THE SHIELD OF THE CARMELITE ORDER

The shield of a religious community usually symbolically expresses some key insights into the understanding of their charism. This is particularly true of the Carmelite Shield.

The centre of the shield is a mountain, which symbolises both the actual mountain, Mt Carmel in Israel where the Order was born, but it also, and more importantly, symbolises the soul's union with God through prayer and contemplation. The process of this union with God is looked at, especially by St John of the Cross, as climbing the mountain of the Lord.

On top of the mountain is a cross, symbolising the person of Jesus Christ and His saving death on the Cross for us. The Cross is in the centre of the shield, symbolising our need to centre all that we are and all that we do on the person of Jesus Himself.

There are also three stars on the shield. The lowest star, directly below the Cross, represents Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel. She is symbolically represented at the heart of Carmel and, in her role as Mother of God, is the one from whom the Cross, i.e. the Lord Jesus came forth, hence the Cross rising from her star. The two stars adjacent to the Cross represent the earliest patriarchs of the Order, St Elijah and St Elisha, the pre-Christian founders of Carmel.

The crown with its twelve stars also represents Mary, calling to mind St John’s glorious vision of her in Revelations as crowned with 12 stars.

The arm and the fiery sword represent Elijah who, in his great burning zeal for the Lord, called down fire from Heaven.

The inscription is the Latin translation of Elijah’s words in 1st Kings; “With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.”

So the Carmelite lives centred on Christ, under the Queenship of Mary, inspired by and with the zeal of Elijah and Elisha.

For more information visit these Carmelite web sites: www.ocarm.org www.carmelite.org