November 27-28, 2022

Vocabulary Word of the Day (Meriam Webster) Onomatopoeia - noun (ah-nuh-mah-tuh-PEE-uh) Onomatopoeia means “the creation or use of words that imitate sounds.” It can also refer to the words themselves. // The poem “Cynthia in the Snow” by Gwendolyn Brooks is famous for its beautiful onomatopoeia, capturing in vivid language snow’s many and distinct aural effects.

Trivia: What Day is it Today? November 26 Christ The King International Cake Day National [Alexis, Eric, Heath] Day November 27 - International Shift Worker Sunday - Feast of Our Lady of Miraculous Medal - National Lawrence Day - Pins and Needles Day - Turtle Adoption Day November 28 November 28 is the 332nd day in the Gregorian calendar. On this day, the New York Stock Exchange re-opened after WWI, the Grand Ole Opry began broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, and the first pulsar was discovered. - Albania Independence Day - Mauritania Independence Day - National Alan Day - National Cole Day - National Madison Day - National Patrick Day - National Sovereignty Day Argentina - Red Planet Day

Cynthia in the Snow It SUSHES. It hushes The loudness in the road. It flitter-twitters And laughs away from me. It laughs a lovely whiteness And whitely whirs away, To be Some otherwhere, Still white as milk or shirts. So beautiful it hurts.

Topic: Mars (1) What do you know about Mars? (2) Do you think there was/is life on Mars? (3) Martians are from Mars; do you know what life forms on other planets might be called? (4) Are you interested in the secrets Mars holds? (5) Would you like to go to Mars one day? (6) Why are scientists so interested in Mars? (7) Do you think it’s possible that one day, many people will live on Mars? (8) What do you think of the idea often described by scientists that life started on Mars and moved to Earth, which means we are Martians? (9) What would you like to know about Mars? (10) Why is Mars red?

Designed and revealed by Mary, the Medal is unique among all medals. It was almost midnight when St. Catherine Labouré was awakened by a soft voice, whispering, “Sister, sister, sister.” Mysterious events led her to the chapel where the Blessed Mother appeared and sat down near the altar. St. Catherine knelt at her feet, rested her hands in Mary’s lap, looked into her eyes, and had a heart-to-heart conversation with her. Later, St. Catherine would refer to that night as “the sweetest moment of my life.”

Four months later, in November of 1830, Mary again appeared to St. Catherine at the Rue de Bac Chapel. This time, our Blessed Mother was standing on a globe, with dazzling rays of light streaming from her outstretched hands. Framing the apparition was an inscription: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” When Mary spoke to St. Catherine, she said “Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck. Those who repeat this prayer with devotion will be, in a special manner, under the protection of the Mother of God. Graces will be abundantly bestowed upon those who have confidence.”

With approval of the Catholic Church, the first medals were made in 1832 and distributed in Paris. Only ten of the original medals are known to exist, and one of them is housed at the Miraculous Medal Shrine. Almost immediately, the blessings that Mary promised showered down on those who wore her medal, and soon all of France was clamoring for what the people referred to as the “Miraculous Medal.” Use of the Medal spread from country to country, and, at the time of St. Catherine’s death in 1876, more than a billion medals had been made. Today, the Medal is still drawing down from God blessings for body and soul.

A Medal that Changed the World It’s very tiny, barely an inch long and half-inch wide. There’s nothing elaborate or stunning about it. It’s not even made out of silver or gold. How can something so small and simple be such a momentous force in the world? And yet, it is. Symbolism of the Miraculous Medal The Miraculous Medal was originally called the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, but, because of the numerous accounts of miracles by those who wore it, people began to call it the Miraculous Medal, and the name stuck. The Medal is a visual reminder of our salvation through Jesus Christ.

FRONT SIDE: The front side of the Miraculous Medal depicts Mary Immaculate, her hands open, full of light. St. Catherine Labouré saw Our Lady appear like this and heard her say, “Have a medal made according to this model. Everyone who wears it around their neck will receive great graces.” Mary stands upon the globe as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim that Satan and all his followers are helpless before her (Gn. 3:15). The year 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the Blessed Mother gave the design of the Miraculous Medal to St. Catherine. The reference to “Mary conceived without sin” supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary — referring to Mary being sinless, “full of grace,” and “blessed among women” (Lk. 1:28). The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed 24 years later in 1854, and then confirmed when Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, in 1858.

BACK SIDE: On the reverse side, the Cross and the letter M symbolize the close relationship of Mary to the suffering, passion, and death of her Son. The cross can symbolize Christ and our redemption, with the bar under the cross a sign of the earth and the Altar, for it is on the Altar at Mass that the Sacrifice of Calvary continues to be present in the world today. The M signifies “Mary” and “Mother.” The interweaving of Mary’s initial and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus and our world. In this, we see Mary’s part in our salvation and her role as Mother of the Church.

Beneath the Cross, bar, and the M are two hearts side‐by‐side: the Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced by a sword. The two hearts represent the love of Jesus and Mary for us. The twelve stars signify the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, who represent the entire Church as it surrounds Mary. They also recall the vision of Saint John, writer of the Book of Revelation (12:1), in which “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.”

The Widow’s Miracle In 1834, only two years after the first copies of the Miraculous Medal were made and distributed in Paris, news of the medal had traveled throughout France. One person who heard about it was a 70-year-old impoverished widow who had entered the nursing home of Saint-Maur after a terrible fall in August 1833. Not only did she have to drag her left leg, she needed assistance to walk, and she had difficulty sitting and getting back up. When she heard about the medal, in January 1834, she requested one and was filled with hope. As soon as she received it, in March of that year, she went to Confession. The next day – which was the first Friday of the month – she received the Holy Eucharist and began praying a novena to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. She also venerated the medal, which she wore around her neck, 20 times a day. She was suddenly free of her pain by the seventh day of the novena. Everyone at the nursing home was shocked when she began walking without assistance. After having received the miraculous cure, she was even able to climb stairs and kneel.

Miraculous Recovery By 1836, news of the medal had spread throughout Europe. In January of that year, a priest in Italy secretly slipped a medal into the pillow of a 27-year-old man who had become indifferent about his faith. Even though he was dying from pneumonia, he didn’t want to turn from sin and return to his faith and family. Since the priest and a chaplain had failed to convince him to do so, the priest hoped to return after giving the young man time to reflect on what they had said. Before the priest returned, the young man reconciled with his mother and asked her to call the priest, because he wanted to reject the sins of his past and return to his faith. When the priest showed him the medal and gave it to him, the young man began devoutly kissing the medal. With remorse, he confessed his sins and received absolution, and he also received the Last Rites. But to everyone’s astonishment, he began feeling better and made a full recovery within a few days. He kept the medal and frequently kissed it with great devotion and gratitude to God and Blessed Mother.

Miracle Of Sight Later that year, in June 1836, a miracle occurred in Belgium. Rosalie Ducas, a little girl who had been a healthy toddler, suddenly lost her sight on November 9, 1835 at the age of four and a half. Losing her sight was such a traumatic experience that the child was disturbed day and night. Realizing that the child needed help from above, the parish priest of Jodoigne-la-Soveraine gave the girl’s mother a Miraculous Medal. On June 11, 1836, the woman placed another medal around her daughter’s neck, and she started praying a novena. Within six hours of placing the medal around the child’s neck, the little girl stopped complaining of pain. Then, on the fourth or fifth day of the novena, Rosalie opened her eyes. The parents felt so hopeful that they prayed even more. To the overwhelming delight of Rosalie, her parents and the priest, the child regained her sight and was freed from her pain on the ninth day of the novena.

Healing Of Mind By the end of 1837, people throughout the world had learned about the Miraculous Medal. And around that time, a woman in China received a miracle. She was given the medal by Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, a holy priest who was on mission in Ho-Nan. The saint – who was later imprisoned, tortured for about a year and martyred in 1840 because of his Christian faith – was told about the woman by other Christians living in Ho-Nan. They told the priest that she desperately wanted him to hear her confession, even though she had been mentally disturbed for about eight months. Although it was almost impossible for her to make a coherent confession, he compassionately agreed to hear her. Although she didn’t know what it was, the saint gave her the Miraculous Medal, so that she could be under the protection of Blessed Mother. Only four or five days later, he was amazed at the healing that had taken place. Her mental suffering and anguish had been replaced by peace, common sense and joy.

Miracle Of The Ice Cream Despite the miracles associated with the medal, many people don’t believe it can make such a difference. Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. was one of those people. Not long after he had been ordained, a Vincentian priest encouraged him and others to promote the Miraculous Medal, because Blessed Mother really does work miracles through it. Although Fr. Hardon ordered a free pamphlet on how to bless the medals and enroll people in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal, he didn’t get one for himself. But later, in 1948, when the United States priest encountered a ten-year-old boy who was in a coma after a sledding accident, he decided to see if it would help. A sister who worked at the hospital found one and a ribbon the priest could use to hang it around the boy’s neck. Even though the boy had been diagnosed with inoperable permanent brain damage, the priest read the prayer that enrolled the boy in the Confraternity of the Miraculous Medal. As soon as he finished the prayer, the boy opened his eyes and asked his mother for ice cream. It was the first time he had spoken in nearly two weeks. New x-rays showed the brain damage had disappeared, and the boy was released from the hospital after about three days. Like the boy and his family, the priest’s life and his belief in the medal were forever changed.