Admiring the Beautiful Flower of Carmel
Mary’s beauty inspires us to desire and hope for holiness
Our Lady has so many beautiful titles, and I hope at some point to write a reflection on all of them, especially those found in the Litany of Loreto. Today I’d like to share my pondering on a title not found in the litany, but in the ancient Flos Carmeli prayer.
Several titles of Our Lady appear in this prayer. She is the Beautiful Flower of Mount Carmel, Splendor of Heaven, Pure Virgin, and Mother and Beauty of Carmel. Besides the obvious connection to Carmel and the Carmelite Order (and by extension the brown scapular), what most strikes me about these titles are their declarations of Mary’s beauty.
We know from Tradition that Lucifer was the most glorious of God’s creations by nature. Yet, we are told that Mary is the most glorious creation by grace.
I cannot help but smile when I look at artwork of Our Lady. When the painting is well-done, it is always so lovely, so beautiful. That does not mean that portraits of Our Lady always portray the most physically beautiful woman, though I’ve no doubt God made her appearance lovely. But Mary’s beauty is primarily the beauty of virtue, of goodness, of grace. It is a spiritual beauty, the very beauty of God Himself, that transfigures her appearance. Of course, we only see the smallest glimpse of it in artwork or intuit part of it in prayer, like we cannot grasp the fullness of God’s own beauty. Mary’s beauty, veiled though it is, helps us in realizing God’s: Magnificat anima meum Dominum—My soul magnifies the Lord.
Our Lady magnifies the splendor of God and the divine life in the human soul, and what she reveals can be a powerful impetus for our growth in holiness, especially in the face of discouragement.
Our fallen human nature can shirk from carrying our crosses, dying to self in virtue, and the often seemingly fruitless exercise of prayer. The devil can take those difficulties and make them appear far worse than they are, convincing us that God’s demands result only in earthly misery. The devil wants us to believe that Christ, as fully God even while fully Man, could bear these things far easier than we ever could, and we will fail attempting to follow in His footsteps, meanwhile missing out on all that is beautiful in life. Discouragement poisons the spiritual life and can sow bitterness towards God in our hearts.
Here, Our Lady in all her beauty—Splendor of Heaven, Flower of Carmel—can reorient our vision of ourselves, our call, and our God. She is the image of the loveliness of a life of grace, not without sorrow and trial, but with the sweetness and joy that comes from accepting and living in God’s infinite love. It is grace, flowing especially from the Sacraments, strengthening our wills and enlightening our minds, arranging all things perfectly, that makes our journey through this valley of tears beautiful to the degree we cooperate with it.
Though Our Lady’s beauty is of course beyond anyone’s grasp, by virtue of the privilege of her Immaculate Conception, God still desires to make our lives radiant with the same grace. One cannot help but get a glimpse of the tenderness and love of the Heart of God when looking at Mary. He who did great things for her desires to do great things for us, if only we have faith.
The devil would desire us to view holiness as misery, but Mary wants us to see it as the most privileged call of man, the one thing that can make us truly happy because it gives us the source of all happiness, God Himself. Holiness does not disfigure our lives but transfigures them with love.
Beauty, real beauty such as Our Lady possesses, has an immensely powerful effect on the human soul. It pulls the soul outside of itself, drawing those who behold it to realities beyond, to a glimpse of something transcendent—a glimpse of God’s own beauty. In The Divine Comedy, it was the beauty of Beatrice that brought Dante to the beauty of God.
When we are threatened by discouragement, let us look to Mary and let the beauty of the grace she is robed with draw us to desire the same, and believe that God is willing and able to use such grace to transform our lives so we too may magnify the Lord’s goodness before others.
Queen and Beauty of Carmel, pray for us.
St. Bernadette said that Our Lady is "so beautiful, that to see her again, one would be willing to die”.