[Maryschild]

JMJ

‘Our Lady of Mount Carmel’ - whose feast we celebrate on July 16.

“WHOSOEVER DIES IN THIS SCAPULAR SHALL NOT SUFFER ETERNAL FIRE” –
OUR LADY TO ST.SIMON STOCK


History of the Brown Scapular -
. . The Scapular devotion dates from the time of the prophet
Elias (Third Book of Kings). The people were then adoring
Baal (the devil). To bring the people back to God, Elias
prayed for a drought, which the people would understand
as a sign of Divine displeasure.
. . .After it did not rain for three and a half years, Elias went
up to Mount Carmel (in Palestine) and asked God to send
rain. After praying for a time, he sent his companion to see if
rain was coming. His companion went down the mountain
side, looked to the sea, then returned to Elias and reported
that he saw no rain. So Elias prayed again, then sent his
companion down to the sea, and again, there was no rain.
He prayed six times. Each time, there was no rain.
Then Elias prayed a seventh time. This time when the
man went down the mountain, he saw a little cloud coming
out of the sea in the shape of a foot. And this cloud grew
until it covered the whole land. And from that one cloud,
there came the rain.
. . . Now Elias understood this cloud represented God’s
Mother-to-come, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The cloud was in
the shape of a foot, and he knew the prophecy of Genesis,
that the Woman would crush the serpent’s head with Her
foot.
. . . Saint Bonaventure tells us that every page of the Old
Testament talks about the Blessed Virgin in one way or
another. Holy people have told us that there are two other
reasons why this cloud represented the Blessed Virgin:
. . .1) Because the sea was a salt-water sea but the cloud
was fresh water. The cloud represented Our Lady’s Immaculate
Conception. Our Lady arose out of sinful humanity, but She
alone was conceived without sin;
. . 2) The cloud also represented the Blessed Virgin as
Mediatrix of All Graces. The rain-water represents grace.
The rain-water that fell on all the parched land came from
one cloud. It came through the Mediatrix of All Graces.
. . .Elias, being a prophet, decided to commemorate this
event and he founded a community of hermits on Mount
Carmel to prepare for the coming of the Savior and His
Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.


The Mantle of Elias is Mentioned in Sacred Scripture
. . .One time when Elias went across the river Jordan, he
took his Mantle off, touched the river with the Mantle and it
topped the river from flowing, so he could cross it (4 Kings
2:8). When he was to be taken up to Heaven, his successor
Eliseus asked Elias for his prophetic spirit. Elias said to him,
If I leave my Mantle behind for you, know that you will
receive this prophetic spirit.” Scripture tells us when the fiery
chariot came and took Elias to Heaven, it separated Elias and
Eliseus. Then Eliseus picked up the Mantle left behind by
Elias (4 Kings 2:13).
. On Pentecost, 10 days after Jesus ascended into Heaven,
the spiritual descendants of Elias and his followers came
down from Mount Carmel. These were the first to accept
the message of Christianity and be baptized by the Apostles.
When, at last, they were presented to Our Lady, and heard
the sweet words from Her lips, they were overcome with
a sense of majesty and sanctity which they never forgot.
They returned to their holy mountain, and erected the first
chapel ever built in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From
that time, devotion to God’s Mother became the treasured
spiritual legacy of the hermits on Mount Carmel.
. . .It was to the successor of these hermits of Mount Carmel
that Our Lady appeared centuries later. The community
had just been transferred in 1241 from Mount Carmel in
. . Palestine to Aylesford, England. Saint Simon Stock was
made Superior General of the Order for men in 1245.
. . .Weighed down by all the external persecutions an
internal dissensions at that time, the 90-year-old Saint Simon
Stock had retired to his cell alone. On July 16, 1251 he poured
out his heart to the Blessed Virgin Mary — the Flower of Mount
Carmel — asking Her to help him and all the Carmelites.
. . .Then, accompanied by a multitude of angels, the Blessed
Virgin appeared to him, holding in Her hands the Scapular of
the Order, and said:
. .“This shall be to you and to all Carmelites a privilege
that anyone who dies clothed in this [Scapular] shall
not suffer eternal fire.”1
. . .The full Carmelite Scapular is made of brown wool, is
about 14 inches wide and is worn down to the knees in the
front and the back.

Saint Simon established the Confraternity of Mount
Carmel shortly after this apparition and thus the promise of
eternal salvation was extended to Carmelite Confraternity
members who died wearing the Carmelite Scapular. Pope
Urban IV, in 1262, extended special blessings to these
Confraternity members.2
. . .Already by 1276 AD the abbreviated form of the Scapular
(the Scapular size seen on page 11) existed as can be seen by
the still-preserved small Scapular of Pope Gregory X, who
died that year and was buried with his Scapular on. Five
hundred and fifty-four years later, it was found intact in 1830
in his tomb and is still preserved in the Arezzo (Italy) museum
today. There are historical records of Carmelite Confraternity
meetings of lay people in Florence, Italy in 1280 AD.

A Sign of Salvation and Protection
Read more on:
http://www.fatima.org/apostolate/pdf/brown_scapular.pdf

Two great founders of Religious Orders, Saint Alphonsus
of the Redemptorists and Saint John Bosco of the Salesians,
were devoted to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and both wore
Her Brown Scapular. When they died, each was buried
in his priestly vestments and Scapular. Many years later,
their graves were opened, the bodies and sacred vestments
in which they were buried were dust. BUT THE BROWN
SCAPULAR WHICH EACH WAS WEARING WAS
PERFECTLY INTACT. The Scapular of Saint Alphonsus is
displayed in his Monastery in Rome

Miracles of the Brown Scapular
Read more on:
http://www.fatima.org/apostolate/pdf/brown_scapular.pdf
for the short ending.


♥ Sandy
(Maryschild)

[maryannlucy]

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel! I loved reading about the history of the scapular. Have you ever read this priest's testimony? It is Father Umberto Loncar, a Franciscan priest who was gave this account about August 4, 1981. Initially the people of Medjugorje were telling him of unusual solar phenomena on the days of August 2-3 1981. He starts, "I had noticed nothing at all of this, and did not believe that any of it happened. However, I must admit, I had not observed the sun or the sky by even the most casual glance. Monday (August 3, 1981) because of the reports about the Sunday happenings, I made it a point to observe the sun and the sky-and saw the same phenomena repeated. The sky in the other direction- that is, north of the church- was transversed by an arc of dark globes, moving from east to west. I tried to dismiss all this as unusual but natural phenomena, produced by weather and/or temperature abnormalities. Or perhaps my looking into the sun had caused these unreal images. In short, none of this, I told myself, was miraculous.
The next day, however, (Tuesday, August 4, 1981), I had what I must call a "special vision." Purposely, I had stayed home, and did not go to Medjugorje. When I left the house, at 6:00 PM, I spread a hand before my face and, through slits between my fingers, glanced at the sun, whose light was fading. A light breeze had arisen and the early evening was very pleasant. After I glanced at the sun, I looked away, in the direction of Medjugorje, because I did not want my vision to be affected by direct observation of the sun. I did not see any dark globes, but exactly at 6:20 I saw a huge red and violet cloud over Cerno. The cloud was massive and was moving in my direction at unusual -tremendous-speed, then hovered over the hill of Krizevac for one or two minutes, moved eastward, and seemed to sink to the earth. Because of the hills and trees between me and the cloud, I couldn't see what happened; so I ran to the upper floor of the rectory to have a better view. After the cloud disappeared from sight, I descended to the terrace between the rectory and the church. Precisely at 6:40, the red and violet figure of a magnificent lady arose from the hill of Crnica. The red and violet faded in intensity as she ascended in the sky; then she disappeared.. The last thing I saw was a brilliant white scarf that dangled from her feet and swung in the air. The vision of the lady ascending into the sky lasted about 30 seconds. This experience, I have no doubt, was supernatural. Therefore, it is proof that the events in Medjugorje originate with God. I have given this much thought, and the following points seem especially obvious and pertinent. 1. The skies on that early Tuesday evening were clear and absolutely cloudless although I did not look toward the sun, so that my vision would not be affected. However, I have never seen a cloud, before or since, like the cloud that suddenly appeared over Cerno. 2. The figure that appeared in the sky was of a beautiful woman, which I saw sharply and clearly -unmistakably - and whom I must say was Our Lady. 3. The scarf or veil that dangled beneath her feet was whiter than the whitest snow. 4. The figure was that of a high-born woman. 5. Reason disallows mere coincidence and sensory vagaries. At the exact same time I saw what I have described above, the Madonna appeared to the children in a garden in Bijakovici. I must conclude that I witnessed a miraculous sign: our heavenly Mother, whom the children see and talk with." (Taken from The Apparitions of Our Lady at Medjugorje by Svetozar Kraljevic pgs. 164-165)