BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE BROWN SCAPULAR by Fr. Schultz

  

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE BROWN SCAPULAR
BY FR. JOHN SCHULTZ, C.SS.R.

It is said of the Catholic Church that she boasts: Give me the child until he is twelve years of age, and I will have him for life. 

Anyone, parent or teacher, engaged n the education of children can make a similar boast. You can say for certain: Give me the child at any age. Let me teach him one thing he will remember for life, and he will save his soul. I shall be the instrument in saving the soul of any child in whose leart I can implant the wisdom of one lesson which will prompt him to wear the Scapular of the Blessed Virgin-----and to wear it always.
 
To people who do not understand, is folly to preach this doctrine. Immediately shallow thinkers will vent their rage against habitual sinners who wear the Scapular in hope of receiving mercy from God. 

"Superstition," they will cry. "Such hope is presumption, contrary to the teaching of the Church and wholly to be rejected. What merit can there be in a devotion that is practiced in sin?" 

There can be much merit; not of justification, but of disposing the soul for justification, through the merits of the Mother of God. To say that it is useless for a sinner to wear the Scapular, is, through ignorance, to blaspheme the Mother of God. 

When she appeared to St. Simon Stock she did not say: Whosoever shall die wearing the Scapular after leading a good life shall not suffer eternal fire. That would make her promise superfluous. You and I could make a promise like that. What Mary did say was: Whosoever shall die wearing this badge of my confraternity shall not suffer everlasting fire. 

No matter how extraordinary that promise may appear to be, the Blessed Mother made it, and she will keep it. 

She has the power to keep any promise because she can ask that power of God, and God will refuse her nothing. Every other Saint in Heaven, asks as a servant of God. But the Blessed Virgin asks as a mother. And to the perfect mother, a perfect Son can refuse nothing. Those who die wearing the Scapular will not suffer everlasting fire. Mary said so. That is enough for me, but she had her reasons for saying so. And we might as well consider them. 

Those who wear the Scapular always, will die in the Grace of God because they have confidence in the protection of the Mother of God. And confidence in the protection of the Mother of God is a sign of predestination. Somehow or other the soul that is devoted to Mary will break with sin before death. 

Wearing the Scapular is a sure sign of confidence in the protection of the Blessed Mother because to wear it always is inconvenient and at times even embarrassing. The Scapular is not like a medal or a picture of a loved one that can be stuffed into a pocketbook or a wallet and forgotten for weeks at a time. 

You cannot forget the Scapular because it is always in the way. The large Scapular is hot in the summer and it flies about in the winter. It is not put on and taken off each day. The strings of the small Scapular chafe the shoulders in the heat, they become soiled and must be changed, they break and must be fixed. One must have two pair at least in order to wear them always. People will laugh at them at the beach or in the swimming pool or gymnasium. Yes, they are always in the way, particularly in the way of life of a twentieth century American. And the one who has no confidence in the protection of the Blessed Mother will sooner or later put them aside as many Americans have done. They don't like them. They don't fit into the picture of the immodest bathing suits and evening gowns. 

Shortly before her death in 1920, one of the little girls to whom the Blessed Mother appeared at Fatima said: "Certain fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord very much. Those who serve God should not follow these fashions." The child was nine years old when she said that, but she was prophesying for the Blessed Mother. Those fashions have been introduced and accepted in America. But I am sure that the world would be better off if our women had instead, suited their fashions to the wearing of the Scapular. And I am sure, too, that many more women would save their souls if they had the courage to dress so that they could wear the Scapular. On account of modern fashions it is very difficult to teach all to wear the Scapular.
 
There is a second reason why those who wear the Scapular will save their souls. They will never be without the help of prayer. 

The Mother of God showed a vision of Hell to the three little children of Fatima. The Mother of God told them: "Pray for sinners. Remember that many souls are lost because they have nobody to pray for them." The sinner who wears the Scapular has a whole worldwide confraternity praying for him. 

On the morning of September 30, 1897, the Little Flower of Jesus lay upon her death bed, in the Convent of Carmel at Lisieux. Her eyes were fixed on a statue of Our Lady, and this is how she described her last night on earth: "Oh with what fervor I have prayed to her. And yet it has been sheer agony, without a ray of consolation. Earth's air is failing me, when shall I breathe the air of Heaven? I could never have believed it possible to suffer so intensely. I can explain it only by my great longing to save souls." 

That night she died. And they took off her Scapular. And today it is still there in a little reliquary on her bed. And when one sees it, one cannot help exclaiming: Oh Mother of God, she, too, wore the badge of our Confraternity. This is what those who make light of the Scapular cannot understand. The awful suffering of that little girl. Her whole life of suffering, her agony on this bed belongs to you. She gave it to you not for Saints but for sinners and sisters in the Scapular Confraternity will not know the flames of Hell. Dear Mother, no wonder you could make such a Promise. 

I can picture hidden away in some convent today another Little Flower of Jesus, wearing the badge of Mary's Confraternity, living out her years in silent suffering for the souls of sinners. She is praying for those whom you will teach the wisest lesson I know-----to wear the Scapular-----ALWAYS.