OUR COAT OF ARMS
The Coat of Arms of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus
The Carmel of the Divine Heart of Jesus - like each Order and Congregation - has its own special way life and its own proper spirit. The Coat of Arms expresses this proper spirit with admirable beauty and clarity.
The Coat of Arms consists of two fields: one of brown and the other yellowish white. The first shows a Silver Star, and the other, two Golden Stars.
The field of brown denotes humility and penance; the Silver Star represents the living members of Carmel who are practicing humility and penance.
The field of white symbolizes "the Dew from Heaven," the Mother of God. One of the two Golden Stars stands for the Saints of Carmel of the Old Law and the other for the Saints of the New Law.
Saint Teresa added the Cross to inflame the members of Carmel with a greater love for the Cross.
The Stars above the Crown symbolizes the virtues of the Mother of God. They shine like the stars and ought to urge all members to imitate them.
The hand of the holy Prophet Elias, "the Father of all Carmelites," carrying the sword, signifies the fiery ardor expressing itself: "The zeal for Thy house has eaten me up."
The thorns represent the sufferings which the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church, has to endure because of the injustice, heresy and unbelief, apostasy and indifference of her members. These thorns are to enkindle a new fervor in the Carmel of the Divine Heart of Jesus so that the members will offer themselves to God as victims, with the same spirit of sacrifice and heroic courage which the Saints of Carmel have shown, not only for the lukewarm and unfaithful members of Holy Church, but also for the souls of all heretics who are so cruelly torn from the Hear of Jesus.
Just as the bloody martyrdom was a source of wonderful blessings for the spread of the Faith, so likewise the unbloody martyrdom of faithful religious at all times has not only freed the Church from her fetters, but also has won untold souls for her.
Every Carmelite of the Divine Heart of Jesus must imprint the meaning of her Coat of Arms deep upon her heart and, being molded by its meaning, become a heroic victim soul. In such a soul the deep spirit of Carmel develops its most beautiful flowers so that she who now os a Silver Star may be a Golden Star in heaven, and there, as a Saint, glorify and praise God for all eternity.
