Friday, March 7, 2008

Veiled References?

Candy has successfully blocked the IP addresses of most of the RC sisterhood at VTC and disabled her RSS feed making it difficult if not impossible for them to read her blog. (Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.) I guess that is why they missed her comment on their blog post.

Tracy at VTC wrote in her post "Head covering and Catholic Women": The moral law requires all women to wear the veil on their hearts. A woman should not wear the veil on her head, until she is wearing it first on her heart. A woman who wears the veil on her heart accepts the place that God gives to women in the Church, the family, and society. Women who wear the veil on their hearts are imitating the Virgin Mary in her humility, submissiveness, and obedience to Christ.

Candy at KTH blogs "Are you being tossed in the wind?": I am saddened at the fact that many of those blogs teach that "women must have a veil over their hearts, before the veil on their heads will mean anything." Now that disturbs me. Why? Because 2 Corinthians 3 specifically speaks of a veil over our hearts, and it says that if our hearts are veiled, then we are not in the Lord, but when we truly turn to the Lord, then the veil is removed from our hearts:"But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it [he or she] shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." -2 Corinthians 3:16

When I read Tracy's phrase "veil on her heart" it did raise my eyebrows. There are 4 definitions of the word veiled (from dictionary.com):
1. having a veil: a veiled hat.
2.covered or concealed by, or as if by, a veil: a veiled woman.
3.not openly or directly expressed; masked; disguised; hidden; obscure: a veiled threat.
4.lacking clarity or distinctness: veiled sounds; a veiled image.

None of those is particularly descriptive of a Christian's heart. But, I think what Tracy is trying to say is that the inner workings need to be sufficiently humble for the outer symbolism to be meaningful.

Candy replies with what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:16. I'd like to expand on this a little because I think it is applicable.

2 Corinthians 3:14b-18: For to this day, when they read the old covenant, [the law] that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.[the gospel] Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read [the law] a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, [the gospel] the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [from the law] And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.[process of sanctification]

In a nutshell: veiled=Moses & law & old covenant; unveiled=Jesus & gospel & new covenant.

3 comments:

Kelly said...

Good catch on that one, Sue! I admit, I find Tracy's posts difficult to read, because of the lack of spaces in the text, so I sometimes miss some of her points, or need to re-read it a few times.

The blocking thing has been very irritating. I always try to be polite and non-inflammatory when I post a comment anywhere. I hadn't even tried to post a comment on Candy's blog for several weeks, and when I make a perfectly non-Catholic comment, she bans me!

I'm never gracing her with my wisdom again! ;)

Sue Bee said...

The fact that she is reading your blog really is an accomplishment. I think this is an excellent time to reach out to her. Not to evangelize or criticize but to talk to her as a fellow Christian- wife-mother-woman.

Talk to her from the heart honestly and I think she'll hear you. Maybe not right away, but in time.

Just think about it.

I don't know if she reads my blog or not, I don't monitor IP addresses, but I think I'll post a letter to her anyway. Can't hurt.

God's peace < ><

Kelly said...

I think that's a really great idea, but I believe she has given up reading our blog. Perhaps if I had caught on a little sooner, we could have done that.