The Miraculous Mettle of Mary

mary, jesus, cross, marian, altar, heart

Mettle is defined in the dictionary as “ vigor and strength of spirit or temperament.” In other words, if you have a lot of mettle, you are VERY strong in your spirit and even your temperament. Well, for over 2000 years now, the Blessed Virgin Mary has proven to be just that: a very miraculous (the virgin birth happened to her because she was already full of grace, according to St. Gabriel), powerful, and loving instrument of the Holy Spirit to help us all to find her Son, in the fastest and best way possible. 

Contrary to Protestant misunderstanding, Catholics do not worship Mary, nor is she dead. (“Mary’s dead and can’t hear your prayers,” they mistakenly say!) Mary, like all souls ever created, is very much alive.  Souls don’t die, they live forever. The Great Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 12 is NOT a huge pile of corpses! 

Mary’s unique position in the world is that she is the sinless daughter of God the Father, the sinless spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the sinless mother of God the Son. We know that she has to be sinless because Jesus is sinless. The Bible tells us (Luke 6:43) that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, and Elizabeth referred to Jesus as the fruit of Mary’s womb (Luke 1:42). So, if Jesus is pure and holy, then Mary has to be also. If she is not, then a bad tree did bear good fruit. Jesus would have been under the stain of original sin for 9 months in Mary’s womb. FYI, Jesus was never under any stain of sin, original or committed.

In the Bible, Luke tells us that Mary’s soul (still very much alive!) MAGNIFIES the Lord (Luke 1:46). To magnify something means to make it larger, clearer, and more focused. So that would seem to most folks to be a good thing concerning Jesus.  As every kid knows, if you hold a magnifying glass just right in relation to the sun, you can start a fire. Catholics hold the Virgin Mary just right in relation to her Son, so that Jesus can cast fire on the earth in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Examples of Mary’s Mettle

​Mary’s vigor and strength of spirit and temperament (mettle) was told to us in the Bible several times.  The first time, when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her, her strength of spirit in the unconditional acceptance of the will of God totally united her with the Holy Spirit, and there is certainly no strength of spirit greater than that!  Catholics believe that Mary is still totally united with the Holy Spirit, since no one in their right mind believes that the incarnation of Jesus was a “one-night stand” by the Holy Spirit. No, Mary and the Holy Spirit are still totally united. This was shown to us during the Visitation of Mary to St. Elizabeth, whose fetus, John the Baptist, was filled with the Holy Spirit (in fulfillment of the prophecy in Luke 1:15) in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice.  Not many voices can cause unborn children to leap for joy, but Mary’s did!

Mary’s temperament was demonstrated to us during the Passion of her Son.  While undergoing the maximum sorrow possible in seeing her Son – whom she knew to be God – tortured, mocked, dirtied, and crucified, at no time did she curse His murderers. In all probability, being filled with the Holy Spirit, she, like Jesus, prayed for His persecutors to be saved. The good news is that her temperament can be ours as well, if we, like St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and St. John, take Mary into our home. In all three of those instances, their homes were blessed immensely by having Mary live there. And thank God, so can our homes today be blessed by her. Just before He died, in His last will and testament, Jesus gave His most valuable possession, His Mother, to us, His family (John 19:27). It’s important to remember that Jesus never said “John,” or the beloved “apostle” when referring to who should take care of his Mother when he was departed. Rather, he said these words to his beloved DISCIPLE, which would include all of us today, who are also beloved disciples of Jesus.

Mary’s vigor is continually demonstrated to us as well, because after 2000 years of bringing souls to her Son, she is still at it. She daily crushes the serpent’s head through her intercessions for us, her heavenly sighs, her prayers, her apparitions, and her adoption of us as her spiritual sons and daughters. Two thousand years is a mighty long time to be fighting the devil and our human sinful nature!

Putting the Petal to the Mettle

The word “rosary” is defined as a crown of roses.  Meditation on the 20 Bible mysteries in the Rosary is the fastest and best way to access the mettle of Mary. At Fatima, she asked us six times to say the Rosary for world peace. So many Catholics fail in this, so it’s no wonder that the world is going over a cliff at a thousand miles an hour. Someone once said that every time we sin, we add a thorn to the crown of Jesus, but every time we say the Rosary, we are adding a rose to Mary’s crown. If EVERY Catholic (and non-Catholic as well) would start saying their daily Rosary, the world would change overnight. Exorcists have said that they have seen the devils shriek in terror when the Rosary is recited. We aren’t just meant to be passive observers of salvation history; rather, we are supposed to be on the front lines of the battle, fighting Satan with everything we’ve got, every day. St. Padre Pio called the Rosary his WEAPON. So, put the petal to your mettle by saying it every day!

Miraculous Metal

Alloys are special metals comprised of other metals, that when melted together, become a totally new material called an alloy. One of the most famous of these is stainless steel, which has a very shiny surface that is resistant to corrosion. To make stainless steel, iron and several other elements (such as nickel or chromium) that are more resistant to corrosion than just plain iron or steel (which is iron and carbon) are melted together. The impurities are then removed through several processes, such as stirring with a vacuum chamber, and putting the product through several heating and cooling chambers (annealing). 

In analogous terms, Mary is a lot like stainless steel. She has absolutely no impurities in her, and she also went through a lot of forming processes.  Similar to the vacuum chamber (no oxygen), her breath was probably taken away many times while contemplating the holiness of her Son.  

Mary’s encounter with Gabriel certainly stirs the imagination. Like a metallic alloy, she is totally united to the Holy Spirit in such a way that she is an entirely different creature than the rest of us. (In heaven, we will all be totally united to the Holy Spirit, but she was like that here on earth.) Like the annealing heat process, she was present at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit appeared as tongues of fire, which changed the spirit and mettle of the apostles and fired them up to be saints  forever.  And like that shiny stainless steel that is resistant to corrosion, Mary shines like the sun (Revelation 12) and is totally resistant to sin (Genesis 3:15), being at enmity with the devil. If we adopt her as our own Mother, in obedience to Jesus’ announcement from the cross (John 19:27), then she will start to impart these exact same qualities to us, her children (Revelation 12:17), over time.

Miraculous Medal

Last, but certainly not least, is the Miraculous Medal of Mary. This was given to St. Catherine Labouré by Mary herself at Paris, France, in 1830. St. Catherine went to the Chapel at night, and Mary appeared to her and gave her a mission, the mission to have the Miraculous Medal struck and distributed around the world.

On one side, the medal has a picture of Mary standing on a globe (the earth) with both bright rays and dark rays emanating from her hands. The bright rays are the graces men have asked for and received, while the dark rays indicate graces no one has asked for. Around the edge of the medal are the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” This prayer indicates that she is the Immaculate Conception, a dogma of the Church that wasn’t to be proclaimed officially for 24 more years (1854). It’s a very powerful prayer that she wants us to say every day.

On the other side of the medal, 12 stars (from her crown in Revelation 12) surround the edge and indicate her 12 virtues, the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 Apostles . A giant M (for Mary) with a cross coming out of the top indicates that Jesus was born of her and that they both have the mission together to save mankind.  This is emphasized with both the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart together, below the M. 

While the Miraculous Medal is not a magic amulet or a good-luck charm, it is a sacramental of the Catholic Church. Sacramentals do draw down grace on those who believe in Jesus. The Miraculous Medal is so called because people who wear it out of faith in Jesus Christ have indeed had many miracles occur in their lives. The devil studiously avoids people who wear this medal around their neck.

To become an evangelist and order Miraculous Medals, click here.

Miraculous Medal Success Stories

St. John Vianney, a 19th century priest, now the patron saint of parish priests, once had a female penitent who was very sad that a very handsome young man had not asked her to dance at the ball she was attending. St. John asked her if she had seen the strange blue light coming from his feet. She said yes, she had. He told her that this was none other than the devil, who had taken this appearance to tempt the young women he was dancing with. He said that he didn’t ask her to dance because she was wearing the Miraculous Medal!

Zachary King was a full-blown satanist, who obtained many earthly favors from the evil one. One day, while working at the mall in his kiosk, a woman came up to him and gave him a Miraculous Medal. When he held it, the mall disappeared, and Mary appeared. She told him to convert. When the vision vanished, he knew his devil days were over, and he is now a full-blown Catholic Evangelist.

Let Mary Miraculously Meddle in your Life

If you want to fulfill your mission in life to fight Satan and win souls for God, then adopt Mary as your mother. Like all good mothers, she will see to it that you are educated (Bible study), cleaned up (Confession), well fed (the Eucharist), and loved by your Father (the Mass). If you decide to obey Mary’s request at Fatima to say your Rosary for world peace, you will not only drive the devil out of your own life, but you will be doing more for world peace than any politician, general, or army. We aren’t down here just to make money and enjoy ourselves; rather, we were created to be totally united to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:17) and to be partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

8 thoughts on “The Miraculous Mettle of Mary”

  1. [I am Bob, not Robert, though Robert makes good points.] Given your views of Mary, Mr. Sullivan, please comment on these verses from Matthew 12:
    “46While he [Jesus] yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 47Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

  2. It’s amazing how much the Catholic Church has made of Mary, considering the paucity of source material. There’s a lot more in the Gospels about Mary Magdalene but you don’t hear much about her.

  3. Pingback: VVEEKEND EDITION – Big Pulpit

  4. Jesus Christ, our High Priest intercessor in heaven is the one who intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father for our sinful human nature. There is only one High Priest in heaven; and He is the only one who is able to do this because He had His shed blood, which was required, to present to the Father after He ascended. This is similar to the high priest on earth who had to enter the Holy of Holies alone once a year, and not without blood (cf. Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:24-25; 9:7).
    At Pentecost, Christ’s Spirit became available for us to strengthen us and to share with us His inner rest. Latria entrustment to Christ is required for us to benefit from this.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.