For those of you praying the Carmelite Rite of the Divine Office, I completely forgot to include what to expect during the eight-day octave, following the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. As a friend so wisely, and recently, pointed out- in the Old Office- following major first-class feasts, we always have seven-day octaves following major feasts. We see this for Peter and Paul, John the Baptist, the Immaculate Conception (the list goes on and on). I made a mistake in saying nine-days in one of my former posts; it is indeed seven. But for Carmelites, many do not know this, the seven-day octave of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is something extra special in the breviary AND if one celebrates the Carmelite Rite of the Mass. For the next seven-days, in the Carmelite Rite of the Latin Mass, every day is a Mass for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and for the Divine Office, it is all in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as well. It is a hidden treasure chest of delight for Carmelites!

Even if it is a feast of a saint, we only commemorate them; our primary focus is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for eight whole days in the Mass, as well as the Office. The ONLY time we break this seven-day feast day celebration is for July 20^th, which is the first-class feast of our Father and Founder: The Prophet Elijah! This gave me much hope, that while we heard some rotten news yesterday, on none other than such a beautiful feast of Our Lady, we still have seven-days to celebrate Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The day following the end of the octave we celebrate the Carmelite martyrs of Compiegne as well as the Carmelite martyrs of Guadalajara; let me not forget to mention the “first Carmelite” Mary Magdalene on the 22nd.

So, while we might have started out on the wrong foot, it is indeed the FOOT of Mary that will be victorious in the end. And as we celebrate the glorious Prophet Elijah this coming Tuesday, was it not him who saw this Foot of Our Lady on Mount Carmel? Stay tuned, because I have a fitting post to reshare, for his feast, that will fill you with hope and might even leave you in tears of joy. Be of good cheer, we still have Our Lady’s breviary in the Old Rite and while there are new restrictions, remember that everything will turn out alright in the end. If it is bad now… it is not the end! But if any of you are reading this and are not wearing your scapular, I think it is time to put on the armor.

There are no more excuses; if you love Mary, REALLY love Her, you need to “suit up” if you are to call yourself Her true child. Sister Lucia said it was time to “choose sides”. If she said that then, how much more urgent is it now? The best way to choose the side of Mary and pledge your allegiance to Her, is to wear the scapular. And again, since it was indeed on Mount Carmel that Elijah saw Our Lady’s Foot, is it safe to assume that the predestined title of Mary chosen to crush the serpent, from Genesis, could very well be none other than Our Lady of Mount Carmel? After all, Satan chose yesterday of all days, to start this war…. did he perhaps begin the decisive battle, Lucia spoke of, yesterday? In her time, she said the devil was in “the mood to wage war”. Has it officially begun? If you do not have a scapular, or perhaps need a new one, I would point you to the best hand sewn scapulars in the world (MantleofMary Etsy shop):

This last (I hope this is the “last”) video entails of the rubrics for the following seven-days because they are a little tricky for beginners (July 17th- July 23rd). Ave Maria!