Vigil Mass Time and Our Lady of Mount Carmel
My Dear Parishioners,
A few weeks ago, we took a parish wide survey concerning the time of our Vigil Mass. Between 500-600 people regularly attend Masses here on the average weekend. We received 140 responses to the survey. I do thank everyone who took the time to respond.
The survey was about two to one in favor of an earlier Mass time.
Given the fact that the survey was in favor of an earlier Vigil Mass time, and given the fact that many have concerns about driving at night, especially in the winter months, and given the fact that there is a general trend among parishes to have an earlier time for Vigil Masses, after much thought, I have decided that we will be moving our Vigil Mass to 4:00.
The 4:00 Vigil Mass will begin the first Saturday of September, Saturday, September 6.
Starting September 6, the new Saturday Mass and Confession schedule will be as such:
Morning Mass: 8:00 am
Morning Confessions: 8:30-9:00 am Afternoon Confessions: 3:00-3:45 pm Vigil Mass: 4:00 pm
We will be advertising the new Vigil time in our bulletin and our website for the rest of the summer.
The Sunday schedule will not change, and the Sunday schedule will remain 7:30, 9:30, 11:30 am.
Again, I thank all who took the time to respond, and I think long term this is a good move for our parish and for you, our parishioners.
This Wednesday we celebrate the very popular Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and we recall our Devotion to the Brown Scapular.
Who doesn’t wear the Scapular? Who would like to?
Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and to the Brown Scapular goes back centuries. The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated on July 16 because it was on this date in 1251 that our Blessed Mother appeared and gave the Brown Scapular to St. Simon Stock. We learn through EWTN:
During the Crusades in 12th century, a group of Westerners took up the life of hermits by the well of St. Elijah on Mt. Carmel. They built a chapel in honor of the Mother of Jesus, conscious that they were living in the area made holy by Jesus and his Mother (Nazareth is less than 20 miles away).
When Islamic Saracens toppled the Latin Christian kingdom of the Crusaders, the hermits of Carmel had to flee for their lives from the holy mountain and return to the West — to Cypress, Sicily, France, England, Ireland and other countries.
They brought with them little more than their title of “Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.”
According to tradition, as an important fact in the midst of these difficulties, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to the prior general, St. Simon Stock, at Aylesford, England. According to tradition, Our Lady appeared on July 16, 1251.
The Blessed Virgin promised St. Simon Stock, oppressed with worries, that whoever would wear the Carmelite habit devoutly would receive the gift of final perseverance. The habit was taken to mean the scapular in particular.
The scapular was a broad band of cloth over the shoulders, falling below the knees toward the feet front and back as an apron, worn still as part of the religious habit by a number of orders of monks and friars. As it was gradually adapted for use by the laity, it became two small panels of brown cloth joined by strings and worn over the shoulders as a familiar Marian sacramental.
From the 16th century until the Second Vatican Council the scapular received warm welcome from the faithful and enjoyed a singular approval by the Church magisterium. Part of the reason for this esteem was undoubtedly the constant stream of wonderful graces, spiritual and temporal, that were poured out on individuals through its devout use.
Many of us were enrolled in the Brown Scapular through our Catholic Schools: Sister said this is what we are doing, and we did it! But what a beautiful gift we received through our good parish priests and good nuns. We owe them such a debt of gratitude!
We especially remember the beautiful Sabbitine Privilege for those who wear the Brown Scapular and live by the Gospel of Love.
The instruction from the Rite of Enrollment reads:
When Jesus walked on earth, whoever even touched the hem of his garment became whole. We praise the Lord, because in his Church he continues to use the humblest of means to show us his infinite mercy. We too can use these means to glorify the Lord, to express our desire to serve him and to renew our life-long commitment of fidelity made at our baptism.
This scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a sign of the motherly love of the Virgin Mary, which reminds us of her care for the members of the Carmelite Family, especially in moments of great need. It is a love which invites our love in return. This scapular is a sign of communion with the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel dedicated to the service of Our Lady and her son Jesus Christ for the good of the Church and the World.
With this scapular, a miniature version of the Carmelite habit, you express the desire to take part in the spirit of the Order, according to your own vocation in life. The scapular is a mirror of the humility and purity of Mary; through her simplicity she invites us to live modestly and in purity.
By wearing the cloth scapular, or the scapular medal, day and night, it becomes a sign of our constant prayer and of our special dedication to the love and service of the Virgin Mary, who clothes us in her virtues.
By wearing the scapular, you renew your baptismal vow to put on our Lord Jesus Christ. In Mary, your hope of salvation in Christ will be safeguarded, because in her the God of Life has made his abode.
The beautiful thing about enrollment in the Scapular is that once enrolled, always enrolled! So, if you were enrolled as a child and haven’t worn it since, you are still enrolled. Just get a scapular and put it on, simple as that!
If you were never enrolled, I would be happy to enroll you. Please just let me know, and we will come up with a time and day to do so. I will even get the Brown Scapular for you.
I pray that many will take advantage of this opportunity to be Enrolled in the Brown Scapular, and I pray that those already Enrolled will use this as an opportunity to recommit to this very beautiful devotion and powerful help from Heaven.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us!
St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and our Patron, pray for us!
Fr. Michael J Pawelko, Pastor