Allocutio at December 2015 Concilium Meeting by Fr. Bede McGregor OP

THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL AND THE LEGION
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The Miraculous Medal played a prominent place in the origin and indeed in the immediate pre-history of the Legion. The appendix 6 of the Handbook and an article by our Founder, Frank Duff in his book ‘Virgo Praedicanda’ give us a very helpful treatment of the history and message of the Medal in relationship to the Legion. Seeing that the Medal has a significant role in the Legion apostolate throughout the world it would be good to reread these sources from time to time. We do not just distribute the Medal, but we also try to communicate its message and explain the role of the sacramental in the life of the Church.

In this Allocutio we shall reflect on the message of the front side of the Medal and at another time we will meditate on the reverse side of the Medal. First, we remember that sacramentals are signs or symbols that point beyond themselves to truths of our faith. Just like all private revelations they add nothing to the public revelation given to us in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, but get all their value from pointing to some revealed truth that we may be neglecting or that needs to be urgently stressed at a particular time in the history of the Church. This is particularly true of the teaching of Our Lady in her various and many apparitions.

In the Miraculous Medal Our Lady teaches us through images and with only one written sentence and as you might expect she roots us in Sacred Scripture. It has been often said that Mary is a living Bible. She is immersed in the Word of God, not only in the sense that she always acted in accordance with the Word of God, but also as scripture tells us in two different places: ‘she kept all these words pondering them in her heart.’ She never forgot any word that Jesus spoke, or indeed any action He carried out. She lived and loved and treasured the whole Gospel. One of the sure signs of the authenticity of the presence of Mary in an apparition is that it points us to Jesus and roots us in the Sacred Scripture. And that is precisely what she does through the Miraculous Medal. It is good to keep in mind that the Medal has been designed in all its detail by Mary herself. It is her special teaching aid.

So, the Medal is not simply a religious object, but a sign pointing us to important truths of our faith.

First we see an image of Mary treading underfoot a serpent, which is the symbol of Satan who is encircling the globe. This brings us back to the Book of Genesis and God’s reaction to the catastrophe that is caused by original sin. God does not abandon mankind, but immediately makes a promise full of hope for humanity in general but also for each one of us without exception in particular. The first word of hope and joy after the fall is a Woman and Mother. That is the first thing we learn about Mary in Scripture: She is the Woman and Mother of hope and joy because she is to give birth to a Son who will be the Saviour of the world. She will be the instrument of bringing God so close to us and among us.

The words of Genesis (3:15) are so precious to the Legion apostolate. We are called by Mary individually to give her message of hope and Gospel joy to everyone we meet. Is a pessimistic and unduly negative legionary really a legionary at all? We must be steeped in Genesis 3:15, which is the first preaching of the Gospel, the photo-evangelium. Two things are clear in this image of Genesis on the Medal: First, there is a fierce battle between Mary and the Devil and all that he signifies and instigates and this battle is taking place not only in the world outside of us but in varying ways and degrees within each one of us. We must not be naïve about the reality of what the Scriptures call ‘spiritual warfare.’ However, we must be utterly convinced that victory will come through Mary as St John Paul 11 said to our Founder on a memorable occasion in Rome and as Our Lady proclaimed in Fatima: ‘In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph.’ That is a key message of the Medal and the message at the core of the Legion identity and apostolate. It is not by accident that this text surrounds the border of the Tessera: ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, between her seed and yours and she shall crush your head.’

Next the image of Mary on the Medal shows us Mary as one through whom the graces of Redemption, that have their source in Our Lord’s work of Redemption, flow to us in superabundance. This image brings us back to the Gospel of Luke and the words of Gabriel: ‘Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you.’ We treasure those words because they insert us into the heart of the mystery of Mary and her role in our life and destiny. For us legionaries as we all know and firmly believe, Mary is indeed the Mediatrix of all graces. Our whole apostolate is rooted in that truth: Mary is by God’s design the instrument of all graces.

Of course, the Woman of Genesis and the Mediatrix of all graces presuppose the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the original name of the Medal was the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, but because of the sheer number of graces and indeed extraordinary ones that flowed from the wearing of the Medal it has universally been called the Miraculous Medal. This leads us to the last point of the Allocutio: The power of intercessory prayer. St. Catherine Laboure noticed that grace flowed in streams from jewels on Our Lady’s fingers, but no grace seemed to flow from some of the jewels. Our Lady explained the reason for this is because no one was asking for these graces that she was so anxious to give. So, intercessory prayer must be an integral part of all Christian prayer, but especially the prayer life of the legionary. We must habitually pray for the people we hope to influence in terms of salvation. Let us then conclude with the prayer we pray every day as legionaries: ‘Oh, Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee.’ Amen