The Miraculous Medal- why it matters

195 years ago today, the Mother of Jesus appeared to Saint Catherine Laboure in Paris, France. She died 46 years later on December 31st and her body remains incorrupt in the chapel in Rue De Bac where the miraculous event occurred. I visited it myself.

In the visions, Our Blessed Lady asked Catherine to have a special medal struck. In the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, there is a special chapel dedicated to this event and devotion.

This medal has had so many miracles attached to it that it has become known as the miraculous medal. I'm not going to focus on the miracles today. Instead, I want to focus on the medal itself and what it tells us.

First, the message which was prayed after every Rosary decade at Lourdes.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

This confirms Mary as an intercessor, not a goddess. We ask her simply to pray for us. Secondly, it confirms the immaculate conception, 24 years before it was defined and 28 years before it was pronounced by Bernadette.

Second, she is standing on a snake. This confirms that the woman of Genesis 3:15 crushes the serpents head and Mary is that woman.

Third, the reverse of the medal has the M (for Mary) surrounded with 12 stars, showing her as the Woman of Revelation chapter 12.

In both the Genesis and Revelation accounts, the Woman is depicted as the enemy of the snake. The enemy of that enemy is our friend and our Mother.