Memorial of Our
Lady of Mount Carmel
(Exodus 2:1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24)
Today’s optional memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
celebrates one of the most revered manifestations of the Blessed Virgin. She is said to have given St. Simon Stock,
the prior general of the Carmelite Order in the middle of the thirteenth
century, the order’s brown scapular that served as part of its habit. At the same time Our Lady is said to have
promised salvation to those who persevere in wearing it.
The scapular has been radically reduced so that it is not
always a garb at all but a neck pendant that can be easily worn under regular
clothing. No doubt millions of lay
people around the word do just that trusting Our Lady’s promise. The story sounds quaint and ingenuous, but it
only underscores the narrative unfolding in the first reading these days where
God comes to the aid of His people when they are perishing. Today’s segment shows how the Israelite’s human
liberator Moses is spared death by a generous act of Providence.
Wearing a scapular is not necessary to be saved, but it
may remind us of our Lord whose death on the cross extends to us the
possibility of eternal life. He also has
shared with us his Blessed Mother whose pleading on our behalf contributes to
our never losing faith.
