Thank you Don Ruggero, with all respect to you, can you kindly answer my initial thread question directly as I am easily confused and a bit emotionally fragile at this time. Thank you and God bless.
Personally, I would not counsel you to wear duplicates of the same sacramental as though wearing two medals of Saint Benedict would afford you more of his protection than one medal…the wearing of the medal is to honour the saint and it is Saint Benedict and the prayer of the Church that is protecting you. He is not more honored by wearing numerically more medals or larger medals, etc. The wearing of a medal is the expression of devotion and of piety and the assurance of the saint’s patronage and protection as well as the prayer of the Church.
If, for example, you are wearing a four way medal which has both the miraculous medal and the medal of Saint Benedict incorporated in it and you had the desire to wear another devotional medal…why not choose to wear a small crucifix or a medal of your patron saint instead of wearing a duplicate medal?
In receiving the scapular of Carmel, you have received an affiliation to the Carmelite family as a member of their confraternity – it is normal for Carmelites to wear a crucifix and that would be a further expression of your familial bonds to that Religious family.
The sacramentals have a wonderful theology at their foundation. The Carmelite scapular, for example, is a garment of particular significance given to the person by the Blessed Virgin to the person through the mediation of the Church. It is rich in symbolism…a mother making a garment for her child…a child wearing the garment of his or her mother. The love and protection that such an act symbolises.
It also has a specific significance in that it ties you in this case to the family and the spirituality of the Carmelites and the rich heritage that is theirs.
To wear the garment of the Blessed Mother is a privilege and, in turn, I am making an expression of my love and dedication by wearing it out of motivation of devotion. One is even comforted by it, not unlike when one is wearing a garment made by one’s own mother.
But one wants to avoid moving toward a mindset that a religious habit has a power in itself. It is the old maxim “The habit does not make the monk”. The habit is an outward sign of inward sentiments and dedication but it does not cause the Religious or empower the Religious to live the Rule of Life or possess the virtues proper to Religious Life.
That being said, one who wears a habit – or its abbreviated form, the scapular – cannot be surprised to have the love and protection of the Mother who gave it.
Does that help?
