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| Our Lady of Mount Carmel by Natalie Ewert |
Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The feast was instituted by the Carmelites some time in the late 1300's, probably between 1376-1386. Tradition holds that the Blessed Mother appeared to St. Simon Stock on July 16, 1251 and promised him that whoever wore the Carmelite habit (specifically the Brown Scapular) devoutly, "would receive the gift of final perseverance" (Father Kieran Kavanaugh, 2008).
Brown Scapular
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is most closely associated with the Brown Scapular sacramental. Many Popes and Saints have encouraged devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the wearing of the Brown Scapular.
Sabbatine Privilege
St. Josemaria Escriva described the devotion:
St. John Paul II expressed the value of the devotion for all in his Message to the Carmelite Family (5):
"To enjoy the privileges of the scapular, it is sufficient that it be received lawfully and worn devoutly. How, then, can any one fail to profit by a devotion so easy, so simple, and so wonderfully blessed? 'He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.'" (Rev. 3:5.)(Reflection from Pictorial Lives of the Saints, St. Simon)
Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel. There are many excellent Marian devotions, but few are so deep-rooted among the faithful, and have received so many blessings from the Popes. Besides, how maternal this sabbatine privilege is! (The Way, 500)Two Truths
St. John Paul II expressed the value of the devotion for all in his Message to the Carmelite Family (5):
Therefore two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life's journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honour on certain occasions, but must become a "habit", that is, a permanent orientation of one's own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way the Scapular becomes a sign of the "covenant" and reciprocal communion between Mary and the faithful: indeed, it concretely translates the gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved Apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother.Reflection
"To enjoy the privileges of the scapular, it is sufficient that it be received lawfully and worn devoutly. How, then, can any one fail to profit by a devotion so easy, so simple, and so wonderfully blessed? 'He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.'" (Rev. 3:5.)(Reflection from Pictorial Lives of the Saints, St. Simon)
Free Brown Scapulars
Here are two ways to order a FREE Brown Scapular:
Purchase Brown Scapulars
Here are two sites for some very well made scapulars.
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