Our Lady of Mt. Carmel July 16th

On this feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, one might wonder why Our Blessed Lady would be named after a mountain.

Carmel (which in the ancient world is always considered a holy mountain) is where the hermits lived from the time of the prophet Elijah. In the first Book of Kings Elijah goes up and sits on top of Mount Carmel (at what would be modern-day Haifa) overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. He sent his servant out seven times to see if there was a cloud; there had been three years of drought at this time. Elijah prayed and up from the sea a little cloud, which symbolizes Our Lady, came to Mount Carmel. From that time on, there were hermits that lived on that mountain. They knew the Mother of God was going to be born to the Jewish people and that she would bear the Messiah. These hermits on Mount Carmel were dedicated to the future Mother of God. They prayed for the woman who would give birth to the Messiah.

We are told, in Saint Matthew's Gospel, that after the birth of Jesus the Holy Family went down to Egypt. But then, because of fear of Herod, they came back by a different route. There were only a couple of routes they could have taken to get up to Nazareth. They took the route that goes up along the Mediterranean Coast and up to Mount Carmel.

The tradition is there, on Mount Carmel, the hermits gathered and Our Lady showed them the Christ Child. There is evidence from the very early centuries of chapels that were dug into the side of the hill in the caves where the hermits lived that were dedicated to Our Lady. They were little Nativity chapels made in the form of the Cave of the Nativity in Bethlehem. There they worshiped God and they honored Our Blessed Lady.

In 1251, Our Lady appeared to Saint Simon Stock and gave him the scapular to help his religious community in their time of need. Over the centuries, not only religious wear the scapular, but most every Catholic.

You will understand why the devil works against those who promote the Scapular when you hear the story of Venerable Francis Ypes. One day his Scapular fell off. As he replaced it, the devil howled, “Take off the habit which snatches so many souls from us!” Then and there Francis made the devil admit that there are three things the demons are most afraid of: the Holy Name of Jesus, the Holy Name of Mary, and the Holy Scapular of Carmel. St. Peter Claver was another of God‟s heroes who used the Scapular to good advantage. Every month a shipment of 1000 slaves would arrive at Colombia, South America. St. Peter used to insure the salvation of his converts. First, he organized catechists to give them instructions. Then, he saw to it that they were baptized and clothed with the Scapular. St. Peter was confident that Mary would watch over each of his more than 300,000 converts!

If your not wearing the scapular, put it on and wear it faithfully because if you do, Our Lady will protect you and help you to get to heaven.