Constructing a Future for the Scapular Devotion

Now that we have seen the very complicated history of the scapular and the context of Marian devotion within the Carmelite Order, we need to ask ourselves what kind of future can we provide for this very popular devotion.  The history provides us with the reason to go back and restore the scapular to what it once was -- a sign of affiliation to the Carmelite Order and a sharing in its (the Carmelite Order) protection by the Mother of God.

We need in particular to realize that the scapular, by emphasizing the protection of the Blessed Virgin over the Order, highlights the role of Mary as Mediatrix, but we must be careful that we understand this role in an orthodox way and not yield to the heresies that would create a Marian redemption distinct or in any way independent of the unique mediation of Jesus Christ.

After the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption in 1950 many people, both within the Church and outside it, expected the Church to proclaim further Marian dogmas, especially Mary as Mediatrix of Grace and Co-Redemptorix.  Neither of these doctrines are problematic if understood in the context of our historical faith, but in much popular imagination Mary was becoming an alternative savior to her son.  This was particularly comforting to some whose Christology -- influenced by a variety of heresies -- emphasized a wrathful Christ ready to abandon the world he had redeemed and recall his mercy in favor of a divine wrath.  It was as if the merits of the cross had suddenly run dry and the eternal sacrifice of Christ was no longer sufficient for redemption.  In this ghastly sotierology it was now Mary who saved the world by holding back the arm of her son from visiting his anger upon us in a great cancellation of the new and eternal covenant in his blood.  The scapular, in this theological nightmare, was an escape hatch for a world destined en masse for hell.

Pius XII never went on to define any further Marian dogmas.  Ill health and then advanced age may have been the reasons, but there is no justification to think that he ever intended to define further Marian dogmas. His successor, John XXIII, was more anxious to call a Council than to unilaterally advance the magisterium. John was confident that a Council would take the responsibility, as the Church had traditionally done for centuries, of defining any truth that needed definition.

The Council, once it did meet, rejected a conservative plan for a separate document on the Blessed Virgin and located Mary within the context of the community of faith, devoting to her an entire chapter of Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.  The Council walked a very narrow line in the matter of Marian definitions.  As Tavard points out:

The council records the fact that "the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the church with the titles of Advocate (Auxiliatrix), Helper (Adjutrix), Mediatrix; but it does not itself use these titles, and it remarks that they take nothing from and add nothing to the unique mediation of Christ.  [32]

The Council could not but note that Mary is mediatrix.  This is a very ancient title, drawn from the ancient liturgies of the Eastern Church. [33]  By the year 800 this title had come to the West.  According to Pelikan, Mary has been understood as Mediatrix in two senses:  (1) she is the one through whom the savior came to humanity, taking flesh from her; (2) and she is the one through whose intercession we have access to her son. [34]  I want to remind you as I point out these two senses of Mary as Mediatrix that Pelikan is not a Catholic author and is not writing with a specifically Catholic bias.  I think it is fascinating, given his evangelical background, that he writes so comfortably of Mary's role as Mediatrix.

In the Middle Ages, the role of Mediatrix became especially concerned with Mary's function regarding purgatory.  Mary's intercession for the bride and groom of Cana became the model for her watching out for others; Pelikan says that she is Mediatrix both at Cana and in purgatory.  [35]

Many people think that Mary as Mediatrix would create an ecumenical boondoggle.  It certainly would require a lot of discussion to calm the fears of marioltry on the part of some non-Catholic Christians, but Mediatrix, properly understood, does not have to be a problem in ecumenical dialogue. Luther had no problem praying: "...May Christ grant us this through the intercession and for the sake of his death Mother Mary, Amen." [36]

Calvin and the more radical reformers rejected Marian intercession, but they did not have a problem with an appreciation for the role of Mary in redemption and a proper honoring of her memory as model of discipleship.  Modern theological distinctions not available at the time of the Reformation would facilitate a revisiting of the issues regarding the role of the saints -- and certainly of Mary -- in the ongoing redemption of the human family.  All this is said, of course, in the context of the role of Mediatrix as understood int he context of scripture and tradition and not in the exaggerated and heretical sense with which some today push it.  The mediation of Mary becomes a problem only when we try to replace the unique mediation of Christ with that of his mother.  The lack of confidence in the mercy of Christ is a prevalent error today.

Cardinal Newman, the nineteenth century convert from evangelical Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, provides us with the solution of how we can integrate Mary's role as Mediatrix with the unique mediation of Christ when he distinguished between created and uncreated mediation.  Pelikan describes Newman's position and differentiating uncreated and created mediation: 

"uncreated mediation" the principle that under the sovereignty of the unique uncreated mediation of Christ, there was an entire chain of mediating powers -- the sacraments, the church, the saints, and Mary -- which though created, conveyed the power of the uncreated mediation of Christ to believers.  [37]

Newman's statement about Mary as a created mediator provides us with an understanding of the scapular as a sign of that mediation.  Nothing is offered by the scapular that has not been won for us at Calvary.  The mediation of Christ is totally sufficient, but is generously handed over to us through his mother's intercession.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in discussing sacramentals (such as the scapular), emphasizes that they have no power other than that won by the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Christ.

CC 1670  Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it.  "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.  From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power."

In other words, there is no grace in this sacramental that does not come from the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.  Mary dispenses only grace won by her son for us; the salvation of which the scapular is the sign is the salvation won by Christ on the cross for all.  The scapular makes it available for those who are affiliated to the Order of Carmel and call upon Mary for her protection.

The major question for us is not how do we recover the scapular, but rather how can we recover the best of Marian devotion of which the scapular is such an important outward sign.  I think one of the challenges facing us with Marian devotion today is that people want Mary in her mediatorial role -- they want her as intercessor, but they do not want a healthy and complete Marian devotion.

Authentic Marian devotion must have three components:  (1) Imitation; (2) Praise; (3) Intercession.

Intercession without praise is rude, and intercession without imitation is superstitious.  I would propose that before we concentrate on the scapular, we need to follow the example of the evangelists and look to Mary as a model of discipleship.  We must learn to be like Mary -- not only in her purity or her humility, but especially in her hearing the word of God and putting it into practice.  We must be a people who are attentive to God's word. Our Carmelite tradition -- of which the scapular is an outward sign -- tells us "let the sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God, dwell in your minds and in your hearts that all that you do may have the Lord's Word for accompaniment."  [38]  We must be rooted in the word of God.  Our chief prayer book must be the Scripture.  We need to listen to God so that when he asks us -- as he asked Mary -- to carry out his will, we too may say:  let it be done to me even as you have said.

Article 85 of the Constitutions of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance reinforces this opinion:

During her life on earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary showed herself to be the perfect image for the disciple of Christ.  For this reason, in her apostolic mission the Church follows the example of the Virgin Mother of God -- the perfect model of the following of Christ -- especially in her commitment to our redemption, which Mary actively participated in from her "Fiat" to the Incarnation, to her presence at the foot of the Cross, and in her solidarity with the first Christian community gathered in prayer.

As we imitate Mary we will learn to give her heartfelt praise because we will understand from our own experience just what it meant for her to be open to the will of God. We can praise her, not just with sentimental songs, but with a heartfelt praise in which all generations will call her Blessed because of the wonderful things God has done for her.  This piety directed to the Mother of God must be a serious devotion and one that is theologically consistent with the faith of the Church.  It must, therefore, center not in a multiplicity of pious practices that have little or no ecclesial approbation, but must be founded -- as the best of prayer is always founded -- in the liturgy of the Church.  Just as we are nowhere more closely united to Christ than in the liturgy, so too we are nowhere more closely drawn to his mother in her union with her son than in the liturgy.  Article 86 of the Carmelite Constitutions says:

Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the obligation to spread this devotion, are intrinsic parts of the Order's mission within the Church. In keeping with the intention of the Church itself, therefore, let us generously promote veneration of the Blessed Virgin, especially in the liturgy.  The example of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as it emerges from the liturgy itself, will inspire the faithful to imitate their Mother and, through her, her Son.  This will lead them to celebrate the mysteries of Christ with the same dispositions and attitudes with which the Virgin contemplated her Son in Bethlehem, in Nazareth, and in his self-emptying, and exulted together with all of her new children at his Resurrection.

A renewed Marian devotion must be consistent primarily in participating in the Church's own prayer regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary.  As touching -- and gracefilled -- as the rosary and various litanies and novenas and devotions are, they do not compare with the Eucharistic liturgies, liturgies of the word, and the Liturgy of the Hours.  Mary is well honored when these official prayers of the Church are celebrated around the themes of her life.  Her memory is celebrated, her praises are sung, and her intercession is invoked.  The liturgy is the chief source of sustenance for our prayer as Carmelites.

The primacy that must be given to the official prayer of the Church by no means rules out the devotional prayers and practices, chief of which is the scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  The Constitutions tell us that:

We have great respect for the pious practices and devotions to Mary.... The Carmelite scapular is a sacramental of the Church; as such, it is a fitting symbol to express our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the affiliation of the faithful to the Carmelite Family.  The scapular calls to mind the virtues of the Blessed Virgin with which we are to clothe ourselves -- in particular, intimate union with God and humble service to others in God's Church, in the hope of eternal salvation.

The scapular achieves its meaning to the extent that we clothe ourselves with the virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It has no power to cover the multitude of our sins -- that charism belongs to charity according to St. Paul, but it calls us to live in love of God and neighbor in imitation of the first and perfect disciple.

For the scapular to be properly appreciated, we need to restore its Carmelite connection.  The scapular is still first and foremost the habit of the order of Carmel.  Perhaps in this day of religious wearing whatever we choose, we need to give the scapular some thought.  If it has ceased to be a sign for us, it will not be able to function as a sign of affiliation to us.  The religious members of the Carmelite family need to discuss and reappraise the scapular before we can share it with others.  But if the scapular is to be retained, the Carmelite Order must restake its claim and remind those who wear the scapular that they are not wearing a sacramental, they are wearing the habit of Carmel which is a sacramental.

A particular element which will probably be necessary to recover an authentic sense of the scapular is to revive the scapular confraternity.  The scapular confraternity for the most part has not had an identity -- at least in the United States -- as anything more than a shadowy spiritual sort of alliance.  There have been no real bonds to the Order or experiential affiliation to the Order.  We need to take a new look at this and create anew the scapular confraternity as an organization that mediates Carmelite spirituality to the larger Church. In fact, many of our Third Order groups should be encouraged to change their status from Third Order or Lay Carmelite to Scapular Confraternity because what they actually want is a loose affiliation to the Carmelite Order without the responsibilities of full membership in the Order.  We need to define the specific rights and duties of the scapular confraternity and sharply delineate the spiritual benefits the Order extends not to those who wear the scapular, but to those who belong to the confraternity.

In this process we need to define the scapular as different from other sacramentals in that the scapular is not blessed to the wearer, but the wearer is blessed to the scapular as a religious habit.  We need people to understand that the scapular is not like a medal (even when it takes the form of the scapular medal) but that it is a habit that signifies membership in the Order.  We certainly need to develop and disseminate catechetical materials that restore this awareness.  Perhaps we should consider asking the Holy See to revoke the universal faculties to enroll people in the scapular and find ways to put the enrollment back in the context of affiliation to the Order.

Let us return to where we began -- beneath the stern glance of the Sisters of Mercy. Seven-year-olds -- and seventy-year-olds --- might need the occasional stern glance and indeed mercy, even divine mercy, might occasionally be mediated through a stern visage.  The fact is that those sisters did indeed lead us that day to Mercy, to the Mercy of God won for us by Christ Jesus and mediated through the Blessed Virgin Mary whose scapular we were given.  It was not well explained to us.  Some foolish, and even unorthodox, ideas were put in our tiny heads, but we should not reject the gift because it was so poorly presented. In this simple sacramental is symbolized a doctrine of our faith that existed long before the scapular was ever worn, a doctrine of our faith that is certainly a part of the ancient Tradition of the Church and the deposit of faith:  that Sub tuum praesidium confugimus sancta Dei genitrix.