The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Today is the great feast of the Carmelite order which was founded by a group of hermits on Mount Carmel in Palestine during the era of the Crusades in the twelfth century, and brought back into Europe during the succeeding centuries.  Mount Carmel is the battle between the prophet Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al during the reign of the apostate king Ahab in the eighth century before Christ, and the Carmelite order has always had a special devotion both to the Blessed Mother and to the prophet Elijah as the supreme examples of the mendicant contemplative life.

At the present moment there are anti-missile batteries on Mount Carmel placed there by the Israeli government to protect the nearby city of Haifa from rocket attacks coming either from Lebanon or the Gaza Strip.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel pray for us!

Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary on Monday for the See of Constantinople, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday for the See of Antioch, the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday for the See of Jerusalem, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday for the See of Alexandria, and the Sorrowful Mysteries on Friday for the See of Carthage; for their liberty and their salvation and the restoration of their ancient position as pillars of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in communion with the See of Peter in Rome; for the conversion of the Jewish people and the conversion of the Muslim peoples.