FEAST OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
JULY 16
BACKGROUND
Mt. Carmel is located in Palestine between Tyre and Caesarea about 20 miles from Nazareth, home of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. On Mt. Carmel, the prophet Elijah witnessed God’s triumph over the pagan gods of Ba’aal. Carmel is the place where not only Elijah and Elisha lived and prayed but many hermits after them lived lives of prayer and sacrifice. It is a place described as a place where one is alone with God.
Elijah preached conversion and repentance and turning away from pagan gods. Elijah was the prophet and instrument of God to preserve the true religion of Israel. Perhaps the most exciting and dramatic event in the story of Elijah, the prophet is his confrontation with Ahab and Jezebel and the prophets of the pagan god, Ba’al on Mount Carmel. I Kings, chapter 18.
Elijah challenged Ahab’s prophets to a dueling sacrifice of bulls to see whose God was more powerful, “You shall call upon the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one young bull and prepare it first, for there are more of you. Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire,” The prophets of Ba’al called upon their god from morning until evening to no avail. Elijah, rebuilt the altar of the Lord with twelve stones, prepared a holocaust and even surrounded it with water.
MOUNT CARMEL
He cried out to the Lord “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back.” The LORD’s fire came down and devoured the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust, and lapped up the water in the trench. Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”
The Spirit of Carmel allows the love of God to increase in us, so like St. John the Baptist, we can say, “He must increase, I must decrease” John 3:30
REFLECTION
Silence and special places can assist us in our prayer time to deepen our relationship with Jesus and His Father. When we are aware of our own weakness that is when God is most likely to fill us and make us strong.
Listen to that small quiet voice of the Spirit and pray for discernment.
What is that voice really telling me? It may not be what I wanted to hear or expected. Sometimes it even says wait awhile
God dwells within the human person. Hence, one need not go out of self in search for God but enter progressively ever deeper within oneself to be with God who dwells at the very center of our being.
Carmelite spirituality proposes silence and solitude as necessary pre-requisites for prayer and contemplation. Silence is the condition for listening attentively to the still small voice of God.1 KINGS 19:11 to focus more attentively on the soft whispers within us is reminiscent of Elihah’s experience..
Carmelite Spirituality also focuses on practices of austerity as a means of freeing one-self from the tyranny of self-will. Detachment is a way of placing God first above all creatures.
From the cross, Jesus gave Mary to be our Mother. As our Mother she intercedes with her Son that He may gift us with all we need that we may be saved. . Mary is our maternal mother.
Mary is a very important intercessor on our behalf. From all eternity God chose Mary as the means to bring Christ into the worl. Christ could have entered into the world any number of ways. But God chose Mary as the vessel through which all grace would Pray for Mary’s intercession.
EPILOGUE
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL BROWN SCAPULAR
On July 16, 1251, Mary appeared to St. Simon Stock who was Prior General of Carmel. St. Simon Stock had prayed fervently to the Blessed Mother for assistance as the Order of Carmel was enduring difficulties. Our Lady appeared to him, holding the Brown Scapular in her hands, saying to him, “Whoever dies invested with this Scapular shall be preserved from the eternal flames. It is a sign of salvation, a sure safeguard in danger, a pledge of peace and of my special protection until the end of the ages.”
Today, any priest has permission to enroll a lay person in the brown scapular. Please note that there are no special prayers or good works that are necessary to receive the promise. The Scapular is a silent prayer that shows one’s complete consecration and dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Scapular is a devotion whereby we venerate Mary, love her, and trust in her protection, and we tell her these things every moment of the day by simply wearing the Brown Scapular.
BLESSING AT TIME OF ENROLLMENT
Holy Father, you have wished that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ should take our human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the working of the Holy Spirit; grant to this son/daughter of yours who is about to wear devoutly the Scapular of the family of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel the grace of being clothed in Jesus the Lord in all the circumstances of this life and thus to attain to eternal glory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen
TO JESUS THROUGH MARY