Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The Lord has placed in Mary the fullness of all good. So that if there is anything of hope in us, anything of grace, anything of salvation, rest assured it has overflowed from her into us. Truly we may call her a garden of delights, which the divine South Wind comes to and blows upon, even more comes into and blows through, causing the fragrance of its spices, that is, the precious gifts of heavenly grace to flow out and be spread around on every side. Take away from the sky the sun which enlightens the world and what becomes of the day? Take away Mary, this Star of life's vast and spacious sea, and what is left to us but a cloud of swirling gloom and thick and dense darkness.

We ponder these words of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux as we celebrate Our Lady. We share some photographs by Brother Brian of gardens throughout the Abbey tended by different monks. All remind us of the beauty of God, the fair beauty of His Mother, whom we call the Garden Enclosed.