Mary, Garden of the Beloved and Sealed Fountain of the Spirit
“My Beloved, the mountains,
the lonely wooded valleys,
the strange islands,
the resounding rivers,
the whisper of the amorous breezes.”
(St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, stanza 14)
Most Holy Virgin of Mount Carmel, Enclosed Garden where the eternal spring of the Redemption blossomed; Sealed Fountain from which the Living Water that is Jesus Christ sprang forth for the world; garden chosen by the Father to plant the Tree of Life whose shade reaches all generations: make my soul, so often arid and disordered, become a little garden where the Beloved finds His delights and the Holy Spirit may pour out the dew of His gifts.
You know the language of the Bridegroom better than any creature. Before His voice resounded along the roads of Galilee, you already heard it in the silence of Nazareth; before His hands blessed the poor, you already held Him close to your breast; before He gave His life upon the Cross, you had already offered your Heart to the same redemptive sacrifice. Teach me to recognize His passing when He visits my soul with the gentleness of the wind that scarcely stirs the leaves; when He draws near hidden beneath the humility of the Eucharist; when He calls discreetly from the poverty of a brother or from the silence of prayer.
Mother of Carmel, make me not content with knowing Christ from without, but let me come to live in Him and He in me. May my understanding be illumined by His truth, my memory purified by His benefits, and my will set ablaze by the fire of His charity. May all that I am be slowly transformed by the hidden action of the Holy Spirit, until the old man disappears in me and the image of the Father’s beloved Son shines forth.
You taught the little saint of Fontiveros that the Beloved is not found by a lukewarm or distracted soul, but by one that goes out of itself, breaks the chains of its desires, and allows itself to be led by faith to the heights of the Mount. Obtain for me that holy detachment. May I keep nothing for myself when everything has been given to me to offer to God. May no creature occupy the place that belongs only to the Creator. May my heart remain so free that it can run, like the bride of the Canticle, after the fragrance of your Son, until it is joyfully lost in His embrace.
And when the Beloved seems to hide in order to increase my desire, make me not grow faint. May I seek Him in Scripture, where the Father continues to utter His Word; in the Holy Mass, where the sacrifice of Calvary is made present; in confession, where He forgives my sins; in silent adoration, where the Holy Spirit speaks without words; in the cross of each day, where love reaches its highest measure; and in your maternal Heart, where all graces find a sure path to the children who trust in you.
Then I shall understand that the true Carmel is not a mountain of earth, but a continual ascent toward the intimacy of the Most Holy Trinity; that the scapular is to be clothed with Christ; that the Flame is the Holy Spirit consuming all selfishness; and that Beauty consists in being so united to the Beloved that the Father, looking upon the soul, discovers in it the very features of His Son.
Most Holy Virgin of Mount Carmel, lead me to that hidden fountain that springs and flows eternally in the heart of God. Introduce me into the inner wine cellar where the Bridegroom communicates His secrets to simple souls. And when the pilgrimage of this world ends, grant that, united forever to Jesus Christ by the fire of the Holy Spirit, I may sing with all the saints the mercies of the Father, whose glory will never set.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Garden of the Beloved, make the life of Christ blossom in me until I become a praise of glory of the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
By: Msgr. Alberto José González Chaves