Dear friends,

Last week was a great walk down memory lane for me to remind me of great friendships which began at Mount Angel Seminary. As the novena for Our Lady of Mount Carmel had begun up in Shoreline at the Carmelite monastery of St. Joseph, I was able to make it there for Mass on Tuesday, my day off. Fr. Philip Sullivan O.C.D. is the priest that is leading the novena this year. As I entered seminary, Fr. Philip was in my class and we sat side by side through many a lecture and worked together in the iconography studio of our mentor and friend Br. Claude Lane O.S.B. This was the first time for us to concelebrate the Mass together as priests and although I had not seen him since ordination, we just picked up where we left off enjoying the friendship we had begun so many years ago.

Shortly after getting to Fr. Philip and considering he is a Carmelite, we were talking and we got on the topic of the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I was new to all things devotional and had taken a deep interest in Marian devotions. I had been praying the rosary regularly and had been wearing the scapular for some time. While I was in Rome in the year 2000, I was reading about the rosary and the apparitions at Fatima and within the booklet I was reading was a description of the scapular. I suppose it recounted how Our Lady had given it to St. Simon Stock and then went on to say that, “Whosoever wears the scapular devoutly shall not suffer eternal fire.” I was sold on the word from Our Lady and the next day I went to the store at St. Peter’s and found me a scapular. I put it on that day and did not take it off (except for showers). Learning that I was wearing a scapular Fr. Philip asked, “Have you been enrolled?” “Um, well…I’m not sure,” I responded. He then asked if a priest had enrolled me in the scapular. I did not know about it so, no. As I had a Carmelite priest for a spiritual director, you can bet what we did the next time we met for direction.

Many people come to me and ask me to bless their scapulars. Each time, I ask that wonderful question that was posed to me by Fr. Philip, “Are you enrolled?” Oftentimes the response is much like the one I gave to him all those years ago. Then it is an opportunity for me to explain the devotion to the interested party and to eventually enroll them into the family of Carmel.

Wearing the scapular is much like wearing a medal of Our Lady, but just a bit different. Like any other sacramental, it is a reminder and sign of our faith. It is no superstitious get into heaven free card. Rather, it is a concrete reminder that one is clothed with the mantle of Our Lady and enjoys her special protection. It is a reminder that she is with us always and wants to draw us on to heaven, onto a deeper and more intimate relationship with her son Jesus. Wearing the scapular makes one more acutely sensitive of Mary’s presence and so more in tune with her powerful intercession helping us to overcome our tendency toward sin and to seek to do the will of the Father as she did so perfectly in her life.

This Tuesday, July 16, is the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I was blessed to be in Morelia, Mexico for this day in 2006, and just happened to pass by the church of Nuestra Senora del Carmen. There was food, music, fireworks. It was a beautiful celebration. I still wear the scapular I got there that day. This Tuesday there will be a great celebration up at St. Joseph’s Carmelite monastery in Shoreline. If you are interested in attending, check out the website for details and the address. I will be there with my friend Fr. Philip. If you would like to be enrolled in the scapular, I will do it after Mass on Monday morning. If you can’t make it then, I will offer the enrollment after Benediction this Thursday. Just a reminder, I hear confessions from 5-6 and then we have the Benediction ending at 6:30.The scapular is a beautiful way to draw closer to Jesus through His Blessed Mother.

Also last week, I was able to go to Mount Angel Monastery for the Feast of St. Benedict. An oblate of St. Benedict of Mount Angel Abbey, it was a great grace to be there. Maybe we’ll talk about it in next week’s letter.

Pax,

Fr. Jack D. Shrum