Statues Veiled

When you enter our parish churches for Mass the 5th Sunday of Lent I’m sure you'll noticed that our beautiful statues are all veiled in purple. This practice is recommended in the instructions governing the Liturgy for the Fifth Sunday of Lent: “In the dioceses of the United States the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church may be observed.”

This tradition began before the Second Vatican Council’s reform of the Sacred Liturgy when on this Sunday one of the accounts of our Lord’s Passion was proclaimed, thus initiating the final phase of Lent known as Passiontide. Nevertheless, the practice remains relevant even today. Why? First of all, we use the veils to alert us to the special time we’re in. When we walk into the church and notice something is different, our senses are awakened and we are reminded that we should treat the final days of Lent with a heightened level of reverence and devotion.

Secondly, the covering of the images is meant to force us to turn our gaze and focus more intently on the striking words being proclaimed in the important Gospel passages selected for the end of Lent, especially the accounts of our Lord’s Sacred Passion that we will hear on Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

And finally, the beauty of the images being obscured by the purple cloths is a stark reminder of what sin leads to, namely, the diminishment and death of that which is beautiful. And coming to terms with the real effects of sin, perhaps we are compelled to struggle more against it and unite ourselves with the suffering Christ, who’s Good Friday struggle erased the disfiguring effects of sin and Satan.

In the end, for our statues to be covered is, in a sense, “unnatural”. They need to be uncovered and their beauty rediscovered! On Easter Sunday, when we see their beauty again, we will symbolically be taught that it is only by virtue of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ that our damaged souls are repaired and their beauty rediscovered.

Fr. Michael Caridi
As it appears in the 3/17/2024 bulletin