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Undercover (with the veil)

Filed under: American Catholicism, Catholicism-general, culture, devotions, personal, prayer — catholicpostergirl at 4:19 pm on Sunday, November 8, 2009

So I have worn the veil to Mass three times since I received it. The first two times were at daily Mass, which are less crowded, and today was the Sunday unveiling (unveiling of the veil…haha!).

The first time I wore it, I felt a bit self-conscious. It also brngs up questions like, when do I put the veil on? When I’m in the church building? Before I enter the sanctuary? In the sanctuary? When I get to my seat? I decided to put it on upon entering the sanctuary. If I’m wearing a coat this can create some issues, because I don’t want it to fall off when I remove my coat, but so far that hasn’t happened. When I leave Mass, I take it off when I’m out of the sanctuary, meaning that if I was going to get doughnuts or whatever post-Mass, the veil would be off.

So I get to my seat, veil in place, and Mass proceeds as usual. It helps me focus, because my peripheral vision is sort of skewed by the veil. My veil is lace, so I can see through it, if I try, but I sort of like the fuzziness on either side of me. It helps me concentrate.

I try not to fiddle with it, but it does have a tendency to slip back on my head so I have to pull it forward sometimes. (I like it right about where bangs would begin.) But no far it has not fallen off, even when I bow or lower my head.

And no, I haven’t received any looks or questions. But at this parish, it’s not uncommon to see girls of about six or seven wearing a small chapel cap or veil, so I’m not really doing anything all that special. At another, less traditional parish, I’m sure I’d get some looks.

So, this is my veil experience thus far. I have found it helps me concentrate (I’m not wildly looking around anymore, because I don’t want the veil to fall off!), which can only be a good thing at Mass.

Comments (4)

4 Comments »

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Comment by Valerie

November 8, 2009 @ 6:51 pm

Hi Em –

Are you wearing what we used to call the mantilla? There were two sizes, the small round one which fit right on the top of a little girl’s head; and then the triangle one, which gently fell to right above the shoulder, and a young women would begin wearing it after being confirmed. I LOVED wearing it as a child and young women – and then all of the sudden, we stopped wearing it when I was about 15 or so. I’m glad to hear you’re using it – I may think about starting to wear it again, too!

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Comment by catholicpostergirl

November 8, 2009 @ 8:42 pm

Yup, Val, it’s the mantilla. I love how long it is.

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Pingback by ThePopeDidIt! Faithfully Catholic News, Blogs & Catholic Opinion » Blog Archive » Undercover (with the veil)

November 9, 2009 @ 11:36 am

[...] So I have worn the veil to Mass three times since I received it. The first two times were at daily Mass, which are less crowded, and today was the Sunday unveiling (unveiling of the veil…haha!). The first time I wore it, I felt a bit self-conscious. It also brngs up questions like, when do [...] Read more… [...]

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Comment by Randy

November 24, 2009 @ 3:59 pm

This is interesting. I do feel that women are more modest with their head covered. As a man it can be distracting to see a beautiful woman at mass. It does help if they cover up for the liturgy and unveil themselves for the socializing afterwards. I know there are always a few who come to mass totally immodestly but people can only control themselves. Choosing extreme modesty for that hour is step in the right direction. I appreciate your sacrifice because I know most women refuse to go there.

If enough women make this choice you will see mandatory head covering come back. There is just too much scripture and tradition behind it. Right now priests are quite sensitive about being considered sexist. So they are not going to force anything unless they have a good number of women already doing it on their own. To me it says we respect the mass and we respect women more when we have the veils. God bless you for being brave enough to do what you feel the spirit desires regardless of the culture.

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