These were the words of the Blessed Mother in her apparition to St. Simon Stock in 1251.
At SM mall at Clark, I see teeners wear the Brown Scapular unabashedly peering out their T-shirts. I look at their faces well, knowing theirs are faces that would someday adorn Heaven.
The promise of the Blessed Mother in 1251 so long ago was so reassuring that devotion to the Brown Scapular has held on in our times, especially in our Apocalyptic times.
No, Brown Scapular wearers won’t necessarily go directly to Heaven. But the Blessed Mother said she herself would lift from Purgatory the scapular devotee on the first Saturday after their death.
Devotion to the Brown Scapular was something our Blessed Mother has continued to promote even in modern times. During her last apparition in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, she did not speak but held in her raised hand the Brown Scapular. The message was clearer that way.
In Fatima, however, the Blessed Mother also made four requests on top of wearing the Brown Scapular. These four are: consecration to her Immaculate Heart; reception of Holy Communion on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months; the offering of daily sacrifices for the conversion of sinners; and five decades of the Rosary each day.
Fatima seer Lucia dos Santos said “the Rosary and the Scapular are inseparable” and that the reason for wearing the Scapular is because it is our “Sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”
The Church, however, later issued clarifi cations on the Scapular promise of the Blessed Mother: the scapular has to be of wool and, in its entirety, be worn over the shoulders. So, those plastic versions being sold even in Catholic stores do not comply (by the way, talk show host Boy Abunda is always seen on TV wearing the scapular quite wrongly because he uses the plastic variety with the two flaps both at the front, not on front and back.)
In wearing the Brown Scapular (as distinguished from other scapulars such as the Green Scapular), the devotee must comply with such details as a manifestation of sincerity and determination. By our acts, we prove our hearts.
The Brown Scapular’s promise of freedom from hell, however, was premised on the devotee’s parallel determination to stay away from sin. The scapular should never be thought of as license to sinful liberty.
It is also important to ask a priest to “enroll” you in the Brown Scapular. It is unfortunate, however, that many priests in our times, even here in Pampanga, do not know enough about the Brown Scapular.
In any case, one can ask a priest for such enrollment which, I have heard, need no longer be a Carmelite.
Just to be sure, one who wants to be enrolled, after having bought and brought the proper Brown Scapular, can bring the following prayers for the priest to recite in enrolling you:
“Receive this blessed Scapular and ask the most Holy Virgin that, by Her merits, it may be worn with no stain of sin and may protect you from all harm and bring you into everlasting life.”
The following are the prayers the priest and the devotee should recite in blessing the Brown Scapular:
Priest – Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy.
Respondent – And grant us Thy salvation.
P – Lord, hear my prayer.
R – And let my cry come unto Thee.
P – The Lord be with you.
R – And with your Spirit.
P – Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, sanctify + by Thy power these scapulars, which for love of Thee and for love of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Thy servants will wear devoutly, so that through the intercession of the same Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and protected against the evil spirit, they persevere until death in Thy grace. Thou who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
(The priest then sprinkles the scapular with holy water and puts the scapular on the shoulders of the recipient while praying as follows.)
P – Receive this blessed scapular and beseech the Blessed Virgin that through Her merits, you may wear it without stain. May it defend you against all adversity and accompany you to eternal life. Amen.
P – I, by the power vested in me, admit you to participate in all the spiritual benefi ts obtained through the mercy of Jesus Christ by the Religious Order of Mount Carmel. In the name of the Father + and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. + Amen.
May God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and earth, bless + you, He who has deigned to join you to the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel; we beseech Her to crush the head of the ancient serpent so that you may enter into possession of your eternal heritage through Christ our Lord.
R – Amen.
(The priest then sprinkles the devotee with holy water.)
Amen.
