[00:00] ♪ Ave, Regina, Mater misericordiae ♪ Praised be Jesus and Mary. Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, one of the most cherished expressions of Christian piety

[00:32] is the devout wearing of the brown scapular. After the Holy Rosary, there is no other Marian sacramental that has been promoted by the Magisterium throughout the centuries, like the brown scapular. Pope after Pope after Pope has recommended and has promoted the devout wearing of the brown scapular.

[01:03] Saints, mystics, ordinary Christians throughout the centuries have devoutly worn the brown scapular. We still have some of the saints in their incorrupt brown scapulars as a sign of its power. St. John Bosco, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, and there are many, many stories of Our Lady's protection over souls who devoutly wear her brown scapular.

[01:38] Why is it so powerful? And how do we know if we are devoutly wearing Our Lady's brown scapular? It is so powerful because the reason is very simple, because God is all-powerful, and God chose the way He will be victorious through the woman and her seed, just as He says in Genesis 3:15.

[02:12] And our Lord willed to establish a filial relationship between His mother, the victorious queen who crushes the head of the serpent, and His beloved disciple. And the brown scapular is an external sign of our Lord's will, that filial relationship between His mother and the beloved disciple,

[02:44] each and every Christian. It is so powerful because God is all-powerful, and He has chosen His mother to mediate each and every grace of salvation. St. John Paul II says that the brown scapular, this external sign of the filial relationship between His mother and the beloved disciple evokes two very important truths.

[03:19] On the part of Our Lady, it reminds us of the truth that our mother, in the order of grace, accompanies us throughout our entire life, and even at the moment of death, and even after death. Her maternal mediation extends from the beginning until the very end.

[03:52] Our mother is not satisfied until her children make it home. And the great promises associated with the brown scapular, the devout wearing of the brown scapular, the promise of preservation, those who devoutly wear the brown scapular will not experience eternal fire, and then the promise of liberation,

[04:23] that the Sabbatine privilege, Our Lady will liberate those souls who follow the conditions according to obtain the Sabbatine privilege. These are expressions, concrete expressions of the extension of her maternal mediation. And this was God's idea. He was the one who established our mother

[04:56] in the order of grace to be our own mother. That's the first truth. The second truth that the brown scapular reminds us of is something that we have to do on our part. If it reminds us of the extension of Our Lady's mediation, it also reminds us that devotion to Our Lady cannot merely be occasional from time to time. It has to be a habit, St. John Paul II says,

[05:29] meaning it has to be a permanent deliberate, completely aware, we need to be completely aware of our filial identity as children of Mary. Being someone's child is not only from occasion to occasion, it's a permanent bond. This is why the brown scapular, as a habit,

[06:01] reminds us of this. We are children of Mary, and we need to live a Marian way of life, just like our Lord, who is Son of God and Son of Mary. How do we know we are devoutly wearing the brown scapular? A very easy way to know this is to apply the five characteristics

[06:31] of true devotion to Mary, according to St. Louis de Montfort, to the wearing of the brown scapular. The first mark of true devotion to Mary is that it is interior, meaning it's not merely external. It derives from our mind, from our will, a mind, an intellect that has the virtue, the supernatural virtue of faith and charity in the will,

[07:03] meaning we know who Our Lady is, and we consciously wear her garment because we know and are aware of her role in the history of salvation. The true devotion to Mary is also tender. It has a childlike confidence in Our Lady. We trust her completely. We devoutly wear the brown scapular because we trust in our mother.

[07:36] She is not only our mother, but she is the omnipotent intercessor, as the saints call her. She, because God wills it, she distributes all His gifts to whom she wills, as she wills, when she wills, and whenever she wills. True devotion to Mary is holy. Devoutly wearing the brown scapular makes us avoid things that will offend our mother, sin.

[08:08] We avoid occasions of sin. We strive to grow in the virtues. We frequent the sacraments. Devoutly wearing the brown scapular is holy. True devotion to Mary is also constant. We constantly wear the brown scapular as a constant reminder of our filial relationship with our mother.

[08:41] It is a silent reminder of our lifelong commitment to live according to Our Lady's good pleasure. True devotion to Mary is disinterested, meaning we do what she wills because she wills it. Her will is one with the Lord, and to please our Lord and Our Lady, we must do their will.

[09:13] The promises are great, but more than the promises, we look at who promises those promises. God, through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Devoutly wearing the brown scapular. When you look at it, and you apply those five characteristics, it's a true way of life. It's a true Marian way of life,

[09:44] and it's a way of life that our Lord Himself chose. Our Lady leads us to Jesus, and devoutly wearing the brown scapular makes us and conforms us more and more unto Christ. Today, we have recourse in a special way to Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

[10:15] May we experience for ourselves the tenderness. She is so powerful, yet she is so sweet because she is our mother. ♪ O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. ♪ ♪ Agnus convertem, et estulum benedictum, ♪

[10:50] ♪ Fructum ventristulum vivim. ♪ ♪ O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria. ♪ ♪ Agnus convertem, et estulum benedictum, ♪ ♪ Fructum ventristulum vivim. ♪