The Brown Scapular: From Habit to Soul
One day, each of us enrolled in the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel because we looked to have particular protections from Our Lady, as had been revealed to Saint Simon Stock in an apparition on the 16th of July 1251. Unfortunately, perhaps our devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel has become limited to wearing the scapular.
Decor Carmeli—the beauty of Mount Carmel: the history of this Marian devotion is deeply connected with that of the Mount. Our Lady is the Queen and Mother of Carmel because she is the Queen and Mother of the interior life. In Carmelite tradition, the cloud seen by the prophet Elijah on the top of Mount Carmel during a time of droughtwas an image of the Blessed Virgin. “Here is what appeared in the sky, coming from this sea, a small cloud, big like a fist.” This small cloud is the life that is going to blossom again. It is our Blessed Lady who gave the Word Incarnate, “de Spiritu sancto, ex Maria virgine.”
Our Lady’s Faith
The Blessed Virgin Mary knows all the secrets of the interior life. From her conception, she simply and perpetually renewed her act of seeking God. This longing for God is, at the same time, of love, adoration and self-sacrifice. Just as Elizabeth said, she is “the one who believed” (Lk. 1:45). Our Lady cooperated, like no other, in the mysteries of our salvation. She internally lived divine things of which the good Lord spared her neither abstruseness, nor mystery. The Annunciation exceeds her reason, “How can this be?” (Lk. 1:34), nevertheless, she adheres to the word of God, “be it done unto me according to thy word” (Lk. 1:38). The Blessed Virgin is overwhelmed by the presence of this little being, Jesus Christ, who receives everything from her, all the while giving her everything. Flooded by the light of the Word, she continues to live in the shadow of faith. Like us, she never had the beatific vision and only saw God through the mirror of his creation or from revelation. This “like us” seems odd. The faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary was of the same nature as ours, even if hers was incomparably clearer. And like this, her whole life, she saw her Son through the light of faith. Her faith was pure and without obstacles, completely penetrating all the mysteries of God with the certainty of vision, but only her faith, because, here below, God appears only through a veil.
She Lived Through Grace
Without a doubt, there will always remain the ever-present abyss of sin between her and us. From the darkest depths within us, there is this seed of death from which all our acts arise. Such acts are in direct opposition to the acts of love of God. However, this abyss gives us all the more reason to raise up our Lady as Queen. It is not in delivering the body from death that will define its interior life, but rather by satisfying ourselves with the grace given us. Like Saint Paul, we should understand, “My grace is sufficient” (II Cor. 12:8). Our Lady lived by this grace. She believed that the grace within her soul was the work of love of God and she lived by this faith. Like her, everyone should believe that Almighty God gives each and every soul grace, and it is precisely this grace which makes us beautiful in the eyes of God. We can always be saved by the virtue of this promise.
“How beautiful are your steps, daughter of the prince!” (Cant. 7:1). Without obstacle, this blessed soul of Our Lady responded to grace through her faith. Mary adopts every move of the Holy Ghost yet her greatness remains obscure. She gives off no external brilliance; she is a Nazarene whose life could seem mundane in the eyes of the world. She is aware of her littleness: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of self is one. The small servant of God is absorbed in the mystery of God, “for he who is Mighty hath done great things unto me” (Lk. 1:49). The greatness of the soul of the Blessed Virgin is in God.
Mother of Fair Love
“How beautiful are your steps!” These steps, this journey towards God, are a continual fiat. In her humility, she offers herself completely to God. She did what others have done, but she did it with such a delicate love; she did it by giving, and this giving was acting in the Spirit of love. All the love of God is concentrated in Our Lady the moment the Word becomes incarnate in her. In her heart, the Father exerted his eternal act of fatherhood with his eternal love for his Son. Mary is where exists the deepest relation to God, of the worship of God, of prayer to God. From this point forward, every time man looks for God, this searching will depend on the fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every endeavor to return to the Father depends on these few words: the Word becomes incarnate “de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine.” The Mother of God is the Mother of the life of our soul. “Thanks to a little word from you, we are brought into existence again, we will be called to life,” said St. Bernard.
Fons amoris (cf. the Stabat Mater), source of love, whose heart burns silently for God, pour out in souls who chose God this love which draws them to Him. Introduce us into the land of Mount Carmel so that we may feed on its fruits.
