P. Gorazd Cetkovský, O.Carm.
The Carmelite publishing house has now published a little book about the scapular and the Marian devotion associated with it. This was the incentive for choosing the topic of my lecture at this year's national meeting of tertiaries in Kostelní Vydří. I have made some adjustments to its content, and I now present it to you in written form. In the Czech translation, the book is titled: Under the Protection of the Scapular and was written by the Polish Discalced Carmelite Jerzy Zieliński. But I would stick to its original title, and I have titled this article exactly according to it.
It is difficult to say something fresh, concrete, and inspiring (i.e., breathing spirit) about the Virgin Mary in order to deepen our relationship with her. That is why I have been waiting for this little book for a while. I want to introduce it to you now, but not to retell it.
Some things in it may not resonated with us, such as phrases like “to devote oneself to Mary” or “slavery” (although it is a term dear to St. Louis Grignion). But that doesn’t matter. At least we will better realize how we relate to the Virgin Mary ourselves. And perhaps through this little book, we will encounter something that we might not accept right away, but to which we might return in the future. For now, it is enough that we are aware of it and know where to look.
Probably much of what is written in the book will not be new to you. But discovering the new is not the only fruit that reading brings us. It is valuable that the book reminds us of what we have forgotten during contemplative reading and reminds us of what we sense intuitively, thus facilitating our remembrance and communication of it to others.
Our relationship with the Virgin Mary culminates in our surrender to her
The first part of the book helps us to reflect fundamentally on our relationship with the Virgin Mary.
When we recently talked about this in tertiary communities, we experienced how we are constantly attacked by the fear that our relationship with the Virgin Mary might offend the Lord Jesus and impoverish him. I consider this doubt to be a cunning attack of the Tempter, which can harm us greatly. On the other hand, we ourselves (or our ancestors) have provided a cause for such doubt because our relationship with the Virgin Mary has not always been sufficiently truthful, genuinely sustained by life with Jesus, but has often been ostentatious, mindless, exaggerated, or simply unfaithful to Christ...
Mary is not the central figure of our faith. But she quietly stands in close proximity to Jesus and helps us to be with him, to understand him, to believe him, and to follow him. Despite all our various “Marian” talkativeness, exaggeration, and kitsch, Mary remains a treasure still undervalued, still quite undiscovered. But through the scapular, a completely concrete opportunity opens for us to approach Mary “from under her cloak” – to be warmed by her care and love!
The book is a valuable fruit of the devotion of the Polish Discalced Carmel. It offers us thoughts to ponder regarding our relationship with the Virgin Mary, but also includes specific instructions regarding the ceremony of donning and wearing the scapular (which are often the things you ask about in practice) and also contains prayers to the Virgin Mary. I would like to directly quote some nice thoughts. The first expresses the essence of our relationship with the Virgin Mary:
The heart of Marian devotion is the personal experience of the gift of her motherly love. Mere intellectual knowledge that Mary is the Mother of Jesus and also my Mother does not yet awaken true piety. It is first necessary to “translate” this intellectual knowledge of the mystery “into the language” of experience and practice. Only the personal closeness of two hearts that share common happiness and misfortune, joys and problems, and also the effort to resemble the Virgin Mary gives rise to a relationship of love.
This personal knowledge of Mary's motherly relationship to us then leads to our response. We entrust ourselves to Mary. According to the author of the book, this culminates in our act of surrendering (offering) ourselves to Mary. He talks about it in detail this way:
To accept the Virgin Mary into oneself in an act of surrender means a personal commitment and complete handing over to her service. It does not limit itself to the denial of a certain prayer or an external expression of respect under given circumstances, but encompasses the whole human life from the perspective of internal realities and external actions.
We learn this attitude directly from the Virgin Mary, who at the Annunciation responded to the angel: “Ecce ancilla Domini – I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38). Thus, she completely surrendered to the eternal will of the Father. Her surrender is total, encompassing her entire being: the physical, moral, and spiritual level.
Our act of total self-surrender to her leads her to help us effectively and quickly along the paths of spiritual life or holiness. These paths culminate in eternity, in the mystery of experiencing Mary's motherly love in heaven.
At this point, I had a doubt whether it must always be an explicit act. I believe that this can also happen unconsciously in our lives. Just like when you are walking a strenuous path and you realize that someone has selflessly accompanied you for a long distance, and you glance at them, rejoice, and gratefully take their hand and hold onto them, without saying a word...
But judge for yourself whether this seems convincing to you. We generally do not remain only with such romantic silent gazes, but we express to one another our gratitude, fondness, and vision of our relationship for the future, verbally.
Donning the scapular of the Virgin Mary and the fact that I wear it is one such explicit act of surrender to the Virgin Mary, a connection with her.
The scapular as a gift from the Virgin Mary
The second part of the book focuses on the scapular and the history of this “tool” (or form) for experiencing the relationship with the Virgin Mary. It carefully recounts the vision of St. Simon Stock, to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in the 13th century in response to his pleas for help for the Carmelite community. She showed him the Carmelite habit with the scapular and assured Simon of her motherly care for the order. The author of our little book is convinced that St. Simon led his brethren to such surrender to the Virgin Mary, which we spoke about during those difficult times.
Interestingly, according to the oldest version of the legend, Mary reportedly pointed to his scapular when she told him that the scapular is a sign of her protection. It was only in a later version of the legend that Simon was said to have received the scapular from the Virgin Mary... However, this does not change the essence of what the Virgin Mary promises and gives to the Carmelites. We enter into a relationship with the Virgin Mary not just generally, but in the community of Carmel, through this community – in its historical dimension (the saints in heaven) and contemporary dimension (the religious and tertiaries around me).
Since the beginning of the renewal of Carmel among us after 1989, we have openly reminded that the scapular legend does not claim to be a historical testimony and that the actual fact of St. Simon's vision cannot be definitively proven. On the other hand, there are also no convincing proofs against it.
Legends illustrate certain truths of faith through the story, whose historicity is not fundamentally important to them. In this case: that we Carmelites can count on the motherly care of the Virgin Mary for our lives and for our salvation. We can rely on this without doubt.
However, we do not have to derive the value of the scapular solely from that revelation of the Virgin Mary to St. Simon and the associated promises. The scapular is valuable to us for other reasons as well. A few years ago, during meetings of the third order, I pointed out the scapular as clothing, a garment. And with the help of the Dictionary of Biblical Theology1, I then dealt with the symbolism of clothing in the Bible. This greatly enriched our view of the scapular. I then transferred the content of these reflections into four novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which were published in 2001 and which some of you might also occasionally pray.
Now I would like to similarly address a topic that is only briefly mentioned in Jerzy Zieliński's book but is also directly in its title. Namely, to reflect on the fact that the scapular is a sign. I will return to this in more detail shortly.
The scapular leads to Christ and educates us
The third part of the book is brief and on two pages again dispels the unsettling doubt that our relationship with the Virgin Mary could compete with our relationship with Christ. The author explains: the goal of scapular formation is Jesus Christ. To whom, because we wear the scapular and turn to the Virgin Mary, leads us.
The last, fourth part of the book consists of an interesting chapter about the fact that the scapular, more precisely the relationship with the Virgin Mary, which is expressed and strengthened by the scapular, brings its influence into our lives, or more precisely: it educates us. This chapter has twelve paragraphs – each addressing one aspect of this education. For example, the scapular, worn with attentive faith, helps us bear the cross, both the cross of suffering caused by our personal sin and the suffering directly not caused by us. And similarly.
I will quote from the paragraph on purity of heart:
The purity of Mary's heart surpasses our understanding. However, this does not mean that this heart is sealed and completely closed to man. One can enter into this mystery and come to know it.
However, there is only one way to it: deepening one's own spiritual life. Why this only way? For the simple reason that the practice of spiritual life aims to achieve ever higher degrees of purity of heart. After all, only a clean heart can stand before these mysteries and know them with the help of God's light.
If we entrust our hearts to the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity, we are invited to the adventure of knowing her heart.
Purity of heart is a gift. A work of God in us. Mary's pure heart effectively contributes to this work of God in us.
It is also repeatedly mentioned in this chapter that our relationship with the Virgin Mary obliges us to serve others as well. (This would please Pope Francis if he read it.) When experiencing scapular devotion, we should not close ourselves off to the world of our private matters, but following Mary's example, we should pay attention to other people and their problems. We should follow her care for her relative Elizabeth and for the newlyweds from Cana in Galilee...
The scapular as a sign
Romano Guardini, when encouraging the desire to understand the most fundamental signs in the liturgy, says that it is about being able to “read the soul from the body”.2 Let us try to reflect on the scapular in this way. We wear it:
- directly on the body (which suggests: intimacy, immediacy of contact and relationship, the intimacy of surrendering to the Virgin Mary),
- constantly (in everything we experience),
- as a reminder (because we are forgetful, we keep “discovering” it on ourselves and it reminds us of the one for whom we wear it),
- for protection (which does not act automatically, but by currently reviving our faith within us),
- as a testimony (it is important, if others see it, that they understand what it signifies),
- for warning the Enemy; about this, J. Zieliński writes: When he (the Enemy) notices the scapular around a person's neck, he knows that when he declares war on this person and begins to bombard him with temptations, he must also face the power of her who crushes him with her humility. This is extremely important for us, for it is about the spiritual battle with the enemy of our salvation.
I was also pleased by the interpretation of the front and back of the scapular, quoted from the work of another Polish Discalced Carmelite: The part of the scapular that falls on the back suggests to us that “we should bear the hardships, trials, and crosses under the protection of the Virgin Mary in surrender to the will of God according to her example,” and the part resting on the chest reminds us that our heart should “beat for God and our neighbors, detach from worldly interests out of love, and with the help of the Virgin Mary cling to eternal goods.”3
To perceive any sign, one must come into sensory contact with it. Thus regarding the scapular: to see it, to wear it, to feel it on one’s body, to take it into one’s fingers, to kiss it... Hanging on the wall or carried in the wallet remains merely a symbolic garment, but we are not clothed with it. But it depends on each of us how “seriously” we take the language that this sign speaks and allows it to speak.
About signs in general and in Scripture
A sign is anything that has value not only in itself, but that means something else. It refers to something else. In the words of Prof. Heller: what “indicates something above and beyond itself.”
The sign is an important concept in Scripture. “Lights in the heavenly sky” (Gen 1:14) are to serve “as signs”, to separate “day from night” and “to indicate seasons, days, and years”. The crimson cord in the window will be a sign of which house Rahab lives in, who saved the lives of the spies and to whom they pledged to show mercy (Josh 2). The Lord often performs “signs and wonders” for His people (e.g., when he liberates them from Egypt) and expects that the response to these signs will be trust, faith, which His people will show him. The Lord said to Moses: How long will this people despise me? How long will they not believe me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
In the Bible, we encounter signs quite abundantly. I will leave aside those divine signs in the Old and New Testament that have a miraculous nature, deviations from ordinary natural laws, and thus reveal God‘s sovereignty, power... I will not speak about prophetic signs or signs of God’s coming. I will focus on those signs whose content is some “non-supernatural” human action, which is, however, a conventional sign of something in the relationship between the Lord and those who honor him.
The Old Testament mentions three great covenants that the Lord establishes with someone (and each one has a sign):
- with Noah and all living beings – the sign is the rainbow: that God creates a rainbow in the clouds,
- with Abraham and his descendants – the sign is circumcision, i.e., the ritual of circumcision performed by the Israelites,
- with the Israelites at Sinai (Ex 31:12–17) – the sign is the Sabbath, i.e., observance of the Sabbath regulations.
The function of signs is well apparent from the verses Gen 9:12–15:
This is the sign of the covenant that I establish between myself and you and every living creature with you for future generations:
I set my rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
When I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature that has the breath of life.
Never again shall there be a flood to destroy all flesh.
The rainbow is a sign that only God makes. However, the fulfillment of circumcision and observance of the Sabbath relies on the attitude of man. Who kept them confessed his faith in the covenant with the Lord. Confessed his faith that the Lord would be faithful to his covenant, and he himself was faithful. By realizing the signs, he affirmed that the covenant with the Lord remains.
In the Old Testament, signs also divided people: between those who participated in the covenant and those who were outside of it. But beware: this carries a spiritual danger, it could lead to pride. The scapular must not be a reason for us to elevate ourselves. Moreover, the scapular is a sign of the covenant, which, in the context of the acceptance of salvation, is not necessary.
The scapular is a sign of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and us, who form the community of Carmel. With a bit of exaggeration, we can say: a sign of the covenant between Mary and us.
Such a covenant – towards all of Jesus' disciples – was established by Christ on the cross when he gave John to Mary as a son and Mary to him as a mother. That is why we read this pericope of the Gospel on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16! When we wear the scapular, we are declaring our adherence to this covenant. We profess our faith in Mary's fidelity and our effort to be faithful to her.
The entrustment prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel also expresses that the scapular plays a role as a sign. The scapular is a sign that Mary sees:
You look with love upon those who are clad in your scapular,
and therefore I ask you: support...
May the scapular turn your merciful eyes towards me...
And the scapular is a sign that we perceive:
(...) and may it be a guarantee of your special protection in daily battles,
that I may be faithful...
...and constantly remind me of the duty to look upon you
and to be clothed in your virtues.
A similar justification can be found in Scripture when the Israelites are prescribed a special statute regarding their clothing (Num 15:37–39):
The Lord said to Moses: "Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. You shall have the tassels that, when you see them, you may remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes…”
And finally, I will add one more significant situation that I associate with the Carmelite scapular: when P. Metoděj Minařík, a faithful devotee of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and our oldest brother, through whom our community survived the years of totality, and even grew during them, suffered a stroke at the age of ninety-one, he had to be taken from the monastery to the hospital. There he spent the last few days of his earthly life. Even during his stay in the hospital, he was permitted to keep the fabric scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel around his neck. Wearing it, he also died. For me, it was and is a modest sign of Mary's faithfulness...
