The King of the Universe invites you, individually, to meet Him every Sunday in a profound encounter. He extends not merely a ring to be kissed, but His very self to be consumed by you, His creature. The Sunday Mass is His courtroom and He is attended by myriads of guardian angels singing His praises and looking with awe at the privileges He grants this group of motley human beings who do not even seem to be interested in the liturgy of Love unfolding before their eyes.
Now consider, we are creatures of body and soul. Our exterior actions affect our interior disposition and vice versa. This is a profound, though simply stated, truth when looking at the various aspects of Catholic culture.
When we enter Sunday Mass, the highest liturgical celebration of the week, how does our exterior dress reflect our interior disposition? Do we don our “Sunday best†in the traditional sense?
What we wear has cultural implications. When we are seen in public on a Sunday dressed up, people notice and realize that to some people, this is still a sacred day. Totalitarian regimes that tried to stamp out religion knew that an initial step was to forbid clerics to wear their collars and nuns to be seen in habit. It was a sign that religion was still alive and well. We have never been called to “fit in†to the culture or to blend and not shake the lukewarm out of their habitual, lazy attitude toward Our Lord and His Church. Rather, we each have a divine calling to use our actions and occasionally our words to witness to the Truth we hold and to call others to a higher standard.
I challenge you to dress with care, modesty, cleanliness, and a consideration of the fact that you are entering the court of the Most High when you go to Mass next Sunday. May you be a beautifully adorned tabernacle, ready interiorly and exteriorly to receive and be filled with the physical presence of your Lord.
FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS:
We are not called to judge those who have not been raised with this awareness and Catholic world view. We are called to challenge ourselves to be a witness to them and to consider what God thinks before lending weight to what others may think.
In this area, as in all areas of our imperfection, of course God loves us where we are, but as I’ve heard it cleverly stated, He also loves us too much to leave us there. Our total disposition is important to Him—interior and exterior. He desires our exterior reflection of our interior disposition, not because He needs proof, but because it is good for US to be reminded and refocused on the sublimity of this day. We’re human—it is similar to that adrenaline filled moment when a team puts on their uniform and lucky socks before a big game, it is the exterior action that helps gear up their interior focus.
This is not a matter of the rich showing off and the poor not being able to fulfill a dress code standard beyond their means. A nice clean pair of dress slacks or a skirt costs hardly more (if any) than a pair of jeans. It is a matter of personal choice from the resources you have and not a matter of social discrimination. Reread the parable of the inappropriately dressed poor man who attended the king’s banquet. He was thrown out not because he was poor, but because he did not clean himself and do the best he could with what little he had. [Yes, this is a parable about interior disposition, but it reflects a similar attitude important in our exterior disposition, since the two are closely related.]
Live for excellence. Do not ascribe to the American culture’s lies that mediocrity = equality and freedom. Equality is found when a people understand and respect the mutual dignity of their fellow humans. True freedom is found when people recognize and act according to the Truth. Dress like a son or daughter of God, for that is what you are. (1 John 3:1)
6 responses so far ↓
1 AJ // Mar 3, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Preach on, sista! Good stuff … humanity as body and soul, the relationship between them and forthcoming consequences … excellent work! Praised be to God for His endless Mercy!
2 John // Mar 13, 2007 at 4:13 am
Is it wrong to wear nice khaki shorts to mass? I grew up in the Puerto Rican culture and live in a hot climate. I have always valued my faith and why I go to mass. I was taught growing up that it was ok if I wore a nice button down shirt tucked in with nice shorts and nice leather soled sandals. What is your take on this? I normally don’t wear this to mass but I still think it is approriate and dressy in the way that I grew up.
3 Kelly // Mar 26, 2007 at 4:50 pm
I think the issue is not so much about drawing the line in a particular place, but having an attitude of excellence and a desire to dress our BEST for Our Lord, not just to hit the bare minimum (no pun intended).
Regarding shorts, I will just point out that if you ever visit the Vatican or any church in Rome, though the heat can be in the 90’s and above, they all forbid people to enter who have bare shoulders (no tank tops for guys or girls allowed), or bare legs (no mini-skirts or shorts allowed). At the Vatican, guards actually enforce these rules on a daily basis.
4 Donna // Jul 10, 2007 at 1:04 am
While I certainly concur that one ought to be clean and neat and modest and tidy when attending Mass, or I suppose anywhere, for that matter, it seems to me that as apparel is a strictly cultural phenomenon (somewhere along the line, as a society, we decided to arbitrarily ascribe to denim fabric a “casual” designation and satin fabric a more “formal” one), one’s choice of whether to wear jeans or a skirt to Mass is strictly a question of what impression it will convey to one’s peers and not the impression it will convey to the God of the Universe.
Just as I find it difficult to believe — with no offense to the Trads out there — that God cares much whether I wear a doily on my head or not to Mass, I find it similarly difficult to believe that the Maker of the cosmos discriminates in any way based solely on whether or not I happen to be wearing khakis or jeans or a skirt to the sacrifice of the Mass. Being incorporeal and all that jazz, I just cannot bring myself to think that He has better things to be concerned about, like the condition of my soul. Moreover, I can be just as grubby and unshowered and disgusting in a frumpy long skirt as I can be beautiful and well-scrubbed in a nice shirt and jeans and sandals, and I think the latter would bring a heckuva lot more glory to God in the vast configuration of things.
At the end of the day, I think the other Massgoers may notice my shiny garb, but as our Savior wore a gunnysack and was hardly a fashion icon of His era, I can’t imagine He expends much energy worrying about what I am wearing. After all, Scripture reminds us, “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
In any event, Kel, keep up the excellent writing. Love you girl.
5 Joelle // Sep 11, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Where in Scripture does it say that women mustn’t bare their shoulders?
Just wondering.
6 Kelly // Sep 27, 2007 at 5:51 am
To my knowledge, Scripture does not outline a particular line that women must not cross when deciding how much skin to expose in public. However, if you are referring to the Vatican policy, I think that saying no tank-tops (wide sleeveless are ok for women if I remember correctly) is a way of drawing a clear line so that they can easily maintain a standard of modesty without pulling out a ruler or something. However, I think that as women pursuing excellence, we should be careful about the cut and fabric of our clothing. Many tank tops tend to let bra straps slip out easily and are low cut in the front on purpose. We must consider, in every other culture, only women who were prostitutes went out in public with their underwear showing. How come this has suddenly become a (trashy) social norm in our generation? Is it just a random cultural change or does it speak to a deeper disorder in the understanding of women and their place in society?
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