Veils and Tiny Crosses

I attended St. William's in NE Philadelphia yesterday.  They have a unique 8pm evening mass on Sunday which is thoroughly helpful when someone like me has a wedding the night before and can't drag herself out of bed in time for her usual 10am service.

Anyway, I attend St. William's once every other month or so.  I'm regular enough that folks sorta-kinda recognize me (especially as I'm the only veiled one present), but irregular enough to where no one really knows my name.

Color me ridiculously surprised, then, when I bumped into several people that I knew from Incarnation (my old home parish) last night. 

One scooched in next to me during the Penitential Rite.  Neither of us were aware of who the other was until the 1st Reading.  She nudged me and said, "Gina?"  I turned, surprised to see my old friend.  It was a pleasant surprise.  She made a motion with her hand regarding my veil.  It was a question... a confused, "What's with the veil?"  I just smiled and returned my attention back to the Mass.

I could feel her eying me curiously for the rest of Mass.  At the end of Mass, after moving to the narthex, I opened the door for the questions I knew she had. 

Inevitably, the first one was, "So, what's with the veil?"

I explained, briefly, that I'd had a rekindling of faith and spent over a year returning to my Catholic roots.  One of the things I discovered on my journey back to Christ was the custom of veiling.  I explained that since the Blessed Mother is my example for all things Catholic, far be it from me to place myself above her example when in the Presence of Christ.  If she wears a veil when with her Beloved Son, I feel I, too, should present myself in a similar fashion when accepting Him in the Eucharist.

Then she said, "I saw you cross yourself and mumble something during the Gospel.  What was that all about?"

I couldn't figure out what she was talking about at first.  It took several moments of her miming an interpretation of what I looked like at the beginning of the Gospel for me to understand what she was referring to. 

When the priest said, "A reading from the Gospel of Mark" I made a tiny cross with my thumb over my forehead, my lips and my heart.  The mumbling she heard was a prayer I learned in 5th grade to go along with the motion I learned that same day:

"Lord, be ever on my mind, on my lips, and in my heart."

During the Gospel, we are hearing the Word of God.  We, as Catholics, should strive always to keep His Word in mind so that we may act charitably towards one another.  We also wish to bear forth the Word of Christ to others, either through praise and thanksgiving, or through evangelization.  Finally, above all, we wish to love Him with our whole heart by keeping His Word enclosed within.

Thus, the small crosses signifying His Gospel upon mind, lips and heart.

I've done it since learning it in 5th grade, and I've always assumed it's part of the proper movements of Mass.  Kind of like "sit, stand, kneel, 'Amen,'" I thought this particular motion and prayer were part of the expected and "everybody knows you're supposed to do that" knowledge that goes along with being Catholic. 

However, if you did not know this before, you do now!  :) 

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