Behind the veil. . .

The practice of veiling images and crucifixes is sometimes viewed as a way of hiding them from view.  In reality, the opposite ends up happening.  Veiling crucifixes, statues, and images tends to draw the eye to what is there.  The veils are thin and do not quite hide anything.  In fact, the veiling tends to heighten our senses to the presence of the crucifix, statue, or image and to make us more aware of them.  

In the Middle Ages, especially in Germany, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. The custom of Lenten veiling was common by the tenth century in England (e.g., Aelfric of Eynesham, the Regularis Concordia), and mirrored the practice of Europe dating from at least the ninth century. In the 1600s, Rome limited the veiling to Passiontide (from Palm Sunday on). Some associate it with the Gospel text for Passion Sunday, which speaks of Jesus hiding himself from the people (John 8:59).  

Since Lent is an unfolding of the journey to the cross, I find it more logical to veil at the beginning of Lent, from Ash Wednesday onward, and then to remove the veil on Good Friday.  Perhaps we might explain the veiling as a means of training us to perceive the glory of the Cross a glory not obvious to us except by faith. It then makes it even more profound when we view the unveiled crucifix on Good Friday and hear, “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which was hung the salvation of the world.”  In another sense, the glory of the cross is not overcome by but rather made clearer in the light of the Resurrection.

Of course, some readers will get their dander up and insist we do not have to veil anything.  Who says we do?  But it is a very helpful custom.  The cross is veiled to the disciples and Jesus unveils it step by step until Good Friday when it is fully exposed.  In this small way, the veiling in the churches mirrors what is happening in the appointed readings and draws even more attention to the death by which life is come into the world.  Something to think about during Lent...