Sunday, August 27, 2006

Miraculous Medal

The other day I was doing a Google image search for images of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. I noticed actually that I had better luck with just Miraculous Medal, but that is neither here nor there. What I am getting to is that it reminded me of how that medal and particularly Our Lady came into my spiritual life.
I didn't used to have much of a devotion to Our Lady. I used to dread saying rosaries or other Marian devotions. I was unsure about Marian devotion, but a series of events changed all that.
The story begins with Google of all places. I was looking for something about St. Therese de Lisieux. I forget what it was but one of the results caught my attention so I opened it. It was an excerpt from a book called AA-1025: Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle. The plotline immediately intrigued me. Could a communist really infiltrate the seminary and actually become a priest for the sole purpose of trying to undermine the Church? For regular readers of my blog you have surely noticed a healthy anti-Communist sentiment. The commie's ideas on how to achieve this are the same ideas decried by traditional Catholics.
But I digress; back to Mary. I didn't want to buy since I was quite broke, so I checked and it turns out the Mt. Angel Library had it. The "seminarian" had a girlfriend (Raven Hair) on the side and he couldnt stand the sight of the Miraculous Medal around her neck. He couldn't stand that she had it in other places such as the curtains. He eventually talks her into taking it off of her neck and giving it to him.
It also played a role in driving off the Communist sympathizer paid to assist him in his mission to get through the seminary. In short it played a role in the book that I found quite intriguing.
Then a day or two after I finished the book (btw, the intro of the book claims that it is a true story) I was going the cracks of the recliner in my seminary room and found an unusually large Miraculous Medal. As thick as I am, even I realized that it was a sign.
I finally go the hint. There were some other that added in, but these two were the clearest. Needless to say, Mary, especially as represented in the Miraculous Medal, has become much more than just a Biblical character. She has become a mother and someone to pray with. Just as she gave birth to Jesus to fulfill prophecy and bring Him into the world as a man, still today she brings Jesus more fully into lives such as mine.
Btw, I highly recommend the book. Its a quick and easy read (less than 200 pages).

1 comment:

Fidei Defensor said...

After I started praying the Rosary (last fall) Mary has become very important to me. Like you I was once uncomfortable with Marian devotions, mostly because I saw Protestants using them to say we Catholics weren't loyal enough to Jesus. The Rosary changed that, I love Our Lady! I plan on starting to wear the Medal and joing the MI on Oct. 8 the feast of our lady of the rosary.