August 2, 2023, Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (veil)

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"Then the children of Israel would see that the skin of Moses' face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the LORD.”

When Moses unveiled his face after conversing with God, the Israelites saw the glory of God's light shining through him. He was so radiant that he had to veil his face, but when he talked to the Lord, he would remove the veil. He conversed with God face to face.

Many of us would have watched the short video 'The Veil Removed'. It is a powerful vision of how Holy Mass looks like if our eyes could see the supernatural and spiritual. If you have not watched it, do check it out.

‘The veil removed’ reminds me of the way we celebrate Mass in my home church in India. My home church is the Syro-Malabar Catholic church which follows a variant of the East Syriac rite in our liturgy.

The liturgy celebrated according to this rite, retains the rich tradition and symbols used since the early days. In our churches, the sanctuary is always covered with a thick long curtain, or veil, from the ceiling top right to the floor. Only during Mass, just before the Liturgy of the Word, the curtain will be drawn and opened for all to adore, worship and express great reverence.

After Mass, the altar is again veiled by the curtain. Only the sacristan and priest are allowed to go near the altar at other times. Thus, the altar is kept sacred, just like the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple. The only opportunity to see the altar and the sanctuary is during Mass.

Catholics in Kerala have a deep respect for the altar because we believe that only priests and angels are allowed to enter the sanctuary. In the Oriental traditions, the altar servers represent the angels in heaven.

Here, and in many other countries following the Roman rite, we are so privileged to be able to see the altar every day, any time. It is like Moses removing his veil when he talked to God.

However, it seems that this privilege has been abused and taken for granted in this country. Unrestricted accessibility runs the risk of becoming mundane and uninspiring to unappreciative minds. We need to learn to respect what is Holy, to perceive heavenly realities represented in earthly symbols.

Are you aware that every time we come before the altar of the Lord, we come into the sacred real presence of God? 

We are stepping onto holy ground. When we receive holy communion, we are not just receiving the body of Christ for ourselves, but we enter into communion with the rest of the church and with all of heaven to become one body. No veil can separate that. Amen


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