Where all I searched?
What all I referred? Still I was not satisfied with the answers which I found
on my etymology.
Carmel- who I am, who my
grand mom is, our origin. For me with my limited edition stocks I could find
the maximum was about a few churches, congregations, colleges and some
convents. Rewinding it further gave no results, which made me to search for a
spark and thanks Royston, my friend, for being my inspiration.
I always wanted
the minimal self awareness of what my name is, to speak about it, and who
knows, to give lecture about it.
Etymology:
Carmel as a girl's name is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Carmel is "garden, orchard. Biblical place name: Mount Carmel is in Israel near the city of Haifa, and is often referred to as a type of paradise.
In the 12th century, a monastery was founded in there, from which the Carmelite monastic order came about. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Carmel became one of the names taken from Marian titles. The name is used
mainly by Roman Catholics.
However, this summarizes
Carmel just for the sake of a nomenclature. I need more…
As I referred its
presence in the Holy Bible and in the wikipedia, I can't explain how incredible
the amount of dignity my soul and self was embedded with.
Geography
Mount Carmel stood in
the fertile and strategic Jezreel Valley. For God's people, it became a symbol
of God's blessing on their land.
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| The Mt. Map |
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| Mount Carmel |
Mount Carmel, which
literally means "God's vineyard," is a mountain range running
about thirteen miles southeast-northwest in the western Jezreel Valley.
This part of Israel receives thirty inches of rain each year and is the most
heavily forested area in the country.
Near Mount Carmel, the major
international trade route of ancient days"the Via Maris" passed by.
Because of its fertility, the surrounding land was also the breadbasket of
Israel. Mount Carmel stood as a high point in this strategic area.
Looking at the fertile
Jezreel plain and Mount Carmel's ancient olive trees today, we understand why
this place symbolized fertility and blessing to God's people.
It was pictured in the
Bible as a beautiful and fruitful area. But the area also symbolized God's
judgment on the land.
Biblical Content:
The area is known for
its cover of flower blossoms, flowering shrubs, and fragrant herbs. On
the mountain’s slopes there are plentiful pastures (Isaiah 33:9, Jeremiah 50:19, Amos 1:2) Caves on the mountains often provided
shelter for monks through the ages, in which Elijah and Elisha took refuge (1 Kings 18:19, 2 Kings 2:25).
It is not the geography interests
it here, but rather the prophetic significance of Carmel.
On Mount Carmel, Prophet
Elijah confronted the Baal prophets and challenged the Israelites to stop
wavering between faith in God and Baal. When Elijah met with the pagan prophets
and people of Israel, they gathered on a desolate Mount Carmel, made barren by
years of drought.
At the beginning of
their meeting, Elijah challenged the Israelites, saying, "How long will
you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is
God, follow him" (1 Kings 18:21). Elijah knew the Israelites had not
completely abandoned God, but they were not giving him their total allegiance.
Elijah's challenge echoed the words Joshua had used years earlier
to call the Israelites to complete loyalty. "If the serving of the Lord
seems undesirable to you," Joshua had said, "then choose for
yourselves this day whom you will serve" (24:15a). In Joshua's day the
people had enthusiastically responded, claiming faith in God alone.
But Elijah's challenge was met with silence: God's people were
confused. Elijah asked God to demonstrate his power over Baal so that the
people would know he alone was God. He prepared an offering, and challenged
Baal's followers to see whose God produced fire to burn it.
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|
After hours of frantic efforts, Baal still had not responded to
the cries of his followers. So Elijah stepped to the altar, doused the
sacrifice with water, and prayed to God. In response, God sent down such
consuming fire that the sacrifice, altar, and water were completely burned up.
The people's silence was broken. They chanted "Elijah!
Elijah!" meaning, 'Yahweh is God!' The Baal prophets were put to death and
Elijah prayed again, asking God for rain. Empowered with the Spirit, he ran to
Jezreel—nearly nineteen miles away—even faster than King Ahab's chariots! The
drought ended as the one true God sent rain to the land.
Much beyond the Etymology:
Carmel is first used in
the Bible in Joshua 12:22, which reads:
"the king of
Jokneam in Carmel." This is only one listing of all the kings which Joshua
and the sons of Israel defeated.
Again, Carmel has another
mentioning in the Bible:
Song of Solomon 7:1-5.
This is the bridegroom, speaking of His fair bride.
"How beautiful are
your feet in sandals,
O prince's daughter!
The curves of your hips
are like jewels,
The work of the hands of
an artist.
Your navel is like a
round goblet
Which never lacks mixed
wine;
Your belly is like a
heap of wheat
Fenced about with
lilies.
Your two breasts are
like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle.
Your neck is like a
tower of ivory,
Your eyes like the pools
in Heshbon
By the gate of
Bath-rabbim;
Your nose is like the
tower of Lebanon,
Which faces toward
Damascus.
Your head crowns you like Carmel,
And the flowing locks of
your head are like purple threads;
The king is captivated
by your tresses."
AD
Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first
Carmelites were Christian hermits living on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the late 12th and early to mid 13th centuries. They
built a chapel in the midst of
their hermitages which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, whom they
conceived of in chivalric terms as the "Lady of the place."
The image and truth here
is not gained by looking at the beauty of the bride as a disjointed collage of
concrete pictures, but in the meaning of each representation being drawn from.
This is our quest with this city, this mountain, called Carmel. Like so many
other cases, we will find that Carmel has a specific and highly important
prophetic representation.
The Feast:
The feast day is
celebrated on July16 recalls the foundation of the Carmelite religious order in
the 12th century. The founder, Berthold, may have been a pilgrim to the
area (perhaps to cave of Elijah), or a crusader. Tradition says that he
came from southern France but when venturing in the Holy Land came to encounter
fierce soldiers. After a vision of Christ, he went to Mt. Carmel and
built a small chapel there, soon joined by hermits who all lived there in
community in imitation of Elijah. After his death, it seems that St. Brocard
became leader of the hermits eventually leading to the establishment of the
Order of Carmelites in the 12th century.
In Carmelite tradition,
Mt. Carmel had been a place devoted to monastic-style prayer since the time of
Elijah. They built a monastery and it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
as she was “Star of the Sea” – a medieval title describing the mother of Christ
as the cloud of life that dwells over the sea promising rain and fertility (1 Kings 18:41-45).
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| St. Simon Stock Receiving the Scapular |
Continuing the story, with the scapular of Mt.
Carmel. According to Carmelite tradition, this scapular – a small piece
of rough wool cloth – was given in a vision by Virgin Mary to the monastic
Simon Stock, living in England on July 16, 1251, when he prayed to Mary that
his order could be saved from its oppression. She appeared with the scapular in hand, and told him: "Take, beloved son this scapular of thy order as a badge of my confraternity and for thee and all Carmelites a special sign of grace; whoever dies in this garment, will not suffer everlasting fire. It is the sign of salvation, a safeguard in dangers, a pledge of peace and of the covenant." Promises associated with the scapular are: Mary’s protection of the Carmelite order and all those who wear the scapular (including laymen of its Third Order); special help at one’s hour of death for all who wear the habit (or scapular) in Mary’s name; and the so-called “Sabbatine Privelege” which Pope John XXII declared in 1322 meant early release from Purgatory for those who died in Mary’s care.
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| Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
Prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel
“O, most beautiful
flower of Mount Carmel,
fruitful vine, splendor
of heaven,
blessed mother of the
Son of God, immaculate virgin,
assist me in my
necessity.
O, star of the sea,
help me and show me
herein,
you are my mother.
Mary conceived without
sin,
pray for us who turn to
you.”
Well none's name
generally can start with Mount (by the way don't get confused, Mountbatten is a
family name), and hence I assume, the God Parents started naming the
generations with Carmel. As the name traveled from BC to AD,
from a region to its natives, from nature to a super-natural bliss, Carmel was
adopted as the name for girls who are true vineyard of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Well I hope I managed to know what I am before my Patron's Feast.
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