Why Do Catholics Do That?… The Miraculous Medal

Hi, I’m Catholic and I do crazy things like wear miraculous medals with Mary around my neck.

Have you ever wondered why Catholics do that? In case you are wondering, this is not about worshipping Mary. Nope!

I know that this might be hard to understand for those who haven’t grown up in Catholic circles.

Trust me, I get it! In fact, there was a point in my life where I refused to say the Rosary because I also wondered if it was some sort of worship of Mary.

Which now just makes me laugh — but then, it was a serious question that I grappled with.

Maybe you grapple with a lot of things that Catholics do? (You might even be Catholic and are grappling with the “crazy” things that Catholics do. Am I right?)

I figured I would start a little series called “Why do Catholics Do That?…and I figured a devotion that is near and dear to my heart would be a good start: the miraculous medal. Hooray!

At first glance, it might seem a little strange.

After all, it is an image of Mary, crushing the head of the serpent, with rays coming out of her hands and the words, “Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”.

But once you dive into the symbolism (much taken out of Genesis and the Book of Revelation) you can start to understand the beautiful message that this little medal has for all of us.

This entire image was given in a vision to a nun in the city of Paris in the year 1830.

Her name was Catherine Laboure and, though in her lifetime this medal was distributed in the billions, only at the end of her life was it revealed that it was Catherine who received the vision of this medal from Mary.

The serpent in the medal personifies Satan and the forces of evil.

The battlefield is our world and Mary, as the Woman predicted in Genesis 3:15, was created to help lead the battle and bring about the complete destruction of evil, alongside of her Son (Jesus).

Mary told Catherine that the rays represent the graces that God is sending to the world — and some graces that are available but are not reaching the world because people are not asking for them.

The original name was the “Medal of the Immaculate Conception” — which is interesting since the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was not proclaimed until almost 23 years after this medal was first struck.

It quickly became known as “miraculous” because of the many cures and conversions that occurred in the lives of the people who began to wear it around their neck.

By the way, the habit of wearing the medal around the neck was a specific request of Mary to St. Catherine of Laboure. She told Catherine that “All who wear it will receive great graces; they should wear it around the neck”.

It’s similar to a practice that would have been popular in the last centuries in which a person would wear a locket around their neck with an image of their Mom or Dad or loved one — Mary is our mom and so we wear this medal to remember her.

On the back of the medal, there is an “M” intertwined with the Cross of Christ surrounded by 12 stars. It is symbolic of God’s plan to work with Mary to overcome evil in the world.

The 12 stars are a representation of the Apostles and the Church which is centered around Jesus and Mary.

It gives her role pre-eminence even over the Apostles — take that, all you people who think the Church is about the oppression of women — and her role would be intertwined with that of Jesus. (that’s how close they were).

The hearts represent the sufferings Jesus and Mary would have to endure in the Father’s plan of salvation — and they would be many.

Quite a medal, isn’t it?

Choosing to wear this medal came down to a simple truth for me. God chose Mary, above all other persons, to be the Mother of God.

God have chosen a different path of salvation for the world. He could have chosen to leave Mary and all women out of His plan.

But God didn’t choose to do that. He chose to involve Mary intimately in His plan of salvation.

Instead of wasting time questioning His plan, it seems to make sense to try to honor His plan and His choice for our salvation. Doesn’t it?

Furthermore, God chose to put Mary at the side of her Son, Jesus, and that Son chose to give her to the Church and to all those who want to be His beloved disciples.

Those who wear this medal take seriously Jesus’ final words from the cross to his Beloved Disciple “This is your mother. Take her into your home” — and so we do.

We take her into our home and we take her as our own mother because we want to be Jesus’ beloved disciples, too.

To be clear, Catholics don’t worship Mary or think that she is a goddess. We honor her because she was a woman who said “yes”.

She said yes to God and that “yes” became a source of blessing for the entire world.

On a personal note, I also wear this medal because I want to be ever aware of what one girl’s “yes” can do for the world.

I wear it to remind myself to throw all my “no’s” and all my excuses out the window — because God also wants to make me a part of His love story in the world.

How beautiful is that? To be a part of His love story in the world — and all it requires is one, simply beautiful “yes”.

So what are we waiting for?

Sharing over at Kelly’s