Mary & the Brown Scapular

Lay Carmelites seek God's presence in prayer while living an active life in the world. This duality of contemplative prayer and active ministry was modeled by the first Carmelites who lived as hermits on Mount Carmel, then later became mendicants in the cities of Europe.

Carmel is Marian

For most of the Catholic world May is considered the month of Mary. As they’ve done for generations, parishes and schools will be holding May Processions and Crownings of the May Queen to honor the Blessed Mother throughout these thirty-one days. Although Mary, along with the Old Testament prophet, Elijah, is considered a spiritual founder of our order, the Carmelite connection to Our Lady has traditionally had a distinctly different feel than the regal pomp generally associated with Mary during May.

Mary is a model for Carmelites and therefore a model for Carmelites who work in the area of peace and justice. Mary’s way of believing is a light and example for the work of the Carmelite NGO, as I hope to be able to explain in this article.

When the first Carmelites came together on Mount Carmel some 800 years ago, they were embarking on a new quest. They were seeking the presence of God by contemplating deeply the Scriptures along with their own experiences. In this quest for God, they came to see the Blessed Virgin Mary as their preeminent guide. The earliest Carmelites were attentive to the scripture passage that described Mary as keeping “all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”

The early hermits on Mount Carmel quickly became known as "The Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel" because their little chapel was dedicated to her. The Marian title meant a great deal to the brothers and influenced the spirit by which they tried to live the Gospel message. Many of the older religious orders pick out a special facet of Our Lord's life or teaching, which they want to emphasise and keep alive.