The Vexed Veil

Reducing our visual intake to sharpen our spiritual vision

06/15/2018

Matthew 5:27-32 Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.

Catholic communities are seeing a resurgence of a custom that was shunned in the sexual revolution of the 60’s and 70’s, namely, women covering their heads at Mass. Prior to the sexual revolution a woman wouldn’t think of entering the church without a “chapel veil.” In fact, some churches had extras at the entrances if you forgot yours at home, or women used tissues. But with the dawn of the women’s liberation movement, many people felt the veil was a symbol of subjugation, which in some quarters it might well have been. But now the veil is making a comeback. It should be remembered that this was a predominantly American experience and experiment, not shared universally. In India, for example, women wear sari’s and the sash that is thrown over a woman’s shoulder can easily be pulled over the head when she enters a church. My mom always does that.

Without sounding politically correct or incorrect (as the case may be), I would like to suggest another view about the veil. I think the vexation over the veil arises when we focus on what is covered – a woman’s head – rather than on the eye that beholds the woman. In other words, the veil is not for the sake of the woman, but for the sake of the man, whose eyes tend to wander (quite involuntarily) and land on a pretty girl. Has a pretty girl ever “caught your eye”? I suppose women are also easily distracted by the sight of another beautiful woman. The veil, therefore, was an effort to help keep our eyes on God in church, rather than on the beautiful goddesses walking around inside church. It is a spiritual paradox that in order to see God you must limit what you see with your eyes, that is, you must rely more on the eyes of faith than on the eyes in your head.

Both Elijah and Jesus urge limiting our bodily vision so that we might enhance our spiritual eyesight. When Elijah realizes God is present in the whispering wind, he adopts an ancient custom. We read: “When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.” Elijah instinctively understood that his human eyes were instruments far too poor to peer upon the Almighty, so covering his face, he was forced to employ his eyes of faith, a far stronger organ to see God.

Jesus doesn’t mince words when he urges us to limit the use of our bodily eyes saying in the gospel: “If you right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” Maybe modern Christians have softened that harsh saying by simply covering a woman’s head instead of tearing out our eyes. But you see how Jesus locates the trouble at its source: the eye of the beholder. Paradoxically, the less you see with your natural eyes, the more you are able to behold with your spiritual eyes of faith.

I hope you don’t misunderstand the point of my homily today. I’m not really arguing or urging women to wear chapel veils. I’m inviting us to wrestle with the deeper dilemma of what our eyes behold and suggesting you reduce your visual intake. Go on a “visual diet” sort of say, in order to for your eyesight to be more spiritual healthy. Here are a few examples. Try to reduce the time you spend looking at social media or watching television – that’s like visual junk food. Maybe you’re addicted to the 24-hour new cycle, and check your phone first thing when you open your eyes in the morning. As you wait in line to check out at the grocery store, train your eyes to look away from the tabloids talking about which movie star got divorced and which one had an alien baby. Be aware of this paradoxical spiritual principle: the more you take in through your natural eyes – and I’m talking about the silly and superficial stuff – the less you are able to absorb through your spiritual eyes, your eyes of faith.

So, should women wear veils in church or not? I really don’t know; and I really don’t care. But that’s not really the relevant question, in my opinion. Rather, we should worry about what our eyes see and where they wander. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The less beauty we behold naturally-speaking, the more Beauty we behold spiritually-speaking.

Praised be Jesus Christ!