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(Optional) Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
(Exodus 11:1—12:14; Matthew 12:1-8)
The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel invites a reflection
on the scapular. It is said, without
historical documentation, that Mary gave the scapular to St. Simon Stock, a
general of the Carmelite Order. Scapulars
were first used by members of ancient religious orders as a piece of clothing,
an additional layer to protect one from the cold.
After a while, the scapular on a symbolic value. It was equated with the yoke and even the
cross of Christ which one bears with great efficacy. With the founding of the mendicant orders in
the thirteenth century, a smaller scapular made of the same cloth and color as
the whole habit was given to members of the “third order.” These devotees did
not live in community but practiced the spirituality which the scapular
represented. By the sixteenth century
the scapular became diminutive – no more than two inches squared.
Sometimes claims were made that wearers of the scapular
would never go to hell. Such was the
cIaim made by Carmelites about their brown scapular. It is said that Our Lady promised that
wearers of the scapular until death would be admitted to heaven on the first Saturday
after dying. However, the claim presumes
that the person wearing the scapular would lead a life in accordance with the
ideals of the Order. (To say that the
mere wearing a scapular assures eternal life would mock the gospels.) In this sense the scapular is not like the
blood of lamb which painted on lintels protected the children of Israel from
the scourge of death. That blood
prefigured the blood of Christ shed on the cross which does bring salvation to
all who accept him and his revelation fully.
