Marian Devotion, the Rosary, and the Scapular

The sign of the scapular points to an effective synthesis of Marian spirituality, which nourishes the devotion of believers and makes them sensitive to the Virgin Mother’s loving presence in their lives. The scapular is essentially a "habit." Those who receive it are associated more or less closely with the Order of Carmel and dedicate themselves to the service of Our Lady for the good of the whole Church (cf. "Formula of Enrollment in the Scapular," in the Rite of Blessing of and Enrollment in the Scapular, approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, January 5, 1996). Those who wear the scapular are thus brought into the land of Carmel, so that they may "eat its fruits and its good things" (cf. Jer. 2:7), and experience the loving and motherly presence of Mary in their daily commitment to be clothed in Jesus Christ and to manifest him in their life for the good of the Church and the whole of humanity (cf. "Formula of Enrollment in the Scapular," cit.).

Therefore, two truths are evoked by the sign of the scapular: on the one hand, the constant protection of the Blessed Virgin, not only on life’s journey, but also at the moment of passing into the fullness of eternal glory; on the other, the awareness that devotion to her cannot be limited to prayers and tributes in her honor on certain occasions, but must become a "habit," that is, a permanent orientation of one’s own Christian conduct, woven of prayer and interior life, through frequent reception of the sacraments and the concrete practice of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. In this way the scapular becomes a sign of the "covenant" and reciprocal communion between Mary and the faithful: indeed it concretely translates the gift of his Mother, which Jesus gave on the Cross to John and, through him, to all of us, and the entrustment of the beloved apostle and of us to her, who became our spiritual Mother (106).

The sign of the scapular evokes first of all the protection of the Virgin in the course of our days and up to the hour of our passing. It is a vestment which covers. But it is also a "habit," that is to say a habitual and permanent manner of the Christian life, woven by prayer and the interior life. For those who wear it, Marian devotion does not remain on the surface, exterior and peripheral, but becomes deep and from the heart (107).

It is not a question of placing the inner prayer … as "subjective" piety in contrast to the liturgy as the "objective" prayer of the Church. All authentic prayer is prayer of the Church. Through every sincere prayer something happens in the Church, and it is the Church itself that is praying therein, for it is the Holy Spirit living in the Church that intercedes for every individual soul "with sighs too deep for words" (Rom 8:26) (111).

Happy, indeed sublimely happy, is the person to whom the Holy Spirit reveals the secret of Mary, thus imparting to him true knowledge of her. Happy the person to whom the Holy Spirit opens this enclosed garden for him to enter and to whom the Holy Spirit gives access to this sealed fountain where he can draw water and drink deep draughts of the living waters of grace (SM 20).

The first consists in fulfilling the duties of our Christian state, avoiding all mortal sin, performing our actions for God more through love than through fear, praying to Our Lady occasionally, and honoring her as the Mother of God, but without our devotion to her being exceptional.

The second consists in entertaining for Our Lady deeper feelings of esteem and love, of confidence and veneration. This devotion inspires us to join the confraternities of the holy Rosary and the scapular, to say the five or fifteen decades of the Rosary, to venerate Our Lady’s altars and shrines, to make her known to others, and to enroll in her sodalities. This devotion, in keeping us from sin, is good, holy and praiseworthy, but it is not as perfect as the third, nor as effective in detaching us from creatures, or in practicing that self-denial necessary for union with Jesus Christ.

The third devotion to Our Lady is one which is unknown to many and practiced by very few. This is the one I am about to present to you.

Chosen soul, this devotion consists in surrendering oneself in the manner of a slave to Mary, and to Jesus through her, and then performing all our actions with Mary, in Mary, through Mary, and for Mary (SM 25-28).