He Knew We Needed a Mother

When Christ Jesus descended from Heaven into earth, He entered into the darkness of human sin. Taking on frail flesh, He saw our brokenness.

He knew we needed a mother.

He who as a little child ran into the arms of His mother for comfort, knew that His broken creation needed the arms of a mother to hold them when they were lost in darkness and afraid.

He who stretch out His pierced hands towards His mother standing below the cross knew we needed the embrace of a mother when we were wounded by this fallen world.

And when His mother died, He waited for her at the gates of Heaven. One can imagine Him looking on His mother, who through all His earthly trials loved Him so much, drawing from His back a crown and saying to her, "I am going to give the world the greatest gift I can, that the love you gave to me may now be given to the whole world." Placing it on her head, He declares before all the angels and the saints, "Behold, your mother! Behold, your queen." 

Christ knew we would need a mother. But over the centuries, too many of His creatures thought themselves orphans. Too many failed to realize that they had such a loving mother. And so, while Mary longed to pour out graces on her children, many never noticed her, never knew she was there and so never knew her motherly love. And as the centuries wore on, the darkness grew darker. Our Lady longed to pour down her prayers on her children, but they never asked. How to solve this problem?

Enter a 24 year old girl. She was nothing special. It is true, she was in the convent, but she was far from mother superior. In fact, she hadn’t even taken vows. She was a mere novice and her name was Zoe Laboure (soon to take the religious name of Catherine Laboure.)

Asleep one night, she woke up and heard her name being called. That was strange enough, but turning over, she saw a bright light next her bed. Stranger still, she opened her curtain and found a five year old child standing next to her, beaming with light. It was her guardian angel. This guardian angel had a message:

“Come to the chapel; the Blessed Virgin is waiting for you.”

When a talking ball of light speaks to you, one tends to obey and so Catherine followed the child out of the dormitory, down the hallway and to the chapel. As they walked down the dormitory corridor, the child shed light wherever he went. With a mere touch of his hand, the chapel door swung open to reveal the altar, like the hallway, illuminated with light. The child knelt down and began praying. St. Catherine followed suit.

Then the clock began tolling. At the stroke of midnight, the child cried out, “The Blessed Virgin is coming! Here she is!” St. Catherine heard the rustling of silk dress to the left of the altar and then she saw her: a beautiful lady seated herself at the left hand side of the altar. Catherine ran to the feet of the Lady, knelt down before her and laid her hands on the knees of her heavenly Mother.

The great Mother of God did not appear to no purpose though. She came to entrust Catherine with a mission. In short, dark times were coming and the human race would need the prayers of a mother. Evils would overwhelm France, royalty would be overthrown, and the whole world would be disturbed by all sorts of calamities. There would be victims in religious communities, the clergy would be attacked and the archbishop of Paris would die, but the Vincentian communities would be spared. These calamities would strike in about forty years. Catherine’s mission was simple: she was to faithfully repeat everything Our Lady told her to her spiritual director.

Forty years later in 1871, the Paris Commune happened. It was the first attempt in the world at a communist state which would later claim the lives of so many Christians. Hundreds of priests and nuns were martyred and Archbishop George Darbey was killed. Indeed, the world did need its mother.

With that, Our Lady vanished like a shadow and the child called out, “She is gone!”

Months passed. Catherine reported what Our Lady said to her spiritual director, but didn’t get much of a response from him. Then on November 27^th, 1830, four months after that first apparition, St. Catherine was making her evening meditation in the chapel. Suddenly, the same Lady, dressed in a golden gown appeared next to a picture of St. Joseph. She was standing on top of half a globe and in her hand held another globe. The Lady spoke: “This globe which you see represents the world, especially France, and each person in particular.”

Then St. Catherine saw Our Lady’s fingers covered with rings and precious stones, and from those rings, rays of dazzling light darted out from them. The jewels and the rays varied in size and some emitted no light. Our Lady spoke again: “Behold the symbol of the graces which I will bestow upon all those who ask for them.” The key phrase here was, “on all those who ask for them.” Those fingers which emitted no light were the graces God wanted to offer to souls that no one asked for.

The vision changed. An oval frame surrounded the Blessed Mother, her fingers still radiating light, and around the edge of the frame the words surrounded her: “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!” The Lady spoke again: “Get a medal struck after this model; those who wear it when it is blessed will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around their neck. Graces will be abundant for those who have confidence.”

Finally, the oval seemed to turn around and saw an M surmounted by a cross with a cross bar beneath it. Below the M were the Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Jesus’ heart crowned with thorns and Mary’s heart pierced with a sword.

“Get a medal struck after this model; those who wear it when it is blessed will receive great graces.”

Our Lady would confirm these images again in December and repeat her call to St. Catherine to have them minted.

What are these images and what is Our Lady trying to say through them? The front of the medal depicts Genesis 3:15:

            I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

They will strike at your head,

while you strike at their heel.

This passage is known as the Protoevangelium, or the First Gospel. It was spoken by God to the serpent after he tempted Eve to sin and caused the great fall of humanity. Since then, the devil has been warring against the human race, trying to draw us away from the Creator who replaced him with mere flesh and blood. The effects of his wiles have stayed with the human race as generation after generation inherits the sin of Adam.

But notice where the serpent is on the medal: he is below the feet of Our Lady. Before banishing Adam and Eve from the garden, God foretold that there would be a woman who would crush the head of the serpent, whose offspring would be the enemy of the offspring of Satan. Who is the great enemy of Satan? It is Jesus. Who is this woman who crushes the head of the serpent? It is Mary. She is the first of our race conceived without original sin. In this long spiritual battle, she is the first of our race completely free from Satan’s grasp. Thus when we are wounded, when we are beaten down by Satan, it is her powerful prayers that we turn to for help. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The back of the medal depicts the scene in John 19, where Christ declares to the Beloved Disciple, “Behold your Mother!” The M stands for Mary and the location of the M below the cross stands for Mary standing at the foot of the cross. It was in that moment that we were redeemed by Christ’s blood. It was in that moment, that Jesus gave us His mother as our mother. “Woman, behold your son!” “Son, behold your mother!” The hearts below the M show the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that loved us so much that He would go to the cross to die for us, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, that loved Jesus so much that her heart was “pierced as with a sword” when Jesus’ own heart was pierced for sinners. It is these hearts that from Heaven are pouring down love for us sinners.

How then does that love get poured out? You will notice there is a bar through the M below the cross. This represents the altar. Mary told St. Catherine that in times of darkness, to come to the foot of the altar where she would receive every grace she needed. Mary calls us to Calvary with her, to receive her Sons love as He pours Himself out in the Mass and gives Himself to us in Holy Communion. And who makes possible this sacrifice? The Church, represented by the twelve stars surrounding the image, representing the twelve apostles God chose to make His gospel known to the farthest ends of the earth.

In a tiny medal, we have contained the story of our fall and redemption and God’s love poured out for us through it all.

               

Again, Catherine reported all to her spiritual director, Fr. Jean Marie Aladel, but he was skeptical. He commanded her never to even think about these apparitions again. When Our Lady reprimanded Catherine for not having the medals minted, Catherine explained that Fr. Aladel didn’t believe her. Our Lady promised to take care of that. Sure enough, Fr. Aladel had a change of heart. In 1832, 2000 medals were minted. That year, a cholera epidemic broke out in France and the Daughters of Charity began handing out medals to its victims. Our Lady promised graces to those who wore it around their neck and she didn't disappoint. Miracle after miracle began happening; cures and conversions were being reported by those who wore the medal. What was originally known as the medal of Our Lady of Grace was soon known as the Miraculous Medal.

The miracles continue to this day. I won’t describe them here but if you want to know about miracles associated with the Miraculous Medal, those are no secret. The most famous story is about the conversion of an anti-Catholic Jew named Alphonse Ratisbonne: http://www.marypages.com/ratisbonneEng.htm He converted to the Faith when Our Lady herself appeared to him while he was wearing the medal. A more modern and less well known miracle is recounted here by Fr. Hardon: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/mirmedal.htm A young boy came out of a coma as Fr. Hardon put the medal around his neck.

It wasn’t enough for God to give us a savior; He knew we needed a mother to. He gave us His mother. Are you in need? Kiss the medal. Do you know other people who need the prayers of a mother? Give them the medal. We are lost, we are broken, and often we need to run our mother’s arms like little children. And this is good news of the Miraculous Medal: we always have a mother in Heaven, and she never leaves us.

Novena to St. Patrick

With Excerpts from the Confessions of St. Patrick, translated from the Latin by Ludwig Bieler

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening Prayer

Glorious St. Patrick, you are honored as one of the greatest evangelizers, and true defenders of our faith.  Please obtain for me the same zeal for Christ that enabled you to bring the light of the true faith to all of Ireland.  Intercede for me and place my special intentions before Christ, especially:

(State your intentions here.)

May my petition receive a favorable response if it be for the greater honor and glory of God and my own soul.

Reading for the Day (scroll below for each respective day)

Closing Prayers

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

St. Patrick, Evangelist and Patron of Ireland, Pray for us!

Amen

March 9^th: Patrick’s conversion

I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the village Bannavem Taburniæ; he had a country seat nearby, and there I was taken captive.

I was then about sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people---and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did not keep His commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought over us the wrath of his anger and scattered us among many nations, even unto the utmost part of the earth, where now my littleness is placed among strangers.

And there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my abjection, and mercy on my youth and ignorance, and watched over me before I knew Him, and before I was able to distinguish between good and evil, and guarded me, and comforted me as would a father his son.

March 10^th: The humility of Patrick and the greatness of God

For this reason I had in mind to write, but hesitated until now; I was afraid of exposing myself to the talk of men, because I have not studied like the others, who thoroughly imbibed law and Sacred Scripture, and never had to change from the language of their childhood days, but were able to make it still more perfect. In our case, what I had to say had to be translated into a tongue foreign to me, as can be easily proved from the savour of my writing, which betrays how little instruction and training I have had in the art of words; for, so says Scripture, by the tongue will be discovered the wise man, and understanding, and knowledge, and the teaching of truth…

But if indeed it had been given to me as it was given to others, then I would not be silent because of my desire of thanksgiving; and if perhaps some people think me arrogant for doing so in spite of my lack of knowledge and my slow tongue, it is, after all, written: The stammering tongues shall quickly learn to speak peace.…

Wherefore, then, be astonished, ye great and little that fear God, and you men of letters on your estates, listen and pore over this. Who was it that roused up me, the fool that I am, from the midst of those who in the eyes of men are wise, and expert in law, and powerful in word and in everything? And He inspired me---me, the outcast of this world---before others, to be the man (if only I could!) who, with fear and reverence and without blame, should faithfully serve the people to whom the love of Christ conveyed and gave me for the duration of my life, if I should be worthy; yes indeed, to serve them humbly and sincerely.

March 11^th: Captivity and escape

But after I came to Ireland---every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed---the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me---as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent.

And there one night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: `It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.' And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: `See, your ship is ready.' And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles, and I had never been there, nor did I know a living soul there; and then I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed for six years. And I went in the strength of God who directed my way to my good, and I feared nothing until I came to that ship.

And the day that I arrived the ship was set afloat, and I said that I was able to pay for my passage with them. But the captain was not pleased, and with indignation he answered harshly: `It is of no use for you to ask us to go along with us.' And when I heard this, I left them in order to return to the hut where I was staying. And as I went, I began to pray; and before I had ended my prayer, I heard one of them shouting behind me, `Come, hurry, we shall take you on in good faith; make friends with us in whatever way you like.' And so on that day I refused to suck their breasts for fear of God, but rather hoped they would come to the faith of Jesus Christ, because they were pagans. And thus I had my way with them, and we set sail at once.

March 12^th: Sustained by Christ

And after three days we reached land, and for twenty-eight days we travelled through deserted country. And they lacked food, and hunger overcame them; and the next day the captain said to me: `Tell me, Christian: you say that your God is great and all-powerful; why, then, do you not pray for us? As you can see, we are suffering from hunger; it is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see a human being again.'

I said to them full of confidence: `Be truly converted with all your heart to the Lord my God, because nothing is impossible for Him, that this day He may send you food on your way until you be satisfied; for He has abundance everywhere.' And, with the help of God, so it came to pass: suddenly a herd of pigs appeared on the road before our eyes, and they killed many of them; and there they stopped for two nights and fully recovered their strength, and their hounds received their fill for many of them had grown weak and were half-dead along the way. And from that day they had plenty of food. They also found wild honey, and offered some of it to me, and one of them said: `This we offer in sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it.

That same night, when I was asleep, Satan assailed me violently, a thing I shall remember as long as I shall be in this body. And he fell upon me like a huge rock, and I could not stir a limb. But whence came it into my mind, ignorant as I am, to call upon Helias? And meanwhile I saw the sun rise in the sky, and while I was shouting `Helias! Helias' with all my might, suddenly the splendour of that sun fell on me and immediately freed me of all misery. And I believe that I was sustained by Christ my Lord, and that His Spirit was even then crying out in my behalf, and I hope it will be so on the day of my tribulation, as is written in the Gospel: On that day, the Lord declares, it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.

March 13^th: The Call to Ireland

And again after a few years I was in Britain with my people. who received me as their son, and sincerely besought me that now at last, having suffered so many hardships, I should not leave them and go elsewhere.

And there I saw in the night the vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, `The voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice---they were those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea---and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: `We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.'

And I was quite broken in heart, and could read no further, and so I woke up. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord gave to them according to their cry.

And another night---whether within me, or beside me, I know not, God knoweth---they called me most unmistakably with words which I heard but could not understand, except that at the end of the prayer He spoke thus: `He that has laid down His life for thee, it is He that speaketh in thee'; and so I awoke full of joy.

March 14^th: Objections to Patrick’s Mission

And when I was attacked by a number of my seniors who came forth and brought up my sins against my laborious episcopate, on that day indeed was I struck so that I might have fallen now and for eternity; but the Lord graciously spared the stranger and sojourner for His name and came mightily to my help in this affliction Verily, not slight was the shame and blame that fell upon me! I ask God that it may not be reckoned to them as sin.

As cause for proceeding against me they found---after thirty years!---a confession I had made before I was a deacon. In the anxiety of my troubled mind I confided to my dearest friend what I had done in my boyhood one day, nay, in one hour, because I was not yet strong. I know not, God knoweth---whether I was then fifteen years old: and I did not believe in the living God, nor did I so from my childhood, but lived in death and unbelief until I was severely chastised and really humiliated, by hunger and nakedness, and that daily…

On that day, then, when I was rejected by those referred to and mentioned above, in that night I saw a vision of the night. There was a writing without honour against my face, and at the same time I heard God's voice saying to me: `We have seen with displeasure the face of Deisignatus' (thus revealing his name). He did not say, `Thou hast seen.' but `We have seen.' as if He included Himself, as He sayeth: He who toucheth you toucheth as it were the apple of my eye.

Therefore I give Him thanks who hath strengthened me in everything, as He did not frustrate the journey upon which I had decided, and the work which I had learned from Christ my Lord; but I rather felt after this no little strength, and my trust was proved right before God and men.

March 15^th: A Fisher of Men

For that reason, therefore, we ought to fish well and diligently, as the Lord exhorts in advance and teaches, saying: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. And again He says through the prophets: Behold, I send many fishers and hunters, saith God, and so on. Hence it was most necessary to spread our nets so that a great multitude and throng might be caught for God, and that there be clerics everywhere to baptize and exhort a people in need and want, as the Lord in the Gospel states, exhorts and teaches, saying: Going therefore now, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. And again He says: Go ye therefore into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And again: This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then shall come the end. And so too the Lord announces through the prophet, and says: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And in Osee, He saith: `I will call that which was not my people, my people; ...and her that had not obtained mercy, one that hath obtained mercy. And it shall be in the place where it was said: ``You are not my people,'' there they shall be called the sons of the living God.'

March 16^th: Let me render unto Him for all He has done to me

But I see myself exalted even in the present world beyond measure by the Lord, and I was not worthy nor such that He should grant me this. I know perfectly well, though not by my own judgement, that poverty and misfortune becomes me better than riches and pleasures. For Christ the Lord, too, was poor for our sakes; and I, unhappy wretch that I am, have no wealth even if I wished for it. Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, or whatever it may be; but I fear none of these things because of the promises of heaven. I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty, who rules everywhere, as the prophet says: Cast thy thought upon God, and He shall sustain thee.

So, now I commend my soul to my faithful God, for whom I am an ambassador in all my wretchedness; but God accepteth no person, and chose me for this office---to be, although among His least, one of His ministers.

Hence let me render unto Him for all He has done to me. But what can I say or what can I promise to my Lord, as I can do nothing that He has not given me? May He search the hearts and deepest feelings; for greatly and exceedingly do I wish, and ready I was, that He should give me His chalice to drink, as He gave it also to the others who loved Him.

Wherefore may God never permit it to happen to me that I should lose His people which He purchased in the utmost parts of the world. I pray to God to give me perseverance and to deign that I be a faithful witness to Him to the end of my life for my God.

March 17^th: The gift of God

And if ever I have done any good for my God whom I love, I beg Him to grant me that I may shed my blood with those exiles and captives for His name, even though I should be denied a grave, or my body be woefully torn to pieces limb by limb by hounds or wild beasts, or the fowls of the air devour it. I am firmly convinced that if this should happen to me, I would have gained my soul together with my body, because on that day without doubt we shall rise in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as sons of the living God and joint heirs with Christ, to be made conformable to His image; for of Him, and by Him, and in Him we shall reign.

For this sun which we see rises daily for us because He commands so, but it will never reign, nor will its splendour last; what is more, those wretches who adore it will be miserably punished. Not so we, who believe in, and worship, the true sun---Christ---who will never perish, nor will he who doeth His will; but he will abide for ever as Christ abideth for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and the Holy Spirit before time, and now, and in all eternity. Amen.

Behold, again and again would I set forth the words of my confession. I testify in truth and in joy of heart before God and His holy angels that I never had any reason except the Gospel and its promises why I should ever return to the people from whom once before I barely escaped.

I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever deigns to look at or receive this writing which Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, has composed in Ireland, that no one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small according to God's good pleasure; but let this be your conclusion and let it so be thought, that---as is the perfect truth---it was the gift of God. This is my confession before I die.