You Are In the House of God

When you enter the church, you are entering the house of God. So many people forget this. They've been taught that God is not confined to a church. This is true... but that doesn't mean it isn't a place of reverence.

You have a home. You're not confined there. You can travel, visit other people, go on vacation... but you still have a home, and if you are in your home you don't want someone coming over and disrespecting you in your house.

Even Jesus became extremely upset when there were dealers disrespecting His Father's Temple.

Jesus went into the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And he declared to them, "It is written: My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:12-13)

So even Christ looked at the Temple as the house of God. When Christ came into the world and thus began Christianity (where God's chosen people became those who followed his Son - because no one goes to the Father but through Christ), Christ's church became God's temple, the home of the Holy Trinity.

In the Catholic faith, we take the Eucharist very seriously. We truly believe Christ is present in the Eucharist. It is not merely metaphoric. Through Transubstantiation, we believe that the bread and wine truly becomes the body and blood of Christ.

Jesus said to them: "Truly I say to you. Unless you eat of my body and drink of my blood, you shall have no eternal life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, shall have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day." (John 6:53-54)

So the bread (hosts) kept within the Tabernacle, we look at that as Christ present in the church in a literal sense.

So when you come into the church, you are entering the house of God. There must be respect, decorum and dignity, lest you disrespect God in His own home.

In the Traditional Church... rules were much stricter than they are now since Vatican II... but that doesn't mean, just because the church is looked at as more lax, that God has changed his opinions on dignity.

Now, this blog comes around after I attended daily mass this morning. A girl who I assume was volunteering at the Church's daycare came in with a group of the little children attending the Daycare. She had on the shortest shorts. When she sat, it went from inappropriate for church, to grossly inappropriate for church. Sometimes I don't think girls see themselves from the angle others can see them. They don't realize how shorts or a skirt rides up when you sit.

Another Mass last year, a girl, very tall and skinny, wore a skirt so short, you had to look away whenever she'd bend over if you didn't want an eye full of underwear (God in Heaven I hope she wore them.)

And another mass last year, a girl came in wearing a strapless dress. It was so short, whenever she sat, you got an eye full of everything, and being on the thicker side, without a bra, gravity took effect and she spent half the mass either showing too much cleavage or yanking the top up.

What you do on your own time is between you and God... but in the house of God, this is unacceptable and priests should now allow it. Those dressed as inappropriately as in the last example, should be asked to cover themselves, or leave. This is God's house. Let us say you are visiting your parents and their neighbor comes in and disrespects your parents in their own home. Would you stand for it? Of course not.

Coming into the house of God looking as if you're about to go to the strip club right after is disrespectful. Would you go to work as a banker or as a nurse in a bikini? Then why would you come to the house of our Lord looking like you just came from a night of partying at a bar? If you would not allow someone to walk into your own home and disrespect you... why would you dress disrespectfully when walking into the house of God?

In the traditional church:

WOMEN

Mantilla (Chapel Veil)
Arms should be covered at all times (Short sleeves acceptable)
Long Dress or Skirt (no pants, shorts, or capris)

MEN

Suit (Winter)
Short sleeve polo shirt and dress pants (Summer)

In the post Vatican II Church:

WOMEN

Arms should be covered at all times (short sleeves are acceptable)
Pants, Skirt below the knees, Capris no shorter than knee length.

MEN

Same as the Traditional Church with the exception that you can wear a T-Shirt as long as it does not contain inappropriate language or art.

Although, in reality, we should be following the Traditions of the original church. It only changed because of the church's modernization and Feminism over-reaching.

Some still say a dress code is repressive. If you read my previous blog about the chapel veil, you will find a documentary that details exactly why dressing respectfully and wearing a chapel veil in the house of God is a way to build a woman up, to make her special and holy, rather than oppress her.

Even if you don't believe in dresses and chapel veils... try looking at yourself and say, "I'm about to walk into the house of my Creator. Would my grandmother cringe if I walked into her home like this? If she would, God definitely would." it's only an hour out of your time, once a week. What will it hurt you to dress with dignity in God's house?

Update on LizzieAnswers

Nearly 1 year ago (August 2017) I wrote a blog about a "Protestant Who Kind of Gets It" - she could see some of the lies spread about Catholicism, lies that I spent the first several blog posts trying to dispel myself, and it was nice to see a protestant who actually understood.

She wasn't quiet there, because she still had false beliefs (like birth control) but she was so close. I closed the blog post with "God Bless this girl. I will pray for her and her continued growth as a child of God. I hope if she ever finds her way to this blog, she'll find more truths about the Catholic faith."


UPDATE: 

I was looking through YouTube to find the movie based on the life of St. Therese of Lisieux because I am going to an exhibition on her life (fingers crossed) Next week, provided they haven't left yet to the next city. That is when I came across a face I recognized and the video title: Why I'm Becoming Catholic (From an ex-protestant)

Young Liz from LizzieAnswers, a protestant whose video I cited almost a year ago, has converted. Glory to God on High. 

She is still not 100% right with the faith. A lot of it is that she's young and has a lot of ideals that were embedded into her from an early age by those who hated Catholicism, and just by lack of education in the faith... but some of it is a misunderstanding because of the modernization of the Catholic Church through Vatican II and the papal misteachings, near heresies coming from Pope Francis... but as she grows to love the faith, she will learn it all. 

I'm 40 and I was 38 when I fell in love with the Traditional Latin Mass and Traditional (pre-Vatican II) Catholicism. So she has a lot of time to grow, learn and become closer to the faith. I hope she finds her way to Latin Masses where she can experience the wonder and mystery of Christ the way the church celebrated it for centuries, before the modernization. And the church will eventually come back around. Mary said as much. The church would go through turmoil, and apostasy, but it would not fall. The truth will return. And many churches are starting to revert back to Traditional Latin Masses. My church is coming up on the year anniversary of instituting the Traditional Mass on the first Saturday of the month in honor of Mother Mary. Upon the year anniversary, our church has the opportunity to extend it to more Traditional Masses than just once. 

This is happening all over. So she will eventually be exposed to the church as it once was before the modernization, and then she'll feel the splendor of the church in it's true Glory.

I'm also quite surprised she has changed her mind about sex and birth control since becoming Catholic. It was the one thing I gave her a hard time about. She didn't agree with the Catholic stance on birth control, however it is not our stance, it is biblical, and I gave examples as to how that is. While I doubt she actually read this blog, I see she is understanding the biblical precedence behind it.

God bless this young girl and her journey. I hope she finds love in Christ, and Peace in the Catholic Faith, as I have. If I come across more updates on her journey, I'll be sure to share. You can also follow her yourself, on her channel "LizzieAnswers".

Chapel Veil

The Chapel Veil is a beautiful tradition still followed in Latin Mass Catholic Churches. I, myself, wear one to Latin Mass.

The tradition is a sign of dignity and grace. It was a sign of the reverence of a woman. The call to respect a woman. Just as the Tabernacle veils the body of Christ, so the Chapel Veil (or Mantilla) veils a woman in dignity. It is a sign that Woman is unique in her femininity. Unlike a man, God made woman close to his heart because they are the ones who can create life in the unique way that God designed, and influence life, whether spiritually as a child of God, as a mother to an actual life she brought into the world, or both.

A woman veils herself in church just like a priest is veiled in his vestments, just like the Body of Christ is veiled in the Tabernacle. It is a sign of reverence rather than oppression as some believe.

Despite what people desire to believe, there are only 2 true sexes, and God created them in different ways. Man from his image, and woman from the side of Man. Just as blood and water rushed from the side of Jesus after he was lanced on the cross, and purified those who were touched by it, and purifies us all even today... so woman was created from the side of Man, Adam. How wonderful is it truly with you see how the church looks at a woman. She is the tabernacle of life, whether physically by bearing a child, or spiritually by uplifting souls and bringing them back to God. Because woman was created from Adam's rib, she is likened to the GIFT of Christ's blood that flowed from HIS side.

God created a hierarchy. Woman to be an obedient spouse to her husband, a husband to lay down his life for his bride like Christ sacrificed himself for his bride, the Holy Church. A great act of love. It's not oppressive or abusive, it's a hierarchy with a perfect design.

And so women, to CELEBRATE their unique dignity in femininity... they wear a veil in the presence of God in the church.

The end of wearing Chapel Veils is one of many examples of why the Church has been in so much turmoil since the modernization of Vatican II, why women think they have the right to be priests, why people are gender confused, it all starts with the loss of dignity and grace and respect shown in church. Feminism and modernization removed gender roles, it removed the dignity of being feminine as if femininity is some sort of chain around a woman's neck, rather than a source of pride.

I think this video explains it far better than I ever could. it's over an hour long, but well worth the watch if you truly want to understand the Chapel Veil and how it is a tradition that should return to the church rather than be suppressed or mocked.

More Reading:

7 Reasons I Do Not Wear a Chapel Veil