FLOS CARMELIFLOS CARMELINot so long ago a national event took place in the Catholic Church. I won’t say what or where, but let me hasten to add, it took place in England, not Scotland. A bishop preached at it. The comment afterwards was “We didn’t get either a sermon or a homily. No, we got a history lesson!” Far be it from me to give you a history lesson on this very historic occasion, the 25th pilgrimage to this little gem, the Priory Church of St Mary of Mount Carmel.
So historically, just the bare bones. In 1330 the Dundas family
invited the Carmelites to make a foundation here. It was on the
condition that prayers would be offered “for the souls of
the Grantor and his wife, his ancestors and successors”.
Those wishes are still being fulfilled today, now by the Episcopalian
Church in Scotland whose members restored this chapel in 1889.
In 1974 to mark the Silver Jubilee of
the Carmelite friars returning to Aylesford, secular carmelites from all over
Scotland
decided to visit the Priory Church here at South Queensferry.
Suffice it to say that it became much more than just a visit.
Mass was celebrated by the then spiritual director, Fr Joseph Abbley. Canon Ernest Brady, the then Episcopalian incumbent, made
this possible by his gracious and very warm reception. The very
cordial reception has been there ever since. We are extremely
grateful for this and therefore thank very sincerely the present
incumbent, Rev. Terry Harkin, and his parishioners.
We have come here today to pray to God and to honour him. But we have also come to honour Mary and the saints, especially the saints of Carmel, in particular Mary and Elijah, the models for us Carmelites. By honouring them, we worship God who made them saints.
In the first reading for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the prophet Elijah adopts a posture of profound prayer. His confidence that after the very long drought rain is imminent remains unshaken. He recognises God’s hand in the small cloud, which appeared after the seventh attempt by the servant. Once again the number seven. The passage shows that God is at work at more than one level: in the downpour Elijah outruns Ahab’s chariots! Many have seen in the small cloud a foreshadowing of Mary, the great intercessor for us, her children.
In the Old Testament no king is mentioned without also the
mentioning of his mother. The Queen Mother was a very important
figure in those days. She was honoured and respected. And the
king’s subjects saw her as the intercessor par excellence.
As you know this year we celebrate the 100th birthday of the present
Queen Mother. Because of her lovely personality, over the years
her influence must have been great.
The parallels between the queen mothers of the Old Testament and
Mary, the Queen and Mother of the new era, are obvious. She gave
birth not just to a king, but to the King of kings. As we heard
in our second reading: “When the appointed time came, God
sent his Son, born of a woman …to enable us to become God’s
children” (Gal.4:4). Let us not be afraid to approach Mary,
in whom God was able to work marvels.
The Second Vatican Council told us that the greatest honour we
can give Mary and the saints is to imitate their lives. The first
beatitude in the New Testament goes to Mary with Elizabeth exclaiming:
“Yes, blessed is she (you, Mary) who believed that the promise
made by the Lord would be fulfilled”. What made Mary so great
was that she was able to say “yes” to God, and kept
saying that all through her life. Yes, as we heard in the Gospel,
right up to the crucifixion of her Son, and beyond that event.
We call her the Flower of Carmel, the Flos Carmeli.
Let the F of the Flos stand for her Faith in God and the faith she has in us, her children.
Let the L stand for her Love for both God and us.
Let the O remind us of her Obedience to God, her “Yes” to God.
And let the S recall to us her Service to God and to us, like her Son, pleading for us.
Mary is able to be a model for us in all those virtues, because
she was a woman of prayer, pondering on God’s word and on
God’s events in her life.
I congratulate you on this jubilee. May this pilgrimage be continued for many years to come and may it inspire you to live in the presence of God, as Mary and Elijah did.
