Veiling
As part of our observance of a holy Lent we can take on the traditional practice of veiling the sacred sculptures and crosses in our Church spaces. How can we also adopt this in our homes and in our digital spaces?
A bit of history:
This is a long standing liturgical tradition which can be traced back to the 9th Century Church in Germany.
Originally the altar would have been covered in a large cloth known as the “hungertuch” – ‘hunger cloth’ which hid the altar from the people until the reading of the Passion on the Wednesday of Holy Week at the words “The Veil of the Temple was rent in two.”
Eventually this practice of covering extended to other sacramental symbols and ornaments in Church including the crosses, saints’ statues and paintings and even the priest’s vestments.
Hildemar of Corbie (a monk who spent time in both French and Italian monasteries) recorded in his Commentary on the Rule of Benedict (845 CE) that the liturgical elements, being suggestive of both “joy and happiness” including “Vestments and other delights” should be removed during Lent as per the rule of the Holy Fathers.
The intention behind this removal or ‘hiding’ was to mark the Lenten practices of mourning, penitence and repentance.
A bit of theology
There are other theological concepts behind the veiling which have developed over time. Dom Prosper Gueranger a 19th Century Benedictine liturgist gave a mystical interpretation of the veiling using the Gospel of John 8.59 where Jesus hides himself from the Jews who wanted to stone him because it was not yet his time to die.
By veiling Jesus during Lent he is symbolically hidden from the world in preparation for the mysteries of his passion, so that we can journey with him toward Gethsemane, Golgotha, new life and the upper room.
Another concept for veiling is recognizing the obscuring of not only Jesus divinity in the humiliation and torture of his passion but that his humanity was also unrecognizable by the disfiguration of his body on the cross.
Isaiah describes the ‘Suffering servant” as “Just as there were many who were astonished at him —so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals” (Is 52.14)
Like the veil that Moses wore in the presence of the Israelites for their protection after conversing with God (Exodus 34.35) and just as Jesus was hidden from the disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection (Luke 24.13-) so that he could transform their lives yet again, we too withdraw from the vision of the cross for the season in the lead up to the ultimate awesome glory on Easter day.
We do this so that we may be completely aware of what it truly means for us gathered together in the light of Christ and see clearly what God has done for us by the incarnation, ministry, trial, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Practicing this at home and online?
Veiling our home during Lent may affect our pilgrimage of self-reflection and the call to repentance, reminding us to attend to the readiness that we are called to live into as we prepare to live through Jesus story.
The cross represents for us the glory and grace of God’s sacrifice which functioned as the intervention for our salvation.
By being exposed to the sign of the cross year round we may grow accustomed to the symbol and forget the majestic truth that it represents.
We are called to draw near to God and Jesus glory, but we are still human and we cannot bear it for long while we live in this life.
That is the very miracle of salvation in that although we are fallible humans and “we wander far off” Jesus calls us back and offers us the way to live closer to God.