This statue at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Scottsdale depicts Our Lady holding the Christ child. The child Jesus is holding a brown scapular, which Our Lady of Mount Carmel is known for.
Our Lady gave St. Simon a scapular for the Carmelites with the following promise: Receive, My beloved son, this habit of thy order. This shall be to thee and to all Carmelites a privilege, that whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire…It shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger, and a pledge of peace.
“Mary is often portrayed in art as ‘Our Lady of Mount Carmel’, dressed in a brown habit with white cloak and looking indeed very ‘Carmelite’. She holds the child Jesus in one arm, and from the other drapes a small piece of brown cloth, the scapular. This small scapular is derived from the scapular cloth worn by Carmelite religious originally to protect their habit while they were at work. . .It serves as a constant reminder that our spiritual journey is lived out in the everyday, working-world events of our daily life. The brown scapular today is a symbol of belonging, to one degree or another, to the Carmelite family.” SOURCE: Snow, O.Carm., Glenn. Foundation Stones: A Primer In Carmelite History & Charism. Carmelite Media, 2015.