Teresa, in praying for you, I pray for myself also… I know all too well the heartbreak you feel at such cruelty and dishonor. I am too a hostage to panic and despair, and often the torture is so great that my life is in peril. So I pray for you now, because we are sisters in the same suffering, and as children of God, our prayers all together will reach Him who made us and guards us as the apple of his eye. Even should our mothers forget us, He will never leave us, as promised through the prophet Isaiah.
We fly unto thy Mercy Lord, and beseech your blessed Mother’s loving intercession:
Mother of fair love, I look to you.
Take into your hands the ribbon of my life,
and see the snarl of knots that keeps me bound
to sin, anxiety, and hopelessness.
I beg you, Mother, by your powerful intercession
and long fingers of love and grace,
undo the knots in my heart and in my life.
Free me to love as Christ loved.
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.
For our struggling marriages and for all marriages, we pray:
Most Blessed Virgin, who in your marriage to St Joseph
became our perfect example of spousal fidelity, chastity, and love,
take into your hands the knotted wedding ribbon of struggling marriages.
Together with St Rita, loose the knots that bind married couples from loving
each other as professed in their wedding vows.
Protect troubled marriages from divorce and temptation, free spouses from
knotted hearts and attitudes, and renew the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony in
marriages all across the world.
Lastly, Mother, help me to pray for marriage, as it is holy, loved by you,
and loved by God.
Mary, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.
Teresa, I am alive because even as despair chokes me on the worst days of reminders, I turn to God and his loving Mercy. Prayer has softened my husband’s heart, and I see his sorrow and penance every day. If I had not prayed or surrendered everything to God, I would not have him back, and certainly I would have been consumed by my pain and anger and my life would be completely destroyed by his sin. There are days in which breathing is painful, and I cannot abide the impunity of the other woman, but I pray, and I feel the hand of God over my heart, and I feel His promise to help me carry the burden of my pain. I will pray for you, Teresa, that you too will find peace and safety in His presence. I do not know you, but I feel my heart has opened to you as I read of your struggle. Psalm 116 got me through the worst moments in the beginning. I hope that you would find it comforting too:
I was helpless, but God saved me.
Return, my soul, to your rest;
The Lord has been good to you.
For my soul has been freed from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
God bless you and keep you safe. May the Holy Spirit touch your heart with the courage and peace that only God can grant. Remember: “Ask and you shall receive, knock and a door shall be opened for you.”