Why wear a habit?
Below is an excerpt from a post on our blog that hopefully will shed light on this subject:
...I want to clarify that I do not see the religious habit or the veil as a way of saying “I’m better than you.” I don’t think that at all. Far from being used to insinuate superiority, if anything, it can be seen as a sign of a servant. In fact, among the functions of the religious garb, Vita Consecata names its being “a sign…of poverty.” More importantly, it is a sign of consecration, as this same ecclesial document reminds us.
Wearing a veil tells people something; we don’t have to say a word. When people see a Sister in her veil, they see a servant, one dedicated entirely to God. Actually, they are reminded of Christ and see Him. Wearing our religious garb is a way of “keeping God on the streets.” St. John Paul II shared these sentiments, as is seen in one of his addresses to Religious. He encouraged them (and us):
“Do not hesitate to be recognizable, identifiable, in the streets as men and women who have consecrated their lives to God and who have given up everything worldly to follow Christ. Believe in the value for contemporary men and women of the visible signs of your consecrated lives. People need signs and reminders of God in the modern secular city, which has few reminders of God left. Do not help the trend towards ‘taking God off the streets’ by adopting secular modes of dress and behavior yourselves!”
In researching this issue, I found that Canon Law really has some beautiful reflections to offer for us Religious. Along with exhorting us that “Religious are to wear the habit of the Institute…as a sign of their consecration and as a testimony of poverty” (Can. 669 section §1), the preceding section offers some beautiful and profound thoughts on this life to which we have been called.
So, far from being a separating feature or a way of trying to show superiority or anything of that sort, I see the veil very differently. I see it as a way of helping bring our Lord to all those we encounter. It also says: “I am a poor servant and am available to you, to pray for you and journey with you.”
...I want to clarify that I do not see the religious habit or the veil as a way of saying “I’m better than you.” I don’t think that at all. Far from being used to insinuate superiority, if anything, it can be seen as a sign of a servant. In fact, among the functions of the religious garb, Vita Consecata names its being “a sign…of poverty.” More importantly, it is a sign of consecration, as this same ecclesial document reminds us.
Wearing a veil tells people something; we don’t have to say a word. When people see a Sister in her veil, they see a servant, one dedicated entirely to God. Actually, they are reminded of Christ and see Him. Wearing our religious garb is a way of “keeping God on the streets.” St. John Paul II shared these sentiments, as is seen in one of his addresses to Religious. He encouraged them (and us):
“Do not hesitate to be recognizable, identifiable, in the streets as men and women who have consecrated their lives to God and who have given up everything worldly to follow Christ. Believe in the value for contemporary men and women of the visible signs of your consecrated lives. People need signs and reminders of God in the modern secular city, which has few reminders of God left. Do not help the trend towards ‘taking God off the streets’ by adopting secular modes of dress and behavior yourselves!”
In researching this issue, I found that Canon Law really has some beautiful reflections to offer for us Religious. Along with exhorting us that “Religious are to wear the habit of the Institute…as a sign of their consecration and as a testimony of poverty” (Can. 669 section §1), the preceding section offers some beautiful and profound thoughts on this life to which we have been called.
So, far from being a separating feature or a way of trying to show superiority or anything of that sort, I see the veil very differently. I see it as a way of helping bring our Lord to all those we encounter. It also says: “I am a poor servant and am available to you, to pray for you and journey with you.”