Novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

OL of Mt. Carmel

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

The Lord, Whom earth, and air, and sea
With one adoring voice resound,
Who rules them all majesty;
In Mary's heart cloister found.
Lo! In a humble Virgin's womb,
Overshadowed by Almighty power;
He Whom the stars, and sun, and moon,
Each serve in their appointed hour.
O Mother blest! To whom was given
Within your compass to contain
The Architect of Earth and Heaven,
Whose hands the universe sustain:
To you was sent an Angel down;
In you the Spirit was enshrined;
From you came forth that Mighty One,
The long-desired of all mankind.
O Jesu! Born of Virgin bright,
Immortal glory be to You ;
Praise to the Father Infinite,
And Holy Spirit eternally. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you.

The scapular unites us to the Immaculate Heart of Mary .... In Mary's heart, the Lord 'cloister found'.  What does that tell ordinary people - little children?  It says we need not go in search of refuge or cloister, that we are in Our Lady's Immaculate Heart already ... we, the ordinary children of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel have our cloister within.

"There are some people God calls and sets apart in convents and monasteries. There are others God calls and leaves in society, the ones God does not `withdraw from the world.'

"These are the people who have an ordinary job, an ordinary marriage or an ordinary celibacy. The people who have ordinary sicknesses and ordinary sorrows. The people who live in ordinary houses and wear ordinary clothes. These are the people of ordinary life. The people we meet on any ordinary street. - Madeleine Delbrel