This article tries to answer two questions
- The first is why women must cover their heads in Churches?
- Secondly, why in ancient cultures and religions women often wore a veil?
Read the following Bible Passages before going into it in detail.
“Any man who prays
or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but any woman who prays
or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head—it is the same as if
her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut
off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let
her wear a veil. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image
and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from
woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for
man. That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the
angels.” —1 Corinthians 11:4–10
This passage is often misunderstood. Not only will
you find that many women today who wear a chapel veil at Mass cannot explain
the real reason for covering their heads, but also you will find contemporary
Biblical commentators trying to “explain away” this passage by saying that it
refers to an ancient social custom that no longer has any relevance to today’s
world; then they will say that they don’t have a clue as to what Saint Paul
meant about “the angels”.
The truth is, Saint
Paul was emphasizing a mystical principle here that is just as relevant today
as it was in his own time; moreover, being mystical, not secular, this
principle has no sexist implications.
To understand the
passage, we need to distinguish two separate concepts: (a) social dignity, and
(b) lust as one form of demonic influence.
Social Dignity
In the ancient world, even
the pagans recognized the value of human dignity and used clothing to protect
that dignity. Slaves may have gone around half naked, but respectable citizens
wore fine clothes to mark their social status. Slaves may have had their heads
shorn to facilitate their menial labors—or to strip them of their individuality
and dignity—but respectable women kept their hair long as a statement that they
had the freedom to care for their beauty. Moreover, respectable women kept
their heads covered as a form of natural and social protection.
Notice carefully: protection, not mere custom.
For both men and women, head
coverings protected the hair and face from natural elements such as sun, wind,
and dust. Furthermore, head coverings protected women in particular from the
social danger of men’s lust.
Keep in mind here that all
humans have a basic human dignity as individuals created by God, but that men
and women also have a particular dignity deriving from their gender. Men have
the dignity of being fathers, and women have the dignity of being mothers.
Consequently, a
woman—whether pagan, Jew, or Christian—of Saint Paul’s time protected her
social, feminine dignity by shielding her head from the gaze of men, to signify
that she was, or intended to be, a mother, and not a slave to lust.
Although Saint Paul referred
to this concept of social dignity when he said that a woman loses her dignity
when her hair is shorn, the point he makes about a woman covering her head
during prayer takes us a step beyond the social level into the mystical realm
of demonic influence.
Demonic Influence
Chapter 6 of the Book of
Genesis tells the story of the origin of the Nephilim. Biblical commentators
tend to dismiss this account as something borrowed from ancient mythology and
therefore of no real theological value. Nevertheless, Anne Catherine Emmerich
described her vision of these events.
I saw Cain’s descendants
becoming more and more godless and sensual. They settled further and further
up that mountain ridge where were the fallen spirits. Those spirits took
possession of many of the women, ruled them completely, and taught them all
sorts of seductive arts. Their children were very large. They possessed a
quickness, an aptitude for everything, and they gave themselves up entirely
to the wicked spirits as their instruments. And so arose on this mountain, and
spread far around, a wicked race which by violence and seduction sought to
entangle Seth’s posterity likewise in their own corrupt ways. Then God
declared to Noe His intention to send the Deluge. During the building of the
ark, Noe had to suffer terribly from those people.
|
||
—The Life of
Jesus Christ, Vol. 1, Ch. 5
as told by the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich |
Now, we might wonder if
wicked spirits—that is, fallen angels—actually lived on earth at one time, and
we might wonder if wicked spirits can actually impregnate human women. Well, we
don’t know, and we can’t know, and there is no point in arguing about it,
because these things are beyond ordinary human knowledge. Moreover, it’s not
necessary to know. All we have to know is that wicked spirits can exert a
powerfully negative spiritual influence over us, and one aspect of this demonic
influence is lust.
Saint Paul, too, knew that
fallen angels exist; he knew of their demonic influence, and that’s why he
warned women to cover their heads when they pray.
Why?
Well, Saint Paul knew that fallen angels can take
possession of women, rule them completely, and teach them all sorts of
seductive arts. But if a woman in prayer covers her head, she protects herself
from the gaze of the fallen angels just as in ancient times a woman’s veil
protected her from the gaze of men. By covering her head in prayer, therefore,
a woman protects herself from the demonic influence of lust. And so she
protects her dignity.
Still, we have to ask, why
should women have to protect themselves from fallen angels when men do not? The
answer refers to woman’s glory, and it is not at all sexist.
In the book of Genesis we
are told that the desires of man’s heart are evil from his youth—that
is, from “the start” (see Genesis 8:21). In other words, men are prone to lust
as a fact of (fallen) life. Furthermore, demons can “fan the flames” of that
lust. So from where shall there come any help?
Let’s remember that in the
reproductive act, the woman receives the man. Hence it can be said that “woman
was made for man.” Note that this is a statement of logic; woman was made
for man means that woman’s sexual function was made to receive the man’s
sexual function. Neither function is superior or inferior, and so there is
nothing sexist or demeaning about this fact.
Consequently, the
containment of a man’s lust can happen especially through the restraint of a
woman. If a woman restrains her desires, she will not receive a man lustfully
and contrary to her dignity. And the best way for a woman to restrain her
desires is to avoid demonic influence from the spiritual realm; to do this, she
must cover her head when praying.
Summary
So where is our help now?
Well, if women dress modestly at all times, they will protect themselves from
the gaze of men, and if they cover their heads when praying, they will protect
themselves from the gaze of demons. Women, therefore, can help to protect the
Church, as well as society in general, from irreverence and lust.
Our help is in the name of
the LORD, Who made heaven and earth—and Who made woman as the glory of man, to
honor her and protect man from himself.
Source
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