Diocese of Málaga Features Interview with Carmelite Prior General to Highlight Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in July
The July issue of the magazine of the Diocese of Málaga (Spain) focused on Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As July 16 is the feast day, several of the articles focused on the devotion of the people and how they celebrate the feast marking the Christian summer calendar. The cover of the magazine showed the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who is the patroness of Marbella.
One article featured an interview the Carmelite prior general, Fr. Míċeál O'Neill reflecting on the actuality of the Marian invocation that "unites us to her Son Jesus, unites us to the Church and unites us to heaven." Fr. Míċeál was in Málaga earlier to participate in the closing of the Jubilee of the centenary of the birth in Malaga of the Carmelite Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Malaga.
Speaking of the significance of the anniversary celebration, Fr. Míċeál said, “Today we recognize that a charism is a gift of the Holy Spirit. The family lives from a charism that we have in common, together with a variety of charisms arising in the different sectors of the family: brothers and sisters of apostolic life, nuns, friars and laity. To be able to recognize and celebrate this richness is always a reason for gratitude and also an impulse to continue responding day after day to the vocation we have received and to the mission that awaits us."
In the days prior to the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the prior general reflected on one of the most beloved Marian devotions throughout the Diocese of Málaga. He called the popularity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “a gift for the Church."
“More than 800 years [after our founding], the Carmelite Order continues to bring this water of life to the places where it is present. Our family is a Marian family as well as an Elijah family," says the prior general. “With these two great models we live as people who have a very deep experience of God, as Mary and Elijah have. In this spirit we approach God, revealed in Jesus Christ, alongside all the people who have found in their lives the importance of the search for God. We want to accompany this search with the love and wisdom that our vocation and our formation in the Church. We want to make present in the world that the dignity of the human person is found, in the first place, in his being created by God in his image and likeness; and in his capacity to live a profound friendship with God, in the person of Jesus, following the example of Mary. Carmel lives by the Word of God and helps those who come into contact with it to know and cultivate that word of salvation in their lives."
Father O'Neill has a deep knowledge of the devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. “I have been able to get to know her both here in Spain and in Latin America, and she is a true gift that the Lord has given to the Church. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a devotion and a way for many people. It is not and cannot be "campanilismo" (competition, rivalry) of any kind. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is not the “champion of the Virgins.”
“It is the Virgin of Mount Carmel who unites us with our tradition rom the beginning, unites us to her Son Jesus, unites us to the Church and unites us to heaven."
Regarding the popularity of the names Carmen or Maria del Carmen, which year after year tops the lists of the most popular Spanish names, Father O'Neill affirms that he feels "good with the people who are called Maria del Carmen, both on the part of Mary and on the part of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel part. The name speaks of goodness and beauty. It's hard for me to think that a person who bears this name can be anything but good and Christian. Because of the goodness and beauty of Mary, the Virgin of Carmel this name runs deep in many places and cultures. The biggest challenge today is that the Gospel penetrates the towns and cultures of today with its goodness, truth, and beauty.
Link the the full article in Spanish (pages 8-9)
