In 2001, Pope St John Paul II, who himself wore the Brown (Carmelite) Scapular, wrote to the Carmelite family.  One paragraph of his message reads: ‘In their journey towards the “mountain of God, Christ the Lord”, the various generations of Carmel, from the beginning until today, have sought to model their lives on Mary’s example. In Carmel therefore and in every soul moved by tender affection for the Blessed Virgin and Mother, there has thrived a contemplation of her, who from the beginning knew how to open herself to hearing God’s Word and to obeying his will. For Mary, taught and formed by the Spirit, was able by faith to understand her own history and, docile to the divine promptings, “advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, enduring with her Only-begotten Son the intensity of his suffering and associating herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart”’.

Today as we give thanks for this tender devotion, let us also pray for all the members of the great Carmelite family, by whom she is known as the ‘Flower of Carmel’, ‘Flos Carmeli’.

May God bless you, and may Our Lady of Mount Carmel watch over you.