The "Rule" of Our Lady and the Scapular Confraternity - II

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J.M.J

Second Day of Novena to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

"Stay in the cell..." Union with Our Beloved requires purity of soul and body. The traditional religious life provides the religious a safe asylum to keep this purity enclosed. Hence, the baptized, once he crosses the threshold of the religious (and of the clerical) life, is given also a distinctive dress that sets him apart from the laymen but particularly from mundane cares - one is that of fashion whence vanity springs and is being fed. My sister, My spouse, is a garden enclosed... a fountain sealed up (Cant. 4.12). The cincture of the religious encloses purity while the Holy Habit of the Order - the Scapular - seals him, who renounces the world and the flesh, up. Those who affiliate to "the Order of the Virgin" must renounce, with promptness and generosity (with zeal), first and foremost all false and counterfeit doctrines and principles peoples are fed with all diabolical subtlety which, by extinguishing the supernatural illumination of the mind through their admixture with divine truths of the Faith, inform the mind with and fill the heart to care for mere useful, beneficial, enjoyable and pleasurable goods. See how you are donned with the Habit of the Virgin - the Scapular in its miniature form: it goes first through your head then rests on your breast. Victory in this Apocalyptic battle is facilitated by refuge to the Immaculate [She who crushes the 'head' of the devil - from which all subtle lies and errors spring] Heart [the beatings of Which were but a most pure and harmonious care, love, and service of Its Beloved] of which chamber the Scapular is the "seal."

See also "Second Day of Novena...: the Scapular Promise of Our Lady" and Scapular Confraternity.