Consecration, however, should mean more than a formula that is soon forgotten. What we pledge to Mary is not just the moment or even the day of our consecration but our whole life. We give her all that we are and all that we have in time and in eternity to become her property, if one could use the word. Consecration is total surrender, a complete giving up of oneself to her.

To become "hers" in deed as well as in name we must first of all strive to cultivate her spirit, for it is the spirit and not the letter that vivifies and gives meaning to our life. "If any man." says St. Paul, "have not the spirit of Christ, he is not his" (Rom. 8:9). The same applies to Mary: if we have not her spirit in us. we have no part with her and our consecration to her loses its meaning. We should all take to heart the counsel of the Venerable Michael of St. Augustine: "May Mary's spirit be in us all. that by the spirit we may live."

The Scapular of Carmel
Very Rev. E. K. Lynch. O. Carm.
Preface by Francis Cardinal Spellman