Dear Family,
It seems strange that during the most sacred time of year we cover everything that is beautiful in our churches, even the crucifix. Shouldn’t we be looking at the painful scene at Calvary while we listen to the Passion narrative on Palm Sunday?
The Church recommends this practice during the last two weeks of Lent to heighten our senses and build within us a longing for Easter Sunday.
Why? Aren’t the images designed to raise our hearts and minds towards heaven?
First of all, we use veils to alert us of the special time we are in. When we walk into church and notice everything is covered, we immediately know that something is different.
These last two weeks of Lent are meant to be a time of immediate preparation for the Sacred Triduum and these veils are a forceful reminder to get ready.
Secondly, the veils focus our attention on the words being said at Mass. When we listen to the Passion narrative, our senses are allowed to focus on the striking words from the Gospel and truly enter into the scene.
Third, the Church uses veils to produce a heightened sense of anticipation for Easter Sunday. This is further actualized when you attend daily Mass and see the veils each day. You don’t want them to be there because they are hiding some very beautiful images.
And therein lies the whole point: the veils are not meant to be there forever. The images need to be unveiled; it is unnatural for them to be covered.
The unveiling before Easter Vigil is a great reminder of our own life on earth. We live in a “veiled” world, in exile from our true home. It is only through our own death that the veil is lifted and we are finally able to see the beauty of everything in our lives. (“At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partial¬ly; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” I Cor 13:12)
The only statue we didn’t cover was the Pieta. Given the subject matter of a mother holding her dead Son in her lap, might also help us anticipate what would happen to that Son once he was laid in the tomb. And that’s what we want to celebrate.
I know our day-to-day lives go on no matter what we are recalling and celebrating within our sacred spaces and our hopeful hearts. Nevertheless, the whole point of sacred time is helping us see that our day-to-day lives are not the whole story.
We have a call to eternity that Jesus has made possible. If you are really going to hear that call, you must make an effort to turn down the volume on everything else, at least for a little while.
For me, turning off the TV would be a good start. I have enough terrible images of Ukrainian devastation to pray over without having to see them replayed over and over.
THIS THURSDAY NIGHT, APRIL 7TH AT 6:30 P.M. WE WILL HAVE A RECONCILIATION SERVICE.
USE THE EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE PAGE WE PASSED OUT.
JOT DOWN YOUR OFFENSES AND BRING THEM WITH YOU.
YOU WILL PRESENT THEM TO THE PRIEST AND HE WILL GIVE YOU ABSOLUTION AND THEN WE WILL BURN THOSE PAPERS.
We can’t make it any easier and you can’t afford to waste this opportunity. Don’t blow it.
In Jesus,
