Taking Up the Veil

I was raised a cradle Catholic, fell away from my faith due to my ignorance, and returned to it in my mid-thirty's. In all that time, I have never, EVER, been told anything about veils except that they WERE worn by Catholic women but not anymore, not after Vatican II.  I never thought anything about it. I never questioned why we no longer wear the veil, or what this might signify.

I have assumed that if it mattered, a priest would speak up about it or a bishop would write about it. Perhaps that was wrong of me to assume. They don't, or won't, speak up about issues like contraception and abortion - or haven't until now, when their position as leaders of the Catholic Church is being challenged by our government over those very things. Then I read this pamphlet by Christian Family Outreach.  They point out that Vatican II made no rule on this matter. In fact, there is still a longstanding rule which calls women TO wear the veil.

It's a sign of submission to Christ. Before we get our feathers ruffled by the mere mention of the word submission, let's examine what that word really means. Sub is latin for under, beneath. Mission - that task which we have been assigned to do and must devote our lives toward. To put ourselves in submission to Christ, then, is to put ourselves under the mission of Christ. What was His mission? His mission was and is to die for our sins, redeem our souls, and restore our dignity. I can definitely get behind that mission.

It may not be a popular decision I am making to take up the veil. However, I do not make this decision to please others. I make it to please my Father in Heaven and the Lord of my life, Christ Jesus. It does not make me better than anyone else. It is an outward sign of an inward decision I have made, to be obedient to Him in all things.