"What medal is that?" "Where did you get it?" "Why do you wear it?" Many people I know wear medals they have received as gifts, from aunts or grandparents who "knew they would actually wear it", from places they have traveled, for protection and for devotional purposes. I personally own more medals than I could ever wear all at once. Medals that have been blessed by popes or in holy places. Medals that have been handed down from loved ones. Medals that I have purchased while traveling. Each and every one has significance to me. I have worn a St. Gerard medal for 29 years when it was given to me by one of our vendors after the loss of our first child and upon the birth of our oldest on earth. The only time I have taken it off for any length of time was when I put it over the head of a friend on her way to the hospital to give birth (she was a bit worried but all went well, of course). I also continually wear my Miraculous Medal that I received after my consecration to Mary and my scapular medal, because with promises like that, how can I not?! Last but not least, I wear a medal of St. John of God, patron of booksellers. I also often wear a shorter chained medal, usually something from a Marian Apparition; Fatima, Lourdes, or Guadalupe just because they are beautiful and they fill me with memories of being at a certain Grotto or apparition site.
Now don't get me wrong, I know that it's not as simple as putting a medal around our necks and POOF, protected or holy or instant sales or whatever. I know that these medals are simply reminders for us to pray to Our Lady and Our Lord and the patron Saints. They are reminders of promises to cling to faith and hope and love. They are reminders to visit and to listen. They are reminders of those who have come before us, the community of believers who have paved our way, who have planted seeds and who have prayed for the future of the Church on earth.
I get asked a lot, and so we ask you...what medals do you wear? Why?
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