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JMJ
JMJ
Solemn
Commemoration of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel
The Blessed Virgin is a Mother who clothes us with grace and takes
our spiritual life under Her protection, in order to bring it to its full
flowering in eternal life. She, the Immaculate, full of grace
from the first moment of Her conception, takes our souls stained by sin, and
with a maternal gesture, cleanses them in the Blood of Christ and clothes them
with grace, which, together with Him, She has merited for us. We can truly say
that the garment of grace was woven by the blessed hands of Mary, who day by
day, moment by moment, gave Herself entirely, in union with Her Son, for our
salvation.
Legend tells of the seamless robe which the Blessed Virgin wove for Jesus;
but, for us - and in reality - She has done much more. She has cooperated in
obtaining the garment of our eternal salvation, the wedding garment in which we
shall enter the banquet hall of heaven. From the moment we received it, Mary
has never ceased to follow us with Her maternal gaze, to safeguard within us
the life of grace. Each time we are converted and return to God or rise again
after falling into sin - be it great or small - each time we increase in grace,
all, everything, is effected through Mary's mediation. The Scapular, the
"little habit," that Our Blessed Mother offers us, is only the
external symbol, but also the sign, the pledge of eternal salvation. "My
beloved son," the Blessed Mother said to St. Simon Stock, "take this
Scapular... whoever dies clothed in it will not suffer eternal fire" (cf.,
"Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Her Scapular"). The Blessed
Virgin gives the assurance of the supreme grace of final perseverance to all
who wear WORTHILY Her habit.
"Those who wear the Scapular," said Pope Pius
XII, "profess to belong to Our Lady" [and obey Her "Rule" - see "The 'Rule' of Our Lady...": a nine-day novena series of spiritual exhortations] and the Because
we belong to Mary She takes special care of our souls. One who belongs to Her
cannot be lost or be touched by eternal fire. Her powerful maternal
intercession gives Her the right to repeat, for Her children, the words of Jesus:
Holy Father... those whom Thou gavest Me have I kept; and none of them is
lost (Jn. 17.12).
Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel indicates a strong call to the
interior life, which, in a very special way, is Mary's life. The
Blessed Virgin wants us to resemble Her in heart and mind much than by performing external forms of devotion. If we penetrate into Mary's soul we see that grace produced
in Her a very rich interior life: a life of recollection, prayer,
uninterrupted giving of Herself to God, and of constant contact and intimate
union with Him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God
alone where no creature has ever left an imprint; here reign love
and zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of men.
Those who wish to live truly devoted to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, must
follow Mary into the depths of the interior life. Carmel
is the symbol of the contemplative life, of life wholly consecrated to
seeking God and tending wholly toward divine intimacy; and She who
best realizes this very high ideal is Mary, Regina Decor Carmeli ("Queen,
Beauty of Carmel"). Judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and
justice shall sit in Carmel. And the work of justice shall be peace, and the
service of justice quietness and security forever. And my people shall sit in
the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence. These verses,
taken from the Prophet Isaias (32.16-18) and repeated in the Office proper to
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, delineate very well the contemplative spirit and, at
the same time, they are a beautiful picture of Mary's soul
which is a real garden (Carmel in
Hebrew signifies "garden") of virtues, an oasis of security
completely enveloped in the shadow of God, and filled with God. Every
interior soul, even if living amid the tumult of the world, must strive to
reach this peace, this interior silence, which alone makes continual contact
with God possible. It is our passions and attachments that
make noise within us, that disturb our peace of mind and interrupt our
intimate converse with God. Only the soul that is wholly
detached and in complete control of its passion can, like Mary,
be a solitary, silent garden where
God will find His delights. This is the grace we ask of Our Immaculate
Mother today when we choose Her to be the Queen and mistress of our interior
life.
A most blessed Feast to all!
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