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I start out with a poem written by Hilary
Mary
Bernadette Flanery (how's THAT for an Irish Catholic name?):
Oh lowly,
little, chapel veil,
You are my dearest friend.
For when my hair's all mops and brooms,
You cover, end to end.
And when my hair's not curling right
Or when it sticks out straight,
You gently hold it all in place
And make it look first rate!
But feminists, they hate you so,
You lowly, simple thing.
To them you are so vile, not veil,
To praise Our Lord and King.
And passing by the Church of Seven,
"Autonomy's", their phrase.
They never know the joys of Heaven,
Such as, no bad-hair-days!
For lowly, lacey, chapel veil,
You tame my hair, so wild!
But truth-be-told, though I look nice,
It's really for The Child.
A man writes:
Veils? I am most
jealous of a woman's outward sign of humility to the presence of Our
Lord in the Sacrament. All I can do is genuflect and bow my head to
show my reverence.
I remember my mother and all the woman of the church as a child wearing
veils. Having grown up with that...makes wearing a veil seem normal.
The first time I took my middle son to a Traditional Mass, he was,
"creeped out" by the veils and thought I had taken him to a totally
different religion. (Speaks volumes to the changes that have occured
under Vatican II...huh?)
I'm sure you'll find many a funny stories of women forgetting their
veils and what they did to cover thier heads. We now have an emergency
veil in every glove compartment.
The cheapest most beautiful veils can be bought at the Sahara shopping
mall in Las Vegas. Another good reason for ladies to go to Las Vegas.
A woman
writes:
For a long time
I had the worldly, Protestant view that wearing veils was outdated and
sexist. The world would have us believe that there is something somehow
diminishing for a woman to wear a veil. I along with so many others in
the seventies bought the lie that there was something in this that
should embarrass us, that somehow the veil signaled a second class
place in the world.
I now know that it is the outward sign of an internal gesture of
reverence to God.
It no longer matters what the world, the flesh and the devil try to
convince me. I understand that they have no place in my courtesy
towards God. Wearing a veil was never a practice that diminished women
in any way, but the world has convinced millions of women that this is
the case.
It is enough now to put my veil on as I enter the church to turn my
mind and heart toward the tabernacle.
Simply put, the placing of my veil on my head is the signal for my
heart to begin to greet His Majesty when I enter His house. I cover my
head to shield myself from the world and direct my heart to God.
A woman writes:
I have 3
daughters ages 17, 10, and 8. We all cover our heads in the Presence of
Our Lord and have for the past 4 years. This has never proven to be an
inconvenience; although at one Easter Vigil, having forgotten my veil,
I pinned on the last paper towel from the restroom as it was the only
thing left in the chapel that was suitable and it was nearly set alight
numerous times by the vigil candle of the small boy sitting behind me!
I am a former corporate working mom and now a work-at-home mom and
homeschooler. Rather than feeling degraded by covering my head, I feel
liberated to be able to publicly express my humility and faith. I am
striving to give my girls the same understanding.
In no way do we consider ourselves repressed or somehow "beneath" our
menfolk, neither are we of the "Amish-Catholic" mindset as are some of
our sisters in the Faith (although we do not condemn this). My oldest
daughter attends public school (mostly for the music studies), my
middle daughter is the starting catcher on an all-star softball team,
and my youngest wears overalls and cowboy boots as she romps around our
farm. However, when assisting at Holy Mass or making a visit to the
Blessed Sacrament we make every attempt to wear dresses or skirts and
our heads are always covered. We have even been known to unexpectedly
pass by an adoration chapel and go in dressed casually (my oldest
daughter even in jeans), but our heads are covered. It is so easy to
carry a veil and a few chapel caps in your purse!
A small point you may want to bring up to your readership is that there
are appropriate colors for veils. Married and older women should wear
black. Young unmarried women and girls should wear white or the lighter
colors. I have worn an ecru veil before when black would have
absolutely been a distraction due to the outfit I had on at the time.
My older daughter wore a a black heirloom veil we have that is adorned
with tiny pink "pearls" for her confirmation last year, so there are
legitimate exceptions to this suggested rule. Hats, too, are very
acceptable as long as they do not distract. (My younger daughters often
wear black berets with certain outfits.)
As a married woman I try to dress in a way that pleases my spouse and
is yet modest. He is very supportive of our wearing of head coverings
as he feels that both Holy Scripture and Tradition are crystal clear on
this point.
One more note on dress, although many women know that it is
inappropriate to wear low-cut necklines and miniskirts, it is also
inappropriate to wear sleeveless dresses in the Presence of Our Lord.
Even young girls with still lovely arms should refrain from baring them
at Mass. Well, finally I am finished. I hope you can use some of the
above information. Please do so without using my name. It is so
wonderful to be a Catholic lady and even more wonderful to be given the
opportunity to raise them!
A man writes:
Okay, I'm male,
but here are my "two cents". Yes, I am a very big believer in chapel
veils and mantillas for the following reasons:
1) Saint Paul explicitly talks about this practice in 1 Corinthians
11:4-5: "Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered,
disgraces his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her
head uncovered disgraces her head." To say that Saint Paul's teaching
was "cultural" or "conditioned by his time" is a "stone's throw" away
from those liberal theologians who make similar claims regarding
Biblical teaching on homosexuality, contraception and even abortion. It
is better to take Saint Paul's words literally and have believed "too
much" then to be wrong by having believed "too little".
2) Chapel Veils were explicitly required in the 1917 Code of Canon Law.
Canon 1262.2 states, "Men should be with head uncovered in church or
outside of church, when they assist at the sacred rites, unless the
approved customs of the people or additional particulars of the
circumstances call for something else; women, however, should be with
head covered and modestly dressed, particularly when they approach the
Lord's table." As we all know, the 1983 Code is a bastion of modernism;
whereas the 1917 Code is a compendium of the Church's teachings and
laws over the centuries.
3) Not wearing a veil (or a dress/skirt) to Mass is simply a
capitulation to the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s, which, of course,
gave modern civilization those two great "pillars of evil", abortion
and contraception.
4) It is a matter of divine and natural law that a woman, within a
sacramental marriage, be "obedient and submissive" to her husband "in
all things not inconsistent with Christian piety" and that he love her
as "Christ loved the Church" and as he "loves his own body". The veil
symbolizes both modesty and submission, both of which are pleasing to
the One and Triune God.
5) For many centuries, the Church's tradition was that women wear veils
(in addition to dresses/ skirts) to Mass and that they be modestly
dressed. All that changed during the 1960s due to the influence of "the
World", not "the Church".
A woman writes:
I love wearing
the Veil. I always did. Hard to describe the feeling, but there is a
bit of "Bride of Christ" in so doing. I always loved being a woman, and
welcomed things which emphasized that fact. There is also a feeling of
obedience and humility, which, contrary to the distorted views of
feminists, made me feel whole - and softer. Those are my feelings, and
of course, feelings shouldn't dictate our behavior; there is the FACT
that St. Paul commanded it, as well. I wish I could wear a veil all the
time...but I'm also a frustrated nun. No, not quite; I've wanted to BE
a nun, and that never happened... This is probably all to the good; had
I "entered" in 1966, I'd probably be casting spells and drawing down
the moon by now.
A woman writes:
I used to be a
rabid feminist, brainwashed by books like Ann Moir's "Brain Sex" and
all the rot that came from "the sisters" during my childhood and
adolescence. I quite simply didn't know any better, and didn't have the
grace to see the beauty of God's plan for the sexes. Even during that
time, though, I was attracted to all the "stuff" of being a true
Catholic woman. I couldn't explain my attraction, it didn't match my
worldview, but I ultimately was jealous of women who seemed so sure of
themselves as women.
Now I believe in Christ and His Church and know the reasons for that
"unexplainable" longing: women are simply different from men, and women
playing a man's game lose. An obvious fact, I know, but not so obvious
to one whose education was in the hands of feminists and modern
culture. When I wear the veil, I feel more womanly somehow, yet
paradoxically, more brave and more sure of myself as I truly am: a
woman. It's hard to explain, but in some way it makes me feel less shy.
Maybe in the back of my mind I see millions of Catholic women from
throughout the eons standing by me, with Mary in front.
Our culture is so weird about the sexes. It seems that everything that
is masculine in terms of goals is considered "the norm" (while
masculinity itself is derided). Feminine goals and the feminine -- that
is, the truly feminine and the desire of a woman to be a woman and not
an imitation man -- is mercilessly mocked. It's OK if you want to be a
whore, a stripper, a rodeo clown, a soldier, a prosecuting attorney, an
exec at a Fortune 500 Company, but if you just want to be a WOMAN -- if
you want to be married and raise kids and cook and keep a house, if you
like the idea of a man being more powerful than you, if you don't want
to compete with your husband, if you want to be treated like a lady --
you are considered nothing. The feminists talk nonsense about "taking
back the night"; I say, let us real women take back the night -- and
the day, and our homes, and our families, and our lives. Let's be women
and be proud of it!
A woman writes:
I wear a veil
for worship and prayer. It seems that I wear the veil more than not. In
all my study of the issue of wearing a veil, it never ceases to amaze
me that a little bit of fabric can cause so much contention. I do not
believe that God is behind the fussing that is caused over that little
bit of fabric rather another who does not like to see anything of God
glorified or honored.
As I enter the church and get myself prepared to enter the presence of
God it is just a little extra perk to know that God knows my heart and
the angels see my submission in the veil. All the angels, good and bad.
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