Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Spiritual Mother, Points Us to Her Son and to Mount Zion

July 16 is the Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

So, who is Our Lady of Mount Carmel?

That is, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception, the Theotokus, the Mother of Jesus Christ, the husband of Joseph, and the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38).

Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel goes as far back as the time of Elijah, Obadiah, Ahab, and Jezebel, in 1 Kings 18. It was when Ahab, king of Israel (Northern Kingdom), did more evil than his predecessors (1 Kings 16:30), having married to a Phoenician princess, Jezebel, daughter of Ithobaal I, king of Tyre. Ahab and Jezebel tried to turn Israel into a pagan nation, by killing prophets of God (Yahweh) and establishing Baal worship in Israel.

While Ahab and Jezebel were aggressively “purging” God’s prophets in Samaria, to promote the Baalism in Samaria, the region suffered from severe famine due to draught over three years (1 Kings 18:1-6). In response to this, God called Prophet Elijah to confront Ahab, letting this corrupt king of Israel know who the real God is by His power to save Israel not only from famine but from spiritual contamination by Baal (1 Kings 18:1).

In confronting Ahab, Mount Carmel was where Elijah call this evil king of Israel to summon all Israel, as well as, the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah (1 Kings 18:19). And this is where all of these prophets of pagan deities, promoted by Jezebel were purged (1 Kings 18:21-40). Thus, Mount Carmel became the battle place where the power of God to kill the prophets responsible of Israel’s spiritual corruption.

Then, Elijah demonstrated God’s true saving power for Israel by bringing much-needed rain to end the draught, which contributed to the severe famine (1 Kings 18:41-45).

It is on this mountain of Carmel that God made beautiful with His glory, together with the plane of Sharon (Isaiah 35:2), where He sent His saving grace on Israel through the rain cloud as small as a human hand, upon forming it above the Mediterranean Sea (1 Kings 18:44).

So, what does this story of Elijah working as an instrument of God’s cleansing and saving power on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18 have to do with Our Lady of Mount Carmel?

It has been said that Elijah saw the prototype of Mary, prophesized as the virgin to become the mother of Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14) in the rain cloud as tiny as a human hand (1 Kings 18:44). Because of this, pious people began to form a community on Mount Carmel, eventually becoming what we know as the Carmelites Order.

Then, in the 13^th century, an English man, Simon Stock, joined the Carmelites community, to devote to Mary in Elijah’s alleged vision in the rain cloud on Mount Carmel. However, the community had to leave Mount Carmel due to the situation of the Crusade.

Though being forced to be away from Mount Carmel, the Holy Land, because of the situation of the Crusade, on July 16, 1251, it has been told that Mary appeared to Simon Stock in Cambridge, England. According to him, Mary said to him, holding brown scapular in her hand:

Receive, my beloved son, this scapular of thy Order; it is the special sign of my favor, which I have obtained for thee and for thy children of Mount Carmel. He who dies clothed with this habit shall be preserved from eternal fire. It is the badge of salvation, a shield in time of danger, and a pledge of special peace and protection.

It was also when the Carmelites Order was seen as “at odds with” the Church and rather persecuted in Europe. As to save the Carmelites Order, Mary appeared to Simon Stock, presenting the brown scapular as a powerful sacramental object of the divine protection, through the above words of hers.  Upon this, the Carmelites Order was fully recognized as a legitimate order by Pope Eugene IV in 1435 through his 1432 bull, Romani Pontificis.

From June 18, 1965 until June 18, 1965, Mary appeared to children in San Sebastián de Garabandal, Spain, identifying herself as “Our Lady of Mount Carmel”.  This is known as a continuation of the Marian apparitions in Fatima, 1917, to urge to turn away from sin and to turn to her Son, Jesus Christ.

This message of Mary, as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, from 1961 to 1965, in essence, carries God’s message to Israel, which was made spiritually corrupt by Ahab and Jezebel, on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18).

Today, many Catholics put the Carmelites brown scapulars, pieces made from the Carmelites brown habits, to be benefited the saving grace promised by Mary in her apparition to Simon Stocks on July 16, 1251. However, are they really committed to what Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, really wants us to do: turning away from sin and turn to her Son and do what he commands us to do (cf. John 2:5), including repenting (i.e. Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:5)?

God hates empty superficial devotions (Isaiah 1:11-20), and so does Christ, the Son, and Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, his Mother.

And, Christ made it clear that Mary is not just his Mother but ours, as well (John 19:27). It is because he believes that we are his brothers and sisters for obeying his command – just as Mary said for his first miracle during the wedding at Cana (John 2:5).

So, we find these words of Jesus from the Gospel Reading for the Optional Memorial Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Matthew 12:46-50):

Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father

is my brother, and sister, and mother (Matthew 12:49-50).

 Being brothers and sisters of Jesus by faithfully living a life according to the will of the Father also means to have Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as our spiritual Mother. And, this also means that we are to be co-heirs (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).

 Is Mary also your spiritual Mother, as you are a brother or a sister of Christ by doing the will of the Father, as taught and commanded by him?

 Do you listen to your spiritual Mother, Mary, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who reminds us to do what her Son, commands us to do (John 2:5)?

Today, we honor Mary, who is the Mother of Christ, the Son, and is also our spiritual Mother, as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, remembering the significance of Mount Carmel, in terms of how God wanted His beloved Israel to turn away from sin of the Baalism to true devotion to His will. And, this message of “metanoia” is persistent in the kerygma of Christ the Son and the messages of Mary, as Our Lady of Fatima and as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

But, the First Reading (Zechariah 2:14-17) reminds us that Mount Carmel is not our permanent place to dwell but Mount Zion (Jerusalem) is, because this is where God resides. Of course, this is not geographical, as it is transcendental and spiritual, namely what is envisioned in Revelation 21. So, this is where Our Lady of Mount Carmel points our attention to, calling us on Mount Carmel to turn away from sin and to look up to Mount Zion, as the transcendental and spiritual Jerusalem, where we are one with God and our spiritual Mother, reflected in Christ’s prayer in John 17:20-23.

Yes, our spiritual Mother, Our Lady of Mount Carmel is calling us on Mount Carmel, the place of turning away from sin to her Son, the living Christ, and follow him to Mount Zion, which is envisioned in Revelation 21. It is because we are brothers and sisters of Christ, co-heirs with him.