Dear Katrina, Will wearing a veil keep me better focused on Mass?

pdudgeon

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well, that's a liberal viewpoint of wearing a veil. :rolleyes:.
personally it's not why i wear one, that's for sure!

I first started wearing a veil when i was a Protestant, even before I started in RCIA.
At the time i was a new widdow; just 2 months had passed since the death of my husband.
I went back to our church for the first time after his funeral there. It was for an
evening service, and we were gathered in the lobby waiting for the sanctuary doors to open.
There were chairs scattered around for those of us who could not stand for long periods of time, so i sat in one of them. As a widdow i was dressed all in somber drab black.
(these days it's not an unusual or distinctive way to dress, as I found out.)

any way to make a long story short, i found myself being approached by a man whose aim was to
chat up single unattached females in hopes of finding a companion.
That was the very last thing on my mind, so i found an excuse to remove myself from his company promptly. From then on i veiled as one in mourning. Which I was.

When i started RCIA (veiled and in black) and began attending mass, everyone there at my parish understood my status without my having to explain anything, even though i was unknown to everyone there.
And as a result I haven't had any unwanted solicitations again.

In our parish some women veil--young and old--and others don't.
We have regular mass--not the Latin--so that's not a factor.
Of the women who veil some are young single women and young girls,
others are married women, and stilll others are widdows like me.
so again, it's not a question of age or a married/single/widdowed status.

Some wear veils while others wear infinity scarves, and others wear either
regular head scarves tied at the neck, or long rectangular scarves draped and
wraped around the head and neck.

What i have found is that those who wear veils/scarves do so because their intent is to focus on the mass and not to be distracted by those around them.
as for keeping the veil/scarf on, two bobby pins, or a comb attached to the crown of the veil/scarf help to secure it in place just fine.
The veil/scarf is cut so that it drapes naturally,
and if one's upper body is properly covered for mass,
there's no problem with the veil/scarf scratching at all.
 
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Fantine

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I think.it would be practical for early Masses. No styling or blow drying. Veils even better--no makeup. Go home, enjoy coffee and a bagel and get ready to go take on the day.

Hats can be good camouflage for days when we can't be bothered.

when I was in college we were not well put together for our 8 am classes.
 
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pdudgeon

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I wore one, and i felt like the spot light...so i couldnt concentrate.
it's being an example of a good thing, so try again.
we need more good examples out there of how to be Catholic.
 
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MikeK

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it's being an example of a good thing, so try again.
we need more good examples out there of how to be Catholic.

There are some, I suspect, who would accuse women who veil in the presence of others of drawing attention to themselves in an attempt to appear holy to impress others. I think such people are idiots and that that line of thinking is bizarre.
 
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pdudgeon

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There are some, I suspect, who would accuse women who veil in the presence of others of drawing attention to themselves in an attempt to appear holy to impress others. I think such people are idiots and that that line of thinking is bizarre.
Christians are always going to be criticized and degraded by a world which cannot understand them.
This is nothing new.

"Christianity finds itself exposed now to an intolerant pressure that at first ridicules it – as belonging to a perverse, false way of thinking – and then tries to deprive it of breathing space in the name of an ostensible rationality." Pope Benedict XVI
 
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MikeK

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Christians are always going to be criticized and degraded by a world which cannot understand them.
This is nothing new.

...sometimes even by their fellow Christians who cast judgements on the motives of their peers, even when what their peers are doing is good. There are some woefully petty and bitter Christians out there. I wouldn't judge the motives of a person who wears a mantilla at Mass or crosses themselves in a restaraunt before eating or gives their blood that others may live or builds houses for the poor, but even on this very forum we have professed Catholics who do exactly that sort of thing.
 
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pdudgeon

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...sometimes even by their fellow Christians who cast judgements on the motives of their peers, even when what their peers are doing is good. There are some woefully petty and bitter Christians out there. I wouldn't judge the motives of a person who wears a mantilla at Mass or crosses themselves in a restaraunt before eating or gives their blood that others may live or builds houses for the poor, but even on this very forum we have professed Catholics who do exactly that sort of thing.

yes, exactly! Ironically, many good Catholics on this board would agree with that observation that you have made.
Let us fervently hope that such behavior will not be allowed when we get the new forum up and running. We have worked far too hard and suffered far too long to let the world continue to persecute us as it has been.
We ought to be allowed to express our faith (as in this example of the wearing of mantillas) without having to be denegrated by the world for doing so.
 
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WarriorAngel

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Christians are always going to be criticized and degraded by a world which cannot understand them.
This is nothing new.
I felt bad because i was too distracting from the purpose of Mass.
I was the only one who ever wore one in like eons and its best not to take away from Jesus.
 
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pdudgeon

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I also felt i was not appearing humble and understated if i was the focal point.
St Paul said not all would do this.
Our culture differs than the times of the Greeks.
On the contrary, wearing the mantilla is a woman's demonstration of her willing subjection to Jesus as her Lord.
She submits to His covering protection of her, to His Lordship, and signs herself and her thoughts as belonging only to Him.
Wearing the mantilla is like being covered by the wings of the Spirit, wrapped in the protecting love of Jesus, and with her will being subjected to God's will and to no one else.
 
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WarriorAngel

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In our culture, if im the only one wearing one then i become the focal point [and i have] and it distracts from the Lord.
Whether its a good or bad distraction - it still takes away from Jesus.
Therefore; i feel it inappropriate because i am not the supposed to be there to bring focus to myself.
The point of the veil is to remain humble and avoiding focus - as in the glory of the hair.
Now - its counterintuitive to it's original purpose...at least in a small town church ... where people have no knowledge of scriptures and even less tolerance for 'old fashioned' things.
 
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MikeK

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that you don't recognize the truth of what you have said.
you ment it for harm, but God intended it for good.

You are wrong about my motives and you are spreading a lie about me. I did not mean anything for harm. Please adopt a charitable and decent stance and stop telling me what my motives are.
 
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pdudgeon

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I also felt i was not appearing humble and understated if i was the focal point.
St Paul said not all would do this.
Our culture differs than the times of the Greeks.
I am sorry that you have been made to feal this way by those around you.
truly I am.
 
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