I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
Ecclesiasticus 24:24
The love which burns in the heart of Mary, in fine, is a well-ordered, ardent, self-sacrificing, magnanimous, and faithful love towards all the children of men, whom the Lord transmitted to her from the cross.
Besides Christ, no one knows the value of souls so well as Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer; she saw all what her divine Son Himself did for them. How mightily, therefore, did the love of Mary increase for Him, as well as for every child of man; how tenderly she thought of every one of those weary steps of this divine Son, Who offered for them His whole life, His passion and death.
And in regard to the fraternal charity which we should cultivate in our hearts, what a motive to love our neighbor as ourselves may be found in the wish to please Mary, even if it were not a precept which God has given to us! For, how much will the heart of a mother be pleased and consoled, when we assist a child of hers who is in need and great danger! The mother will regard our efforts and kind offices as if they were conferred upon herself; nay, her joy and thankfulness would be even more intense than if she herself had received them.
Such is the influence of the devotion to Mary, if we look at her as the Mother of fair love. But, alas! too often the heart is full of that disordered love which afflicts her mother's heart with the deepest wounds.
What a gain for the soul, if the holy Scapular reminds us daily of Mary, the Mother of fair love, in the manner I have today endeavored to describe! Oh, may it do so; may it cause the love of God, the love of Jesus, the love of Mary, and the active, holy love of our neighbor daily to increase in our hearts. Then the Scapular will, indeed, become a coat of mail, and a shield in our combat against temptation to ill-ordered, impure, and unholy love; and it will make us faithful and unwavering in good, according to the assurance of St. Paul: "For love is strong as death, and should a man give all his substance, he shall despise it as nothing."
Therefore, ye faithful children of the Catholic Church, be invested with the Scapular of Mount Carmel, whose use the Church has approved centuries ago, and for whose feast she has composed a special office. If rightly used it will increase the flame of love in our hearts, and we shall be permitted to apply, what St. Paul says of our love for Christ, to true devotion to His blessed Mother: "Then in all things we will conquer through her--through our love towards Mary." Amen!
Excerpts:
Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger