Under
the Protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
It is not just any devotion to Our Lady that identifies a person
called to the Secular Order. There are many Christians who are very devoted to
Our Lady and have a very highly developed Marian character to their Christian
life. There are many Orthodox Christians as well as High Church Anglicans who
are very Marian. There are many Catholics who wear the scapular for all of the
correct reasons and with sincere dedication to Mary who are not called to be
Secular Carmelites. Not only that, but there are some people who come to the
Secular Order precisely because of devotion to Mary, the scapular, and the
rosary who do not have a vocation to be Secular Order members.
The particular aspect of the Blessed Virgin Mary that must be
present in any person called to Carmel is that of an inclination to meditate in
the heart, the phrase that Saint Luke's gospel uses twice to describe Mary's
attitude vis-à-vis her Son.
Yes, all the other aspects of Marian life and devotion can be
present, devotion to the scapular, the rosary, and other things. They are,
however, secondary to this aspect of Marian devotion. Mary is our model of
prayer and meditation. This interest in learning to meditate or inclination to
meditation is a fundamental characteristic of any OCDS. It is perhaps the most
basic.
A very frequent experience of many groups is to have a person
approach the Secular Order to become a member, sometimes a diocesan priest, who
is very devoted to Mary, a person who has been on many pilgrimages to Marian
shrines throughout the world, a person who is very familiar with many of the apparitions
and messages attributed to Mary, a real authority on current Marian movements.
Many times they do not have the slightest inclination to meditate in the heart.
They desire quickly to become the "teachers" of the community about
the Blessed Mother and introduce an entirely un-Carmelite strain of Marian
interest into the community. If this person is a priest, it is very difficult
for the community to protect itself from this detour in its Marian life. There
are other Marian groups and movements that might be the home for this person,
but it is not the Secular Order. In
addition, within the Teresian Carmelite family there is a place for people
whose primary motivation is devotion to the Scapular and Our Lady of Mount
Carmel. It is the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular, or the Confraternity of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Mary, for a Secular Order member, is the model of a meditative
attitude and disposition. She attracts and inspires a Carmelite to a contemplative
way of understanding the life of the mystical body of her Son, the Church.
It is she who draws the person to Carmel. And in the formation program, which
the person finds when they enter Carmel, it is this aspect that must be developed
in the person. So, I say that this is the second element under the protection
of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
(Fr. Aloysius Deeney, OCD)
General Delegate to the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order
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