People have different reasons of varying importance for veiling at mass. Some women feel a special call to imitate Our Lady in this way. Others do so in response to the words of St Paul in 1
Corinthians. Then there are those, like me, who adopt the tradition as a feminine way of expressing reverence for Our Lord in the Eucharist.
Since I started wearing the mantilla at mass, I've become more aware of the different ways we can express (or fail to express) our reverence and faith in the Blessed Sacrament.
The unnecessary use of extraordinary ministers bothers me more than it used to. So too do the people who loudly chat after mass (as if Christ were not present) and the nonchalant posturing of teenagers too cool to care that they're at mass.
More importantly, though, I find that I make more of an effort to be reverent myself - in part because I'm aware of the need to avoid the hypocrisy of wearing a mantilla but not following through with my words and actions (I also pray for the grace not to be bothered by any lack of reverence around me and for the strength to refrain from judging).
My husband recently forwarded me this 2007
blog article from
A Catholic Life titled 'Restore Eucharistic Reverence'. It discusses communion in the hand, extraordinary ministers and altar rails.
I'd love to hear from you about how you think we can be more reverent in mass. What are some of the things you think that we Catholics could do better?
