Bulletins
May 31, 2015
Download the Bulletin as a PDFMemorial Day is behind us. June is upon us. The pools are open. The Nationals are in first place. I don't care what the meteorologist says. It feels like summer.
Next week when we celebrate Corpus Christi I will offer some more annual thoughts about the virtue of reverence with respect to the Blessed Sacrament. On this Trinity Sunday permit me to discuss an aspect of our participation in the life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Our bodies are sacred. We worship the Lord corporeally and spiritually. Prostrating, kneeling and standing. In silence and in song. With arms outstretched and with hands over our faces. Our souls adorned with virtue and our bodies attired with the virtue of modesty.
Despite the many times
people mistakenly scold
traditional worship and
piety by trying to
invoke the Holy Father
and saying that they
prefer "Pope Francis'
more inclusive style",
His Holiness' basilicas
and museums still
enforce a dress code
strictly. Their simple
rule for men and
women alike: cover
your knees and your
shoulders. Since some
swimwear would meet
those criteria it bears
mentioning that skin-tight clothing is not really suitable
for polite company, let alone going to Church.
Dressing appropriately is not the same as dressing expensively. Besides, expensive clothes are not necessarily modest. In the course of praising St. John the Baptist, Jesus mentions that "those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts" (Luke 7,25) yet He also tells the parable of the man expelled from the banquet for failing to wear a wedding garment (Matthew 22,1-14). St. Paul's letter to St. Timothy mentions that Christian women ought to "adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel" (1 Timothy 2,9). The very word "modesty" indicates that being modest is the opposite of flaunting, whether it be our financial wealth or our physical attributes. Since I have neither it is easier for me. Those of you with more have my sympathies and prayers.
God bless you.
Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
