book not universally useful, as I did.

Some of the sources of knots brought home to me areas in my life where I need to be more prayerful. Others just aren't an issue for me.

With each day of the novena taking relatively little time to read, this book can be a help to your devotions.

I find Fenelon's approach interesting. This devotional book integrates Pope Francis' writings with her own thoughts as she explores the human condition and how the Blessed Virgin can assist us in our worries grief and stress. I think this will be a book for my library.

This is a great book. It sounds clichey, I know, it is a truth I deeply acknowledge. The content is very deep, yet gentle; enriching, yet simply beautiful in its peace. Novena (from Latin word "nine") is an act of religious devotion, often consisting of prayers repeated for nine successive days in belief of obtaining special intercessory graces).
The authoress Marge Fenelon created the Marian devotional practice based on admiration of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots (Virgin Mary as one who unites the knots of our problems) and integrated there her experience from her pilgrimage to Holy Land (as a journalist during the Pope Francis´s visit there) - as she reflected deeply on the painful issues going on in these parts of world. The novena contains of 9 guided meditations, each one dealing with one of the "knots" aka sufferings in our lives (like betrayal, pride and envy etc.) and the reader is invited to reflect on them both from the "outer" land of her experience from visiting Holy Land and "inner land" aka accompanying the reader in "inspecting" their issues, situations and soul state. Her input is very, very understanding, yet truthful (I personally think the authoress had suffered and/or witness quite a lot of pain, because only the one who overcame the suffering can touch the painful places so gently. Thank you for that understanding, Ms Fenelon).

This is A Catholic book, but it can be of help to any Christian understanding the concept of novena and knowing a bit about Catholic "practice" as the terms used are of Catholic traditions.

This is a book I deeply recommend for anyone going through some crisis and in a need of loving help from above and from a loving ears here on Earth, or withessing these issues. What makes it so unique is the visible, lovely presence of peace. How could I describe it? When going through the pages, praying and meditating, some of my questions and troubles got "unknotted" just by the gentle way the authoress puts her words together, acknowledging the pain, reminding of responsibility and showing the way to where put the problems - into the hands of the Our Lady, Undoer of Knots.

I did the novena in the days of emotional turmoil and it brought me a lot of peace. My problems haven´t disappeared, but I got quite a lot of strength - just by passing them into Mary´s hands. In hope of some strength I am highly recommending the book to others.

This is an excellent guide for prayer and meditation. The devotion to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, is still new to us but dear to Pope Francis. I particularly liked the references to the various places in the Holy Land.