Feast of St. Elijah - July 20th

Greetings in Jesus and Mary:

Today is the Feast day of St. Elijah and I am reposting an old article today which I wrote last year for this feast day because it addresses the current day. This image is the crest of the Carmelite Order. It has the quote of St. Elijah and the image of Mount Carmel with the three stars representing Elijah on the Mount and the two others representing Jesus and Mary . This post is about the relationship of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Her Scapular and the times of St. Elijah....

Since we focus on the message of Fatima on this website, we will remember that on October 13, 1917, Our Lady appeared during the Miracle of the Sun to Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, holding forth a Brown Scapular.  Whenever Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the three shepherd children, She always had a star on the hem of Her gown.

We have already talked about Our Lady as the ‘Star of the Sea’ who helps Christians who wear Her Scapular from drowning in sin.  Our Lady of Mount Carmel can be seen as representing the Star of the Sea that first appeared to Saint Elijah the Prophet as a “small foot shaped cloud” (3 Kings 18: 44). She appeared to symbolize not only the end of the drought which afflicted the Israelites, but also to signify the end of their doctrinal confusion. 

Fatima is a great message of traditional Catholic Church teaching and a reaffirmation of the Gospel.  The star of Our Lady of Fatima is our special Star of the Sea in this age of darkness for the Church polluted by the murky doctrinal waters of Modernism. 
We are in perhaps the greatest period of doctrinal uncertainty among the people and clergy that the Church has ever known.  This is an indication that we need the Star of Our Lady of Fatima - the Star of the Sea - Our Lady of Mount Carmel, to guide us through these troubled waters. (Wear a Scapular!)

At the time of the Prophet Elijah, Israel was plagued by false prophets leading the chosen people astray with false doctrine and the worship of false gods.  This is familiar to us, as false prophets and teachers are shamelessly leading Christ’s flock to spiritual ruin.  King Achab , “did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him” (3 Kings 16: 30).  We too are in a time of unprecedented evil brought on by wolves in shepherd’s clothing - to say the least!

King Achab led Israel, away from the true God because it was the politically correct thing to do for peace and for economic reasons.  In our age, it seems that politically correct leaders of the Church, in an effort to get along with non-Catholic Christians and non-Christian sects, have modified Church teaching and worship to conform to the ways of the world in a very big way!  
 
Like the time of Ahab, we too have seen new ‘altars/tables’ and configurations set up in our Catholic sanctuaries; many of which seem to be offering worship to the ‘cult of man,’ as opposed to the worship of Almighty God.  Elijah the Prophet was sent to Israel by God and declared to Achab that because of their sinful ways there would be a drought for years of neither dew nor rain (3 Kings 17:1).  The Catholic Church has been experiencing a drought of vocations for the past sixty years of priests and religious as well as numerous church and school closings.  Do we too need rain?

On Mount Carmel, Elijah against the false prophets, had two altars set up: one for the Prophet Elijah and one for the four hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal.  Offerings would be prepared by each side on their respective altars.  The offering that was accepted by Almighty God, would be the one which was consumed by fire from Heaven.

The sacrifice of Elijah, prefiguring the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, was acceptable to Almighty God, Who sent fire down from Heaven to consume it. The people who had been led into apostasy at the time of Elijah by their evil leaders, repented as the light of truth came upon them, as they cried out: “The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God!” (3 Kings 18: 39). 

After this victory, Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and directed his servants to look toward the sea.  They saw nothing.  He told them to return seven times.  At the seventh time, a small foot shaped cloud arose out of the sea and torrents of rain came ending the great drought caused by the peoples’ apostasy from the faith.

The small foot-shaped cloud, representing the Immaculate Virgin Mary, conceived without the stain of Original Sin, arose from what can be described as ‘the sea of sinful humanity.’  Tradition says that after this encounter with the “type” of Our Blessed Mother, Elijah made his abode on Mount Carmel awaiting the birth of the Mother of the Messiah (Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ).  Devotion then began to Our Lady of Mount Carmel before the time of Christ.  The Prophet Elijah is thus considered to be the Founder of the Carmelite Order devoted to the Mother of God.

We as Carmelites must pray to God through Our Lady of Fatima/Our Lady of Mount Carmel that the time of accounting soon comes for the false priests and prophets of our time leading souls astray.  May they repent of their scandalous sins and return to the One True Faith founded by Christ before Divine judgment is visited upon them. 

When Our Lady of Mount Carmel gave the Brown Scapular to the Carmelite, Saint Simon Stock, on July 16, 1251, She said: “Whoever dies in this garment will not suffer everlasting fire.  It is a token of salvation.  It safeguards in danger."  Pope Pius XII said that the Brown Scapular was a “Sign of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” Sister Lucia of Fatima said that the Rosary and the Brown Scapular are inseparable therefore let us wear our Brown Scapular as a sign of consecration to Her Immaculate Heart and get others to do the same during this time of great apostasy!

Wearing the Brown Scapular with devotion every day, frequenting the Sacraments of the Church, living the Fatima Message, and praying the Reparation prayers will help usher in this time of peace. Our Lady's Scapular will bring us comfort, protection and great joy!

Let us walk with great joy and with the words of Elijah from the First Book of Kings, 19:10 in our hearts: “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.” These words perfectly express the life of the Prophet Elijah, yet for those of us who wear the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, this motto also perfectly conveys the mission to which we are each called. 

Our Lady of Mt Carmel - pray for us!
St. Elijah - pray for us!

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