The
Symbolism of the Miraculous Medal
How does the Medal encapsulate
the Gospel message of perfect charity? A look at the symbolism of
the front and back of the Medal is like reading the Catechism of
the Catholic Church. Lessons about Jesus Christ, His Church, the
Redemption, the Eucharist, the Divine Mercy, Grace, Original Sin,
Mary, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell are all to be learned by
studying the images impressed on the Medal.
 The
obverse (front) of the Miraculous Medal depicts the scene from the
Book of Genesis 3:15, known as the Protoevangelium ("first
gospel"), where God prophecies that a Woman and her off-spring
would eventually crush the head of the ancient serpent, who had
tricked Adam and Eve into committing Original Sin. Standing atop
the earth, with her foot on the crawling snake, Mary is depicted
as the Immaculate Conception--a doctrine explained by the words
of the prayer framing Our Lady in an oval: "O Mary conceived
without sin pray for us who have recourse to thee."
Mary, the New Eve,
the first of our human race to be freed from Original Sin (at the
very instant she was conceived in her mother's womb), mediates the
graces from God to overcome the influences of evil that slime their
way through our frail lives. These graces that she mediates from
God to us are symbolized by the rays that come from her fingers.
Notice that not all of her fingers have rays emanating. She explained
to St. Catherine that the absent rays represent graces which God
offers but we refuse.
All in all, the front
of the Miraculous Medal is a mini-catechism about the great struggle
between good and evil that engages the human race--a struggle in
which Mary stands out as first prize of the victory won by Christ,
and as our God-given Mother channeling to us the graces necessary
to share in the same victory.
 The
reverse (back) of the Miraculous Medal depicts the scene from the
Gospel of John: 19:25-27, where the Cross of Jesus Christ, with
Mary at its foot, stands uppermost in the mystery of Divine Charity--redemptive
love without limits. Surrounded by an oval of 12 stars, symbolizing
the 12 Tribes of Israel from the Old Testament and the 12 Apostles
of the New Testament, the Cross on the Miraculous Medal represents
hope--a hope which Mary understood and which Mother Teresa conveyed
each time she pressed the Medal into the hands of the poor. At the
base of the cross is a horizontal bar, and this is regarded as a
symbol of the Altar, for it is on the Altar at Mass that the Sacrifice
of Calvary continues to be present in the world of today and down
through the ages.
The initial
M at the foot of the Cross and the Altar indicates the way in which
Mary gathers the faithful to receive the graces of Redemption and
partake of Holy Communion with her attitude of faith and stance
of total consecration to Christ and His mission of charity. Beneath
the Marian monogram are the two hearts-the Sacred Heart of Jesus
encircled with thorns and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced by
a sword. The covenant of these two Hearts in the blood of suffering
and sacrifice would ultimately become an alliance in glory. The
glorified Jesus ascended into Heaven and the Immaculate Mary assumed
body and soul to the same abode live now united in one eternally
synchronized heart-beat of love for humanity--called to share someday
in the fullness of life and love.
Mother Teresa's way of
spreading the Gospel of love was to let those who receive the Miraculous
Medal experience the tender love and care of Mary the Mother of Jesus
for them in all needs. She would ask them to pray with faith "Mary
Mother of Jesus be a mother to me now," and to ask her what they
need. Countless miracles have happened in this way, turning the hearts
of the people towards God in deep love and confidence.
For Mother Teresa, this
was a "Medal of Charity"--a sign of God's personal interest
in each and every person "now," that is, at each and every
moment of life. She gave to the Miraculous Medal a new apostolic
thrust and focused the Medal's spirituality and theology through
the prism of her holy mission of Charity, a mission which is precisely
to satiate the thirst of Jesus for love and for souls, especially
the poorest of the poor. Since satiating the thirst of Jesus is
at the very heart of the charism (spirituality and mission) of the
Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa did not fail to make the
connection between two of the last words of Jesus on the Cross:
"Behold your Mother" (Jn 19:27) and "I Thirst"
(Jn 19:28). So the Missionaries of Charity quench the thirst of
Jesus by thirsting for him, responding to Jesus' love by their own
love--just the way Mary did. As Mary on Calvary understood her Son's
thirst, received His love and spread it, so Mother Teresa, with
great simplicity, adopted the Miraculous Medal as a beautiful tool
to symbolize the return of love for love--LOVE IS REPAID BY LOVE
ALONE!
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