Veiling

I remember being a kid, going to Mass to the Cathedral and seeing grandmas wearing their waist-length mantillas. But after a while no one really kept wearing them.

About a year ago, I started noticing a few women here and there wearing veils or mantillas to church. I got a little bit curious and started looking into why women wear veils, and I really liked the idea. I am naturally awkward and kind of self conscious so the idea of showing up to Mass with a veil on my head... my hands would sweat at the thought of it. Not to mention, what if I came across as a holier-than-though? (I'm not sure why I thought that other people would think that of me since it's not what I thought when I saw women wearing mantillas).

A couple of days ago, I came across this post on Faith and Family. It seemed like there's a lot of women out there with the same sort of fears, which made me feel better. The more I read about it, the more and more I liked the idea of wearing a veil to Mass. But I still freaked out thinking about what other people would think.

This Sunday something different happened at church that made up my mind. The priest was going to be a couple of minutes late due to some scheduling confusion, and there was a bit of chit-chatter in the church. I was trying to not to space out and say some prayers while we were waiting for Father to arrive, when I overheard the family behind me complaining about the priest being late. And it bothered me a bit. I mean sure, we were going to have to wait for him and we're usually on time but also... is it going to kill you to spend 5 more minutes in church? is there something out there more important than waiting for The Eucharist? so my mind was made up. I decided to start looking for a veil to wear to church because maybe this way it will be an outside reminder (for me and those around me) of what's really going on. To keep our minds in the fact that we're there to celebrate Mass, that we're there to be with Him. It's not a Sunday task to be checked off.