Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Divine Intimacy)

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The feast day for Our Lady of Mount Carmel is July 16. And today I wanted to share a meditation from one of my favorite spiritual books, Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen, OCD.

The Carmelite order has always held a special place in my heart. When I was younger, I wanted to join the order, but couldn’t find a Traditional Carmelite convent at the time. And I even chose St Therese as my Confirmation patron saint.

At the end of this post, I will share some favorite Carmelite Third Order resources for those who are interested.

Devotion to Our Lady of Mt Carmel has as its distinct characteristic a dedication to the interior life.

“Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel indicates a strong call
to the interior life, which, in a very special way, is Mary’s life.” 

– Divine Intimacy

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The following meditation is taken from Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen, OCD.

PRESENCE OF GOD — O Mary, Beauty of Carmel, make me worthy of your protection, clothe me with your scapular, and be the teacher of my interior life.

Meditation #1

The Blessed Virgin is a Mother who clothes us with grace and takes our supernatural 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. How she longs that this robe be imperishable! 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 Lady of Mount Carmel offers us, is only the external symbol of her unceasing, maternal care: the symbol, but also the sign, the pledge of eternal salvation. “My beloved son,” Mary said to St. Simon Stock, “take this scapular… whoever dies clothed in it will not suffer eternal fire.” The Blessed Virgin gives the assurance of the supreme grace of final perseverance to all who wear worthily her little habit.

“Those who wear the scapular,” said Pius XII, “profess to belong to Our Lady.” 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).

Meditation #2

Devotion to Our Lady of Mount 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 more than in externals. 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 and 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 Mount 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, 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 Isaias (32, 16-18) and repeated in the Office proper Our Lady of Mount 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, and oasis of silence and peace, where justice and equity reign; and 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 passions can, like Mary, be a solitary, silent “garden” where God will find His delights. This is the grace we ask of Our Lady today when we choose her to be the Queen and mistress of our interior life.

Colloquy

“O Mary, flower of Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of heaven, who brought forth the Son of God yet remained a Virgin, sweet and Immaculate Mother, grant the favors your children implore, O Star of the sea” (St. Simon Stock).

“O most Blessed Virgin: has anyone ever invoked your aid without being helped? We, your little children, rejoice with you for all your virtues, but particularly for your mercy. We praise your virginity, we admire your humility; but for the needy, mercy has even a sweeter savor.

“We have a more tender love for mercy, we recall it more often, and we invoke it more frequently. Truly your mercy has obtained the redemption of the world; together with your prayers, it has secured the salvation of mankind.

“Oh Mary, who can measure the length, breadth, height and depth of your mercy? Its length reaches to the end of time, to help all who call upon it; its breadth encompasses the whole world, for all the earth is full of your goodness! The height of your mercy has unlocked the gates of the heavenly city and has obtained the redemption of those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

“By you, O Mary, the erring are brought back to the right road and heaven is filled. Thus your most powerful and merciful charity is poured over us like a compassionate and helpful love” (St. Bernard).

How shall we then show our solid devotion to the Blessed Virgin?  By striving to imitate her interior life, her lowly opinion of herself, her love of obscurity, of silence and of retirement; her attraction to little things, her fidelity to grace, the beautiful simplicity of her recollection and prayers, the only object of which was God and His holy will, Jesus Christ and His love, her continual sacrifice of herself and of all she loved most earnestly.  Let us ask her every day that she may serve us as our guide and model in the interior life. 

— Manual for Interior souls by Father Nicholas Grou, S .J.

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