Dear St. Rita Families,
We don’t know the specifics of why a star indicated to the Magi that the King of the Jews had just been born. We do know that this appearance of the star lead to the appearance or manifestation or Epiphany (!!) of Our Lord as the Savior not only of the Jews but also the Gentiles. Epiphanies or manifestations or appearances are meant to reveal something to another, and I’d like to use that connection to touch on another kind of appearance, namely your appearance at Mass.
Do you mean, Father, me showing up (appearing) at Mass? Or, do you mean how I look when I come to Mass?
Well, since you mention it, perhaps it’s good to address both. Appearing at Mass on Sunday speaks volumes about who you are interiorly. It means that you have chosen to prioritize the worship of God over all the other possibilities in the world. It means that you recognize or strive to recognize the meaning of the Sacraments as means of making present Christ’s salvific action on the Cross. It means that for you, the Sabbath means rest – rest in Christ, with whom you are united at Mass. Do not underestimate the power of this type of witness. If you, who are just a regular person with your family, work, kids, school, etc., are willing to stop amid the rat-race and chaos of life in order to spend an hour worshiping Our Lord (especially if you have to wrangle the kids to make it happen), you should expect some heads to turn.
And how much more will they notice if they see you actually spending time to put on your Sunday best and prepare to enter into something otherworldly and sublime! Clothes, it should be obvious, reveal something of ourselves to those around us. It may reveal what sports team or music group or clothing brand you prefer. It may indicate social status or wealth. It could reveal your sense of humor, your discipline, or your lack thereof. It could also indicate that you are involved in some group or that you are participating in some sort of event. For me as a priest, choosing to wear a cassock or clerical shirt or street clothes will each send a different message to those around me.
It’s also good to note that the more care you put into your appearance, the more important the occasion. When a girl spends hours getting ready for a date, or when a soldier meticulously polishes his uniform shoes, they are indicating that the business in which they are engaged is significant to them. What, then, about the Mass? Obviously, it should be thought about and considered. What am I doing at Mass, and into whose presence am I entering? What do I want to say to God and to others through my clothing? What is appropriate to say to God and others through the clothing I choose to wear to Mass?
Before you jump to conclusions, let’s look at a few more examples. First, uniforms: At St. Rita School as at many Catholic schools, we require a uniform for our students, and wearing it properly indicates a care for oneself and attention to detail. And as uniform and non-individual as uniforms are, it is also an invitation for our students to value each other and themselves for qualities other than those which the various differences in clothing might suggest. Uniforms, then, dampen certain aspects of the person suggested by clothing, but reveal other, more important qualities. The second example is immodest clothing. The effect of immodest is the opposite of the effect of the uniform. Immodesty invites others to see only the body, reduces others to their bodies, blinding them to the full reality of who a person is. St. John Paul II famously said about the extreme cases of immodesty: “The problem with pornography is not that it shows too much, but that it shows too little.”
The third example is Christ Himself. In the Christmas season, we celebrate God becoming man. The infinite God takes to Himself a tiny, little baby’s body. He is “clothed in human weakness,” as the song says. Now, He appears to us in an even more hidden form, the Holy Eucharist. And what does all this tell us about God? It is very simple. It tells us that He loves us enough to approach us in ways that will enable union with Him and not separation. It tells us that He is humble enough not to need to flaunt His power. It tells us that He is powerful enough to enter into our very dangerous and deadly reality with nothing at all except confidence in His Father (and ours), and to not be afraid.
When you come to Mass, what does your clothing reveal about you? It is not meant to reveal that you are wealthy, or put together, or even beautiful. Those are transient qualities that, ultimately, have no definitive bearing on your eternal future. If those are your motives, then they should be surrendered to Our Lord, because “man sees the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). St. Paul admonishes women to dress modestly and not in ostentatious fashion when they come to worship, and to adorn themselves “with good deeds” over nice clothes (1 Tim 2:9-10).
In other words, your attire for Mass should reveal something of your heart. And your heart (like your clothes) should be full of humility, not seeking recognition, but rather to be hidden. Likewise, your heart should desire to present yourself worthily to Our Lord at Mass. Because the Mass is the re-offering of Our Lord’s Sacrifice on Calvary (a nuptial scene!), it makes sense that one’s attire should be tended to according to the occasion for which it is donned. And while you are not physically going to a dirty, rocky hill outside Jerusalem, you are at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb! To care for your appearance when you come to Mass, then, is to express love for the one you come to see, and admiration and worship of His Sacrifice. Do not neglect, then, either the inner garment – the humility and love – or the outer garment – the dress and appearance. Perhaps your testimony will be like a star in the midnight sky, leading the way to Christ.
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen