Clothed in a Mother’s Love

One of the most comforting experiences a person can have is to be hugged by a good and loving mother.  It speaks of security, warmth, protection and acceptance.  I always think of that experience when the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16 draws near, probably because I grew up knowing Carmelite nuns and seeing statues of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in their monastery chapel and in a number of parish churches in my home area.  That beautiful Mother clothed in a large Scapular always holds in her outstretched hand a small Scapular for her children – all of us.  It is a real gesture of comfort and love.

I remember visiting Wadowice, Poland, the hometown of Pope St. John Paul II, and stopping at St. Joseph Monastery of Carmelite Friars.  In their chapel mounted on a wall was a reliquary that contained a simple, small Brown Scapular worn by the Holy Father.  He had a great love for the scapular his entire life.  He is reported to have worn it since he was a boy. He even insisted that the doctors not remove it during his emergency surgery following the assassination attempt on his life on May 13, 1981, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.  Coming from a saint like Pope John Paul II, that is good enough of an endorsement for me!
        
But what is the origin of the devotion to the Brown Scapular?  And why is it associated with the Carmelite Order?  The Carmelites trace their origin back to Old Testament times and specifically to the prophet Elijah.  In the First Book of Kings (18: 41-46), there is a drought in Israel.  It is a sign of God’s displeasure with his people who have gone astray.  Ahab is the king and a bad one at that.  He married a pagan princess, Jezebel, and was worshiping a pagan god and not the true God of Israel.  To show God’s power, Elijah, on the summit of Mount Carmel, interceded with God on behalf of the people to end the drought.  As he was praying, Elijah told his servant to go and look out at the sea.  He saw nothing over the sea.  He instructed his servant to do the same for seven times. 

The seventh time, his servant reported back to him, “A little cloud like a man’s hand (sometimes translated “foot”) is rising out of the sea.”  Elijah then told the servant to say to the king, “Prepare your chariot and go down lest the rain stop you.”  Then the sky darkened with black clouds and torrents of rain fell.   Some spiritual writers have interpreted this cloud as prefiguring of the foot of our Lady who will crush the head of the serpent as found in the book of Genesis (3:15).  It also speaks of what we hear in Advent especially regarding the coming of Jesus the Messiah. “Let the clouds rain down the Just One and the earth bring forth a Savior.” (Is 45:8)  The cloud seems to rain down torrents of grace and crush the head of the enemy.  The Virgin Mother and her Divine Child are foretold to in this cloud centuries before the birth of Jesus. In the first centuries of the Church hermits began to live in the area of Mount Carmel and built a chapel dedicated to Our Lady there.  They called themselves sons of the Prophet Elijah and the Brothers of the Virgin Mary.

In the year 1241 the Baron de Grey was returning to England from the Crusades and brought with him a group of the hermits from Mount Carmel.  The political climate was such in the Holy Land that they were having a difficult time living their vocation to religious life there.  Establishing themselves in Europe was not an easy task for them either. They were struggling for acceptance. 

In the year 1251 on July 16, the General Superior of the Carmelites, an Englishman, St. Simon Stock, was very concerned about the future of his community.  Then he had an extraordinary experience in prayer.  Our Lady appeared to him and entrusted the Scapular to him as a sign of her favor and protection for the members of his community and all who would wear it.  It was a garment from heaven – we might say a hug from the Mother of God herself for her children who were experiencing affliction and suffering.  It gave hope to the Carmelite friars when they needed it badly.  This sign of the Blessed Mother’s love for her children was extended to the faithful through the centuries who wanted to be clothed in her protection and supported by her intercession.

Many saints throughout the centuries have worn the Scapular in her honor and a sign of their devotion to her.  St. Claude de la Colunbiere, the spiritual director of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, St. Alphonous Liguori, the founder of the Redemptorists, St. Isidore Bakanja, an African martyred for wearing the scapular, and most recently Pope St. John Paul II all wore the Brown Scapular.  Of course, all of the Carmelite saints starting with St. Simon Stock and including, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of the Avila, St. Therese of the Infant Jesus, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and the Servant of God, Sister Lucia, one of the three shepherd children of Fatima, all wore the Scapular, just  to mention a few.  It had become part of their religious habit.
        
It is a venerable custom to give children the Brown Scapular on the day of their First Holy Communion to encourage them to stay close to Mary.  People often wear the Brown Scapular especially when close to their death to seek Our Lady’s intercession at their hour of leaving this world.  Maria von Trapp, of The Sound of Music fame, relates the story that her husband, Captain Georg von Trapp, a convert to the Catholic Faith, took great comfort in wearing the Scapular at the end of his earthly pilgrimage.
        
So what about us?  Why the Scapular today?  Pope St. John Paul II said it beautifully in a letter he wrote to Carmelites on the 750th Anniversary of the Bestowal of the Scapular to St. Simon Stock in 2001.

“Two truths are evoked by the sign of the Scapular: on one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life’s journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness of devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honor on certain occasions, but must become a ‘habit’, that is a permanent orientation of one’s own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way the Scapular becomes a sign of the ‘covenant’ and reciprocal communion between Mary and the faithful: indeed, it concretely translates the  gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John, and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved Apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother.”
        
St. John Paul II always says it like it is!  The Scapular is especially about relationship.  It shows us that our Blessed Mother has such love for us that she is always with us on life’s way to shelter us under her mantle and draw us close to her Immaculate Heart.  She always intercedes for us “now and at the hour of our death.”  So why not wear her Scapular as a sign of your love for her and to get a hug from your spiritual Mother.  Who doesn’t need that?

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh