Maria, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (1), is the virgin of the new heart (2), who gives a human face to the Word that becomes flesh (3). She is a virgin of wise and contemplative listening, who keeps the events and the Lord's words in her heart and reflects on them (4).
She is a faithful disciple of wisdom; a disciple who seeks Jesus – the Wisdom of God – and allows herself to be educated and shaped by his Spirit, so that she may adopt his way of acting and choosing in faith. Thus raised, Maria is then able to recognize the "great things" that God has accomplished in her for the salvation of the humble and the poor (5).
Maria, although she is the Mother of the Lord, becomes the perfect disciple, a woman of faith. She follows Jesus, journeys with the apostles, and shares with them the arduous and demanding path, which requires above all brotherly love and mutual service. At the wedding in Cana, she teaches us to believe in her Son (6); at the foot of the cross, she becomes the mother of all believers (7) and experiences with them the joys of the resurrection. She unites with the other disciples "in constant prayer" (8) and receives the firstfruits of the Spirit, which fills the first Christian community with apostolic zeal.
Maria brings the joyful message of salvation to all people. She is a woman who establishes relationships not only with the close circle of Jesus' disciples but also with people: with Elizabeth, with the newlyweds in Cana, with other women, and with Jesus' "brothers".
In the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and model of the Church, the Carmelites find the perfect image of all that they themselves desire and hope to be. Therefore, Maria has always been considered the Patroness of the order, the order has called her Mother and Ornament, and the Carmelites have kept her always before their eyes and in their hearts as the "Most Pure Virgin". When we look at her and live the spiritual life in intimate connection with her, we learn to stand before God and together as the brothers of the Lord. Maria truly lives among us as a Mother and as a sister, attentive to our needs, and together with us she awaits and hopes, suffers and rejoices.
According to its tradition, especially since the 16th century, Carmel expresses loving Mary's closeness to the people of God through the scapular. The scapular is a sign of consecration to Mary, a means of joining the faithful to the order, and an accessible and effective tool for evangelization.
(1) cf. Lk 1,35; (2) cf. Ez 36,26; (3) cf. John 1,14; (4) cf. Lk 1,19.51; (5) cf. Lk 1,46nn; (6) cf. John 2,5; (7) cf. John 19,26; (8) Acts 1,14;
(Statutes of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, 1995, Art. 27)
