This morning I was at the Carmelite monastery in South Jackson with four other priests and many of the faithful from the Jackson area celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sister Jane’s entrance into consecrated life. The actual anniversary was supposed to take place a couple of months ago, but because of the pandemic, plans changed, just as so many of our plans are changing based on this new reality.
Today, we commemorate the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patronal feast of the Carmelite order. In the Hebrew Scriptures, Mount Carmel was a place of refuge. Historically, it is thought have been the site of Elijah’s cave. In the first book of Kings, Elijah challenges 450 prophets of the pagan god Baal to a contest at the altar on Mount Carmel to determine whose deity was genuinely in control of the Kingdom of Israel. In the Christian era, Hermits lived on Mount Carmel in northern Israel beginning in the 12th century, dedicating a chapel there to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They soon celebrated a special mass and office of readings dedicated to Mary. The feast day was officially recognized by the Church in 1726 under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This group of hermits evolved into the religious order of the Carmelites, the religious group that has given our Church the great saints and mystics Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, and John of the Cross, all three doctors of the Church, as well as the Carmelite sisters Teresa of the Andes and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).
There are a lot of details we do not know about Mary’s life. However, from the Scripture passages we do have of her, we learn a lot about Mary, about her role in our lives of faith, and about her role in the Church and in the history of salvation. Mary is the paradigm of discipleship in the Gospel of John. She responds to the Word of God made flesh, manifest and glorified. Our Church also sees Mary as a member of the community of saints, in which all of us believers, both those on earth and those in eternal life, are joined together as a sacred community by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary is the mediator of blessings. She is the most powerful intercessor of those who most desperately need her help.
Mary is not only Jesus’ mother, but she is our mother. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that whoever does the will of the Father is his mother, brother and sister. We are to emulate Mary in our life of discipleship as we journey each day in faith. As we come to Mary today, honoring her as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we stand in solidarity and love with our beloved Carmelite sisters in South Jackson, and all of our brothers and sisters throughout the world. We honor Mary today as we acknowledge our need for her motherly love and help in our lives of faith.
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