From the Pastor: The Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Traditionally, on the day children received their First Holy Communion they also received a blessed scapular and were enrolled in the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Do you remember receiving the scapular at your First Holy Communion? Do you still wear yours? If not, why not? The following is from the old Catholic Encyclopedia regarding this scapular. Also known as the Brown Scapular, this is the best known, most celebrated, and most widespread of the small scapulars... It is probably the oldest scapular and served as the prototype of the others. According to a pious tradition the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock at Cambridge, England, on Sunday, 16 July, 1251. In answer to his appeal for help for his oppressed order, she appeared to him with a scapular in her hand and said: "Take, beloved son this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant". This tradition, however, appears in such a precise form for the first time in 1642, when the words of the Blessed Virgin were given in a circular of St. Simon Stock which he is said to have dictated to his companion secretary, and confessor, Peter Swanyngton. Although it has now been sufficiently shown that this testimony cannot be supported by historical documents, still its general content remains a reliable pious tradition; in other words, it is credible that St. Simon Stock was assured in a supernatural manner of the special protection of the Blessed Virgin for his whole order and for all who should wear the Carmelite habit, that the Blessed Virgin also promised him to grant special aid, especially in the hour of death, to those who in holy fidelity wore this habit in her honour throughout life, so that they should be preserved from hell. And, even though there is here no direct reference to the members of the scapular confraternity, indirectly the promise is extended to all who from devotion to the Mother of God should wear her habit or badge, like true Christians, until death, and be thus as it were affiliated to the Carmelite Order. ...For this privilege declares nothing else than that all those who out of true veneration and love for the Blessed Virgin constantly wear the scapular in a spirit of fidelity and confiding faith, after they have been placed by the Church itself with this habit or badge under the special protection of the Mother of God, shall enjoy this special protection in the matter and crisis which most concerns them for time and eternity. Whoever, therefore, even though he be now a sinner, wears the badge of the Mother of God throughout life as her faithful servant, not presumptuously relying on the scapular as on a miraculous amulet, but trustfully confiding in the power and goodness of Mary, may securely hope that Mary will through her powerful and motherly intercession procure for him all the necessary graces for true conversion and for perseverance in good. Such is the meaning and importance of the first privilege of the Carmelite Scapular, which is wont to be expressed in the words: "whoever wears the scapular until death, will be preserved from hell". The second privilege of the scapular otherwise known as the Sabbatine privilege, may be briefly defined as meaning that Mary's motherly assistance for her servants in the Scapular Confraternity will continue after death, and will find effect especially on Saturday (the day consecrated to her honour), provided that the members fulfill faithfully the not easy conditions necessary for obtaining this privilege. As regards the external form of the scapular, it should consist of two segments of brown woollen cloth; black, however, is also admissible. This scapular usually bears on one side the image of our Lady of Mount Carmel, but neither this nor any other image is prescribed... Concerning the often miraculous protection which Mary on account of this her badge has granted to pious members of the Scapular Confraternity in great perils of soul and body, there exist many records and reliable reports (some of recent times), to which it is impossible to refuse credence. Like the rosary, this scapular has become the badge of the devout Catholic and the true servant of Mary. If you have read this far and are now wishing that you had had the privilege of being enrolled in the Brown Scapular when you were a child, you are very fortunate. This Tuesday, July 16, is the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. After the two morning Masses I will have an enrollment ceremony for anyone who was not previously enrolled. I will invest you with the blessed habit of Carmel and you will be able to receive all of the graces promised. The information above is, obviously, shortened for the sake of fitting this space in the bulletin, and I highly recommend that before the enrollment ceremony you take upon yourself the simple task of further research into the benefits of wearing this powerful sacramental. That way you will desire it all the more and wear it with great devotion to Our Lady. You may bring your own scapular if you wish or accept the one provided by the parish. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Strange Things In The World And Church
This week I will start by acknowledging some of the strange things passing as “normal” in the world right now. For starters, Miss Maryland is a male. Yes, he calls himself a “she” (or some other non-male pronouns), and everyone goes along with it, but he is still a he and he stole the crown from a she. The judges, by proclaiming him the winner, devastatingly degraded women and yet everybody acted as if this was some sort of milestone for women. Hogwash. The other contestants were too fearful to openly speak out against his win, though several later did so anonymously, such as this one quoted in The Daily Signal. “A transgender woman gets crowned during the first day of transgender Pride Month?” she asked. “It did not seem like a coincidence. Especially when the owner of the pageant is a transgender woman herself. I was feeling like neither myself nor my fellow contestants had a fair opportunity from the beginning.” Yes, the fix was in and everyone knows it. But it is only “haters” who think that a woman should win a woman’s beauty contest. “Normal” people see nothing wrong with telling some of the most beautiful women in Maryland that they are uglier than a feminized man. At least when men pretending to be women dominate women’s sports it simply shows that males are, by and large, stronger and faster than women. But when males are now called more beautiful than women, we cross a whole new line of nastiness toward females. Along those same lines of people pretending that everything is normal when someone unfit wins a title, we just saw something similar happen in politics. Our “staunchly Catholic” President has been openly displaying mental incompetence for quite some time now. The mainstream journalists have done everything possible to portray him as the opposite of what he is and have branded reality as “right-wing” and “conspiracy theory” and other such nonsense. World leaders have had to help him as he wandered off at meetings, he has shaken hands with numerous invisible people, and babbled incoherently on a regular basis, yet even video proof has been labeled, “cheap fake.” Until the recent Presidential debate, that is. Somehow the word got out to all of the immoral (I believe their collective actions, words, and lies go far beyond incompetence) so-called journalists and reporters that they were finally free to say what, until then, only the “haters” said about him, namely, that he is not fit to run for re-election. They still haven’t admitted that he is not fit to remain in office at this time, either, but that is a hurdle still too high for them to leap. But far be it for me to be bringing this up just to point out that Kamala Harris should actually be the current President of the United States and Democrat nominee. I bring it up because as bad as the reporting has been on this topic and as much as everyone around him—including and especially his wife and other family members—are, in my opinion, guilty of elderly abuse for what they are putting him through (and what they are probably putting him on) I am more concerned with what our Bishops have been doing and saying about him, for his mental capacity is robust compared to his grasp of morality. People may, in good conscience, argue all day long about just how addle-brained a man can be before he should resign or be removed from his post, but to excuse the grossly immoral positions our President has so often publicly taken and to allow, nay, demand, that he be given Holy Communion, goes beyond the pale. There has been no attempt to hide, whitewash, or deny in any way his public statements promoting abortion at any time and without restrictions of any sort. They are, rather, held up as trophies. The rest of his immoral stances need not even be mentioned, for that one foundational topic—life—should be enough to bring canonical action upon him from his own Bishops, prioritizing his salvation over his re-election. Yet they cover for him at least as much as the so-called journalists did until last week. What will be the “debate moment” that will finally shake them out of their spiritual apathy and allow them to proclaim that The Emperor Has No Clothes (Sanctifying Grace)? And that brings us from something strange but purely secular (a fixed beauty pageant) to something strange that is both secular and religious (a “Catholic” President), to something strange that is purely religious, but, since the Catholic Faith should be the underpinning of everything, its strangeness also embraces the secular world even if the world doesn’t know it. I simply name here Pope Francis, Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Vigano, Bishop Schneider, Fr. James Martin, and Fr. Marko Rupnik. People’s reaction to this short list of Catholic clergy will correlate exactly with how they view the above-mentioned “strangenesses.” I need not write a thing about any of them, for their interactions (or lack thereof) are so well-known that everyone can easily label each of them as either one of the “good guys” or the “bad guys” depending on their point of view of “normal.” My point to all of this is to remind you that “normal’ is no longer a marker of morality. Unless and until the Church leaders and members return to the true Faith, the world will not be healed. Do your part: stay fully, faithfully, and joyfully Catholic, for today’s “normal” Catholics will not reach Heaven. With prayers for your holiness, Ref. Fr. Edwin Palka |
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