Showing posts with label Immaculate Conception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immaculate Conception. Show all posts

Sunday, December 9, 2012

History of the Miraculous Medal



Miraculous Medal

from the book: 33 Days to Morning Glory

by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC pg. 2169,170

 

Like the scapular, the miraculous medal is a sacramental. It originated from an apparition of Mary to St. Catherine Laboure, a French nun, living in Paris. The specific apparition that has to do with the miraculous medal occurred on November 27th, 1830.

In that vision of November 27, St. Catherine saw Mary standing on a half-globe, with a serpent crushed beneath her feet and her hands bejewelled with rings, holding a small golden globe with a cross on it.  Bright light shone from some of the jewels on her fingers.  Suddenly, the small golden globe disappeared from Mary’s hands, and she opened her arms outward. The light from the jewels extended out from her hands and a semi-circle frame with an inscription in gold: “O,Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”

The vision seemed to rotate and on the reverse side.  Catherine saw the letter “M” with a cross on it and surrounded by twelve stars. The cross stood on a horizontal bar. Under the “M” were two hearts engulfed in flames, one encircled in thorns, and one pierced by a sword.

Mary then told Catherine, “Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck.”

Mary explained the meaning of the medal to Catherine as follows.  Mary is Queen of heaven and earth. She crushes Satan  who is helpless before her, under her foot.   ( see Gen. 3:15 ). Her arms are open and the many rays of light are graces she obtains for those who request them. The dark jewels, the ones that are not full of light, represent the graces that are available but that people don’t receive because they don’t ask for them.

The inscription, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” refers to Mary’s Immaculate Conception, which means that from the first moment of her conception, she was free from all stain of original sin.

On the back of the medal, the twelve stars which surround Mary, represent the twelve Apostles, who represent the whole Church. The “M” is for Mary and the cross is the Cross of Christ, the symbol of our redemption. The horizontal bar represents the earth. The placement of the cross and the bar on, and in the letter “M” shows Mary’s participation in the Cross of Christ and in our world. The two hearts are those of Jesus and Mary burning with love for us all.

With the Church’s approval, the first “Medals of the Immaculate Conception” were made in 1832, and almost immediately reports of miraculous cures began to spring up so much so that the medal became known as the “miraculous medal”

Since the time of the apparitions, millions of medals have been distributed around the world, especially by people like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It’s reported that her Missionaries of Charity currently distribute 1.8 million medals per year.

The miraculous medal received liturgical approbation ( special recognition and approval for public prayer) at the direction of Aloisi Cardinal Masella, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, in 1895. It’s one of only three sacramentals in the Church to be so liturgically honored, sharing this distinction with the rosary and the brown scapular.

Far from being a good luck charm or superstition, powerful conversions have taken place through Mary’s intercession and the use of the miraculous medal.

One of the most famous conversions happened to Alphonse Ratisbonne, a Jewish atheist, on January 20, 1842. He despised the Church and the Catholic faith, especially since his older brother Theodor converted to Catholicism and became a Catholic priest. On a dare from a Catholic friend, Baron de Bussieres Ratisbonne began to wear the miraculous medal and to recite the Memorare prayer to prove the fruitlessness of what he thought were just the ridiculous superstitions of the Catholic religion.

On January 20th,  Ratisbonne accompanied Baron de Bussiers into a church, what is now the Basilica of St. Andres delle Fratte in Rome, where the Baron had some business to attend to. When the Baron returned to him, he found Ratisbonne weeping and kissing his medal saying, “I saw her! I saw her!”

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Homily
Father Jerry Gauvreau C.C.
Annunciation of the Lord Parish,
Ottawa, ON, Canada


Immaculate Conception Dec. 8th

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly a most beautiful Solemnity we celebrate today, especially in the Church’s Year of Faith.

Our Blessed Mother Mary not only shows us how to have Faith in God but also how to step out into expectant Faith all the while believing in ourselves!

In 1830, Our Blessed Mother appeared to a young girl by the name of Catherine Laboure.

In these apparitions, it was Mary who revealed or instructed Catherine to have the Miraculous medal made –  Catherine spoke to her Spiritual Director and it was then proposed to the Archbishop (of Paris) who agreed and allowed the medal to be made.

For a more detailed explanation see the book: 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC pg. 169,170

Back of the medal: letter M with a Cross above it and a crossbar below it - 12 Stars (apostles) circling this and under the letter M there are 2 hearts – Sacred Heart with crown of thorns & Immaculate Heart, pierced by a sword. 

On the front of the medal; Mary as the Immaculate Conception with the date 1830 and circling Mary are words inscribed which say: “Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” (recourse-turning to thee – turning to someone for help)

The Miraculous medal back then was actually known as the medal of the Immaculate Conception but due to so many cures and miracles people started to call it the Miraculous Medal.

At the time of Our Lady appearing to St. Catherine in 1830 the Immaculate Conception of Mary was widely believed throughout the Church but it wasn’t a dogma of our faith.

Around 1847 it was Pope Pius IX who consulted with the Cardinals and the theologians of the church to help him discern whether or not the Immaculate Conception should be defined as a dogma of the Church - the Cardinals agreed and then over 603 bishops of the world were asked for their input – 543 agreed (4 said no and the rest abstained) on Dec.8th 1854.

The definition itself reads as follows: "We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first  instant of her conception by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

Just 4 years later in 1858 this dogma of our Faith was confirmed in the Marian Apparitions to St. Bernadette in Lourdes.  After persistent  requests from St. Bernadette as to who she was Mary said to her:  “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Just to re-cap:  The apparitions of Our Blessed Mother to St. Catherine back in 1830 about the Miraculous Medal prepared us for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and the apparitions at Lourdes to St. Bernadette in 1858 confirmed it.

Turn to Mary today with open hearts for it is when we have open hearts that the Lord will fill them up with Himself

Last night at the CCO Summit – which consisted of a talk, Eucharistic Adoration, praise and worship and confessions, the young lady who spoke challenged all of us to Prepare Him room – "are we doing it?” she asked

Mary said Yes – why can`t we?  What’s holding us back?

A few years ago in one of Our Blessed Mother’s messages (during Lent) from Medugorje, Mary, Our Lady Queen of Peace  said: "our freedom is our weakness." 

This Advent and in the church’s Year of Faith I would like all of us to use our freedom as our strength – choose Jesus!

I encourage everyone today to turn to our Blessed Mother Mary. In fact, each day we need to beg her to obtain the graces we need to totally surrender our hearts to Jesus, to say yes to him just as she did.  Pope Benedict XVI says: Mary is Mother of the Yes.

I think many sons & daughters would learn plenty from their mother-  no question Jesus did.  We need to pay attention or start paying attention to what Our Blessed Mother is telling us. At the Wedding Feast of Cana, Jesus turned water into wine.

Mary instructed the servers to do whatever Jesus told them to do.  This is certainly a good word for us today!

If you’re not sure what this “do whatever he tells you to do”  is for your own life - just ask Mary for help – ask Mary to help you love the Lord Jesus with all your heart as she did.

Fr. Dennis Lemieux from MH in his book, the Air We Breathe encourages us to: sit at the feet of Mary today, to contemplate her and to ask her in silence and prayer to teach us what we need to know about loving God – Amen!
Father Jerry Gauvreau C.C.



After Mass the Knights of Columbus led us in a beautiful Rosary for Life. Click Here to pray this rosary

 

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Immaculate Conception of Mary

Today we Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Father Boyd gave a beautiful homily today. In his homily he said  that to confront the evil in society and in ourselves we just have to list to Mary's . words at the Wedding Feast at Cana " Do whatever my Son Jesus tells you to do"

I found this prayer on Archbishop Terrence Prendergast's facebook page
For our celebration of the Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception: a prayer, a poem and a reflection:


O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son, grant, we pray, that, as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the Death of your Son, which you foresaw, so, through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence. Through our Lord.