Every girl has likely dreamt of her wedding day when she can walk down the aisle in a white dress and veil holding a lovely bouquet of flowers while seeing her family and friends witness her joy. Then comes the moment when her spouse lifts the veil to see her face and the two bask in the reality that they are now one as husband and wife. There is beauty to seeing the veiled bride lovingly approach her spouse, the one for whom she is veiled. It is a sign of submission of herself to the one she is about to pledge her love and life to.
Such symbolism may also be seen in the Catholic Church firstly through Christ Himself as the Bridegroom to His Spouse, the Church, and through the universal call of the Faithful to wed their souls to Christ. Imbedded in this universal call is a call specific to women to veil themselves in submission to Christ while entering a church. However, a veil is more than just beautiful lace. As with all other physical symbols within the Church, it signifies a deeper reality and guides us to contemplate the matters of God and the soul.
Before the Second Vatican Council, veiling was a universal practice and indeed was required by the 1917 Code of Canon Law. While the new 1983 Canon is silent on the matter, St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is clear that women should have their heads covered in prayer. It had thus become custom for women to wear a head covering whether it be a scarf, chapel veil, or hat while in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. However, in the wake of feminism and modernism, veiling has become a lost tradition that is ignored as irrelevant or even feared by women who do not want to stand out.
Veiling is not a useless clinging to the past, but rather a revelation of the dignity and spirituality of women and what they manifest also points to the dignity of men. It gives an ordered view of the difference between women and men, but also of their unity for the two are not independent of one another, just as how motherhood is deeply intertwined with fatherhood. A true femininity will foster a true masculinity, and vice versa, since God has made the two to complement each other: “It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself … And Adam said: ‘This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh’” (Genesis 2:18, 23). Veiling rather elevates a woman to her place of dignity by recognizing that she is gentler than men and thus should be covered and protected.
Through the chapel veil, a woman may see herself as a beloved spouse of Christ who covers herself out of reverence for Him. Indeed, she goes to wed her soul to His, heart adorned in humility, by receiving the Eucharist. Is there not something mysterious about a woman who covers her head to pray? While she is not veiling for the purpose of showing off her piety, it is still perceptible that there is something holy about what she is doing by veiling. It speaks to her sense of submission to God as her Lord and Spouse.
The exterior is a manifestation of the interior, so a veil is a physical reminder of how our souls ought to be clothed with beauty. A woman may wear a veil while in a church, but if her soul is not also adorned by the beauty of virtue and sanctifying grace, then her action would not be indicative of the higher reality it should be portraying. To be certain, she would still be a beloved of God and be reverencing Him by veiling, and should not stop doing so, but the sign would lose its symbolism and risk becoming quotidian rather than a loving choice each time.
All good that we do, no matter how seemingly mundane, may be done for the glory of God, but it must be done from the heart. In a world that decries sexual difference, modesty, and the truths of God, we should have the courage to uphold His glory even in the littlest things. What is done for God in humility, especially if suffered well, is not forgotten by Him. Veiling, as simple and extraneous as it may seem, is in fact one such example of this sacrificial love.
Ladies: Veil out of modesty and humility. Veil for the glory of God. Veil out of reverence for our dear Lord in the Eucharist. Look to Our Lady as an example of such virtue, and love her and Our Lord in this simple way. Gentlemen: Honor the women in your life, seeing the Blessed Mother shining through them. Whether she is a sister, mother, friend, or stranger, act virtuously so that she may be comfortable in her femininity and likewise respect the men in her life. And to both: Let your bodies glorify God, remembering that we are made in His image and likeness and that we truly are tabernacles of the Holy of Holies. Veil your soul with dignity so that you may one day behold the face of God in the wedding feast of the Lamb.
