To Wear or Not to Wear? (part II)

Hello Ladies!

In my last post, http://fuswomen.blogspot.com/2012/09/to-wear-or-not-to-wear-part-i.html, I shared a little bit of what I have learned throughout the past year or so about the traditional practice of wearing a chapel veil. Today, as promised, I'd like to share with you what experiences I have had that have prompted me to embrace the tradition myself. After all, the faith is brought into sharper focus only as we personally experience it. Just think of it in terms of meeting someone new. It is one thing to gather a basic understanding of an individual from a secondary source (perhaps a friend or an online profile) but it is something entirely different to experience the primary source, to encounter the person face-to-face. Every tradition of the Church can be seen this way: in carefully crafting an encounter with history's most significant person, the beloved first truth, Jesus Christ. On that note, my experience is not your own. I do not expect my account to prompt you to take up the practice of wearing the veil. In fact, I'd rather you not take my word for it. Rather, I hope my testimony will encourage you to seek from the Lord whether He is calling you to follow the tradition as well. If you are unsure or nervous about wearing the veil, ask the Lord for His will on the matter. If He wishes to ask this of you, He will show you. You will encounter His request in a sweetly personal way.

Some of you may know that I participated in Crossroads, a Pro-Life walk across America, this  summer. One of my fellow walkers was a 21 year old Theology student – who happened to wear a chapel veil. We soon learned that she had spent a few months after high school in a convent near Spokane, Washington. When I asked about her conviction in wearing the veil, she admitted that it was only during this time of daily prayer and formation that she had begun the practice. The lasting advice I received from her was, “You have to wear the veil on your heart before you can wear it on your head.”

I carried this concept throughout most of the summer, mulling it over in my head and trying to grasp what exactly it meant to wear a veil on one's heart. It seemed like such an abstraction at times. As we traveled across the country we saw many churches, some of which (especially the Cathedrals) were simply magnificent. I think it was amid passing the thresholds of these wonders that my understanding was beginning to be fleshed out. I would often think to myself while approaching the church's great doors, “And I shall enter the house of my Father with fear and trembling.” The fear and trembling I was referring to was a recognition of the true magnificence of God that these sacred buildings prompted me to encounter – a magnificence far beyond that which any man-made structure could ever house. I realized this was the veil I had begun to place over my heart.

On our next WalMart run, I bought a thin white scarf that I could wrap around my head as a temporary veil. But it wasn't until another few weeks later when I unpacked the scarf from my travel bag for use. We had reached Cleveland by this time and were again staying with the Little Sisters of the Poor for the weekend. (May God bless their order for the generosity we received from various elderly homes they run throughout the country.) It was always such a blessing to repose in the same building that had a chapel. Friday night, I shimmied over to the chapel in my sock-slippers (a wonderful privilege Franciscan has surely spoiled me with).

This facility's chapel had a wooden statue of Mary and Joseph on their respective sides of the altar. Though I was of course enamored by the image of Our Lady, this statue did not feature her wearing a veil. It was not the first we had seen on the trip, yet the Lord in His goodness allowed it to strike me in a peculiar way. Deep within me I heard myself say, “Meh, bummer.” Again I wish to stress that this in no way was in relation to any lacking within Our Lady or my love for her. And the acknowledgment of my inward thought was certainly shocking to me as well. I immediately questioned why I had felt this way. I soon recognized that it was not only this particular statue, but any others which did not feature our Lady with a veil, that possessed this drawback within me. Again, I interrogated myself: Why? The Lord then gave me the grace to understand that my preference for a veiled Blessed Virgin was due to the supreme virtues that only this detail could help convey to me. I was able to recognize that within my human weakness my understanding of humility before God and in the presence of God demanded a symbol: the veil.

I quickly reviewed this revelation in relation to my thoughts upon entering a stunning church or Cathedral. These too were symbols for me of God's awe-inspiring presence in the world. But how could I recognize this blessed presence within churches and buildings that weren't so spectacular? My mind was thrown into a 360 when the answer came to me: the veil. In my human weakness, the veil serves as a reminder that whenever I am in the presence of my Savior, indeed that dwelling place is magnificent and demands recognition of such. The veil further helps me to embrace my position of subordination. Indeed, once I realized that I more clearly understood the luminous virtues within Our Blessed Mother when I gazed upon images of her wearing a veil, I realized that my quest to become as much a reflection of her as possible required me to imitate her outward manifestation of the beauty and surrendering of her heart to the Lord.

This is why I wear the veil. Again, this is the way in which Christ has manifested Himself to me personally. It is the way He has chosen to refresh my understanding of His majesty and the beautiful example of His mother in living the life of virtue. Your encounter with Him on this subject is likely to be different because of the relationship He is forming with you, His daughter He has so lovingly made unique in comparison to myself.

If you are hesitant, continue to seek the Lord. Continue to ask Him in all earnestness and He will make things clear to you. Who knows? You may find yourself donning the veil one day, a princess adorned with her crown entering the courts of the Lord.

In Him, 

Stephanie