Dressing and veils

There is a meeting today to talk about the book Dressing with Dignity from Colleen Hammond.

In the book the authour speaks lenghtily about the effect our vestments have on the minds of others and also our own; she discusses mainly the impact of the dress in our eye sight, and how the unconscious receives the images and moves on to thoughts that can be then more pious or sinful depending on the image beholded. Advertisement experts know about these effects for long ago, and have implemented its laws in comercials and media, leaving and ever increasing powerful set of images that help in the tendency of leading a sinful life, at least in the unconscious life of the mind if God's graces can stop it at that.

Nevertheless, besides the media then, many of the population follows the trends in fashion and design, and mostly by peer pressure we end up having an amount of habitants that are led by the spirit of the world. Every aspect of the dress is relevant, the size, the form, the texture, the colors ( we all know how the priests vestments change according to the liturgical year, and these are not casual colors, but chosen especifically)...if we wear something with a pattern is very different than something plain, which is more soothing to the eye, if we wear an apron we put ourselves in the mindset of work, and if we dress ourselves in our best clothes, we frame our mind in reverence and magnificence. That is why is so important with little children to take care of our attire, we are sending them powerful messages about our function and role, how we conscioulsy decide to be at work or in prayer with all our soul, body and  mind.

What I wanted to add today is the sense of smell. It is clear that the sense of sight is our predominant sense, in that we can relate all the senses to it like Saint Augustine points out, nevertheless, the sense of smell is also very important, and one that has primordial effects in our unconscious mind, even more stronger than the sight sense. We all remember things in our childhood that are impressed by scents, those muffins baked in the oven, the lilac perfume of grandmother, the smell of the hay in the barn,etc.. even our preferences in food taste can be related to our sense of smell in our youngest years. So it would be obvious that dignity and modesty should adress too the protection of our sense of smell.

In the old times, just like many Amish today, they did not use for everyday many baths, soaps or perfumes for bodily care, yet they covered their skin and especially their heads. The hair can be compared to the flower, when bringing the scent to the air, and so, by covering the hair you are sending the message of sacredness, of rendering the delicate chemistry balance of our bodies only to our spouse. Hence the idea of familiarity when a woman is uncovered and has her hair down, without any arrangement.

In society nowadays, where perfumes, colognes and scented cosmetic products inundate the market, the natural language of the smells is superseded by this artificial language, and you can cross a street and be invaded by many different messages coming from each one of the persons you encounter. All this happens unconsciously, of course, but nonetheless, by paying attention we can train our minds to recognize them and to stop the indesirable effects of these communications at once. Moreover, we can help others by trying not to send these messages, by being humbly dressed and "veiled".

We had a test for confirmands today, and the last question of the test referred to the balm that the Bishop uses for the Sacrament, it is said to be of a sweet smell, and simbolizes the pleasant aroma to God of a soul that is not corrupted by sin. May God have mercy on me, let Him be my guide and my veiling.