July 16, 2019: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
July 16, 2019: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
It is the oldest Marian site in the world, located in northeastern Israel: Mount Carmel, which means “garden of the Lord”.
The prophet Elijah prayed on its summit for rain after a three-year drought. From the Mediterranean emerged a tiny cloud in the shape of a foot, which slowly rose into the sky and poured torrential rain over the parched land. The foot-shaped cloud, prefigures the heel destined to crush the serpent: Mary, Mediatrix of all graces, bringing redemption to a world parched with sin.
Followers of Elijah came to live as contemplatives in the caves nearby and under the guidance of the prophets began honouring the woman who was to overcome the serpent.
Tradition holds that the hermits of Carmel converted at the first Pentecost. Privileged to meet Our Lady in person, they built Christianity’s first Marian chapel on the spot where Elijah watched the cloud rise from the sea.
In the thirteenth century, crusaders, fighting to free the Holy Land from Turkish control, realized at the foot of Mount Carmel that the first and constant battle for the Church is spiritual. Laying their arms and armor at the foot of the mountain, they ascended it to live a life of prayer, solitude, and apostolic zeal. They followed in spirit of the Prophet Elijah, who, on that very mountain a millennia before, not only defeated the enemies of God, and returned the people of Israel to worship of the one true God, but also, as tradition tells us, revered the women who would one day be the future mother of the God. These former crusaders first called themselves the Brothers of our Lady of Mount Carmel, for they loved and served Mary with all the chivalry in their hearts as their Queen and Sister. As Jesus disciples, they wanted to love Mary with the same filial affection Jesus did during His life on earth. They also consecrated themselves to Our Lady and sought to imitate Mary as their ideal of the one who lived silence, solitude, poverty, and especially close intimacy with Jesus.
In the 13th century, persecution drove the Carmelites to Europe. There St Simon Stock received the Brown Scapular from Our Lady, together with the generous promise that those who died wearing it would not suffer eternal fire. A new wave of devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel began. On July 16, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, those enrolled in the Brown Scapular may obtain a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions, as well as on July 20, the Feast of the Prophet Elijah.
Not only is Mary Queen of Carmel, but also the Beauty and Flower of Carmel, the Flos Carmeli. In Mary's perfect yes, the Church sees itself brought to perfection. Her splendid purity and loving humility adorn the Church in the eyes of her Divine Spouse. So Mary gives her own beauty to the order of Carmel. Carmelites rely on Mary, their Mother, to bestow on them her own virtue and merit. By her scapular, Mary clothes her children in Carmel with her very self.
Song of Gratitude to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (St. Therese of Lisieux)
Close to you, O my loving Mother!
I've found rest for my heart;
I want nothing more on earth.
Jesus alone is all my happiness.
If sometimes I feel sadness
And fear coming to assail me,
Always, supporting me in my weakness,
Mother, you deign to bless me.
https://catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2019/07/16/the-many-spiritual-graces-of-wearing-the-brown-scapular/
https://www.carmelitedcj.org/carmel/saints-of-carmel/85-saints
