Wearing the garment of grace

Last year after my children and I went to the doctor for physicals, the doctor asked me about what all four of us were wearing and if it was something to do with our religion. I explained that they are scapulars and that we are Catholic and that they are a part of our faith. She remarked that this was odd, since she had been working at the clinic for 5 years and had never seen one before, and the majority of her patients are Catholic.

Prior to that visit, she had never seen one on any of us, either. I had heard someone say that it was a good idea to wear a scapular, but I saw no need to wear some superstitious magical trinket when I was walking with the Almighty God. I didn't even know anybody who wore one. It is such a rare thing in America to wear one, that even the priest was surprised to see it when my grandson asked him to bless the one I gave to him.

In my family, because I have been learning more about Mary, and have adopted her as my mother, we all now wear the brown scapular. I didn't know much if anything about it the day I saw them and bought them. It's just that Mary, the mother of God supposedly liked them, or so I'd heard. So I figured it couldn't hurt. After all, Our Lord and Our Lady want us to be a people of faith. Let me put it on right here and now, and I'll learn about it later, was my thinking.

I've since learned that Mary, our Lady of Mount Carmel gave us this promise: "Wear the Scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of Me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life." Wow! This is no magic, it is a garment of grace. Speaking as one who has innumerable sins every single day of my life, this is good news. We all do things wrong, things that hurt others, things that we wish we'd never done. But you know what? Our Blessed Mother can help us with that.

It is a good idea to wear the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Holy Mary assures us: "Whoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire."