Today's Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is always a great chance to talk about the sacramentals of the Church, those "sacred signs" that "signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church" that "prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it." See the Catechism, paragraphs 1667-1679.Sacramentals can be on a person (for example, the blessing of an Abbot or Abbess, or on ministers such as Lectors or Acolytes, or the blessing of a throat of the Feast of St. Blaise), or an object (such as medals, rosaries, ashes or palm branches, and, yes, scapulars).
Also at Mass, I reminded the attendees that we do, in fact, have cloistered Carmelites here in our Metuchen Diocese. Carmelites arrived in New Brunswick in the late 40's. In 1956, the sisters moved southwest to Flemington, NJ, and settled into their present location in 1972.
For more about them, click HERE to be taken to the website of the Flemington Carmel.
1 comment:
Thank you Father for mentioning the Carmelites. How beautiful is their vocation - to pray for us, and the world. We need more religious vocations!
God bless...
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