Veiled Inconsistencies

A.M.D.G.
J.M.J.
A.T.C.

Laudetur Iesus Christus!
Nunc et in æternum!  Amen.

Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (aka Edith Stein) (readings for today)

Well, we’re in the homestretch!  Less than a month until classes start!  I am all registered for classes (taking 11 credits this semester) and all I have to wait for now is what I have gotten in grants (no biggie … *gulp*).  I compiled a list of all the books I need for classes and even bought one because the prof had given us a reading assignment to have done before the first day of class.  I got that book today so I hope to read it at least once or twice before classes begin.  It’s only 41 pages so it’s no biggie.

My main worry is about grants and money.  Come Hell or high water, I am going to start grad school.  Even if I have to indenture myself to the Church (I was planning on dedicating my life to her anyway … lol).  I have been waiting a very long time for this and I do not believe that God would have led me this far (less than a month before classes begin and almost everything is in place) just to ditch me right before everything really starts.  My priests keep telling me to trust so every time the worry comes to mind (I worry a lot), I give it to God.  I pray about it twice a day and I have just resigned myself to whatever God wants, hoping we want the same thing.

Anywho …

In the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to partake in some traddy events or events that were attended by persons of a traddy bent to varying degrees. (I’m probably going to tick off some people but w/e, I have no specific people in mind herein, just speaking generally).  It was also fun to see the looks of scandal when some found out that I was an MC at Masses with the Archbishop of Detroit.  lolz!  Oh please.  lol

There are different degrees of trads … three, really.  At least as my padawan observations have gleaned (don’t consider these terms to be objective, they are just labels I use … I know, should use labels but … they are for the sake of differentiation):

Novus Ordo Trads (like me), who love the traditional things associated with Catholicism (smells, bells, Latin, and lace) and while they love the TLM, also attend the Novus Ordo.  In my case, it’s my principal form but when I can attend a TLM, I do because I love it and it helps my spiritual life.  Traddy persons believe that the Novus Ordo is a perfectly valid and that it is the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and thus should have primacy (Holy Mother Church knows best) over the Extraordinary Form.

Trads are those persons who acknowledge the validity of the Novus Ordo but have a preference for the TLM to the point that it is their preferred form of the Holy Mass and they assist at that form frequently or exclusively.  Totally fine.  Totally legit.

Now, we’re getting into the murky waters … the holy water that needs to be changed.

Rad Trads are those persons who either flat-out say that the Novus Ordo is invalid/objectively inferior to the TLM and that it needs to be abrogated ASAP or they hint at it by remarks, attitudes, etc..  They usually refuse to attend the Novus Ordo and they speak very negatively of anything that came out of the Church after about 1962/1965 (take a guess why).

There are many times when I encounter these types of trads that I wonder if they acknowledge Pope Francis as the valid Pope or if they believe we are still in sede vacante or if some anti-pope like “Pope” Michael is the (un)gloriously reigning pseudo-Pontiff.  They also tend to have very antiquated views on women (like they make the miniscule feminist in me grind my teeth with their BS).

The thing that gets me about some types of trads is their attitude toward those of us who have the tenacity to attend the Novus Ordo.  I mean, I will be the first to confess my personal sin of liturgical snobbery.  There are things that are done at Mass that makes my skin crawl but it’s not a full crawl … more of a shuddering crawl.  Some tend to have the mentality that the Novus Ordo, while valid, is inferior because of how it is offered.

I can understand the beefs that many (including myself) have with how the Novus Ordo is offered in some places however, just because some people/priests decide that the Mass is their personal liturgical canvas does not mean that the Mass in the Ordinary Form itself is some perversion of the real Mass.  I have been to Novus Ordo Masses offered in Latin and English (the vernacular) that have been beautiful, prayerful, and reverent.  It’s not the Mass itself that is reprehensible, it’s how the people treat the Mass that can be the source of pain and suffering.

I had to get all that off my chest because that is one thing about persons of a traddier bent that I have noted: there are some who pretty much alienate themselves to varying degrees by their attitude toward those who may not be attracted to those traddier things of Holy Mother Church.  Fidelity to the Lord and Holy Church is all that matters.  If the vernacular Novus Ordo helps you in achieving that goal: all the more power to you.  If the TLM helps you in achieving that goal: go for it.  If participating in both help you: thanks be to God.  The worst thing we can do as Catholics is to compartmentalize our fellow Catholics to the point that there are persons who, being otherwise faithful to the Church, are inferior because of their liturgical preferences.

Now, moving onto my title: “Veiled Inconsistencies.”

This won’t be nearly as long but rather just another observation of mine.

As some of you may know, I am one of those Catholic women who veils in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

When I first started veiling, I was a sophomore in college and I veiled consistently but I did not veil when I came home to my home parish because a.) I served Mass a lot (*scandalgasp*) and wearing that veil would have been a fire hazard and b.) I knew that I would face a lot of trouble and unnecessary rigmarole.

When I graduated, I dropped the practice until I started going to TLM again.  Then I realized how inconsistent I was being.  Is the Blessed Sacrament only present at the TLM?  How about the Novus Ordo?

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot stand inconsistency and here I am being inconsistent.  I only veiled at TLM basically for fear of reprisal.

The first time I tried to veil at Novus Ordo at my home parish, I got the riot act read to me and I dropped it out of some kind of fear.

One year passed.

I got sick of feeling like a hypocrite.

So I said, “Forget it.  I am doing this.”

Luckily, when I decided this, it was just before the beginning of Lent so I could at least segue into the practice under the guise of one of my Lenten practices.

Come Ash Wednesday of this year, I did it.  I started veiling consistently.

I faced some flak but those persons who were spewing flak eventually realized that they were not going to change my mind again on this.

And I am glad that I stuck to my guns.  Is the Novus Ordo less holy than the TLM?  Is it less Catholic?  Is the Real Presence confected less real that it would not be necessary for me to veil under the standard that if I were in the Real Presence that it would be necessary for me to do so?

No.  The Real Presence is the Real Presence.  No matter what liturgical form is used.

I feel called to veil in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament ergo I veil whenever I am in a Catholic church.  Whenever I at Mass, no matter what form.  Whenever I am at Adoration, etc..

One thing that gets me about veiling is how some view it.

For me, I veil out of deference to the Blessed Sacrament.  A woman’s hair is her glory.  A woman’s glory is not to try to compete with the inestimable glory of the Real Presence.

Not to sound like a progressive but I don’t buy the whole “female submission” thing as some rad trads put it.  Yes, I seek to submit myself to God like the Virgin Mary did, but in one form or another, are not both men and women called to that since we are not above God but rather His creatures who are completely dependent on His Providence?

Also, some are scandalized that I wear jeans to Mass and veil.  I do that mostly because when I have to walk home, it can be a bit brisk and I like to keep my legs warm.  That, and no one needs to see how pale my legs are.  And I have one long skirt and my wardrobe does not have many articles that match with brown and I am 25 years old, I don’t do full length skirts 24/7 but that’s just a preference of mine.

How was that for an abrupt end?  lol  I have to do a couple things and then I am going to dive into my reading.  41 pages is no big deal.  I would really appreciate your prayers as I hope to begin my academic career anew.  I don’t think the Lord would have allowed me to get this far to ditch me this close that I can smell the old book smell of the library and feel the thrill of homework building in my being.  Yes, I am a nerd.  Don’t judge me.  lol

Have a great day, everyone!