“I want you to attend to your demeanor in a spirit of seriousness because demeanor expresses one’s disposition of heart towards oneself, towards other persons, and towards the social circumstances in which we find ourselves. . . ”
What a mixture of dress it was
“We are to conduct ourselves as ladies and gentlemen; an undisciplined attire, therefore, is out of place. Our purpose ultimately is to grow in the intellectual virtues: that is, in wisdom (or the knowledge of things through their ultimate causes; science (or the knowledge of things through causality simply); and understanding (or the knowledge of the principles of things evident from experience, yet without scientifically demonstrable proof. This is the area of common sense.)
A lifetime’s growth in those virtues does not readily happen when one’s mind is focused on ignoble purposes, or when the heart devolves to things that are manipulative, seductive, or base, and not truly beautiful.
A reductionist mentality, though it can be brilliant, entertaining, and clever, eventually weakens the soul by its hybris (extreme arrogance) towards the mystery of life.”
I think these words are weighted heavily with thought, and I don’t want to harm them with my own expostulation of them. But I might just say that although he was speaking about our classroom conduct, the same might apply to our church behavior, for in church we too strive to come closer to God and grow in fidelity and virtue. The intellect should be engaged at mass. That being said I leave these words for you all to think about, and hopefully reflect a moment before shooting back an answer.
Today’s church, at least here in America, is trying to conform; to avoid distinction; to fit in with the current culture. “Dressing up”means different things to different cultures. Hollywood drives the culture in America. “Dressing up” in Hollywood is like at the Academy Awards; the skimpier, the more “dressed up”. At a recent Spanish culture wedding a couple weeks ago, there was real competition by some attendees with the Hollywood culture. Some young women nearly falling out of their dresses, and some older women with “old fashioned”, full length dresses and chapel veils. Older men in suit and tie, and younger men in shorts and shower clogs. The youngsters were obviously quite proud of their appearance. All these “outward” signs of change usually mimic quite accurately the “inner” attitude of the members of a religion. And, a pastor would no more mention any head covering for women than he would dare to mention the word contraception. All this goes together to help change the attitude from “God Centered” to person-centered. This will not get us to heaven.
Perhaps the words of a wise monk, who was my teacher in two college level literature courses, might contribute to this discussion:
According to the article above it would seem that we must go to the secular culture to determine our mode/method of dress- How very sad; although at my church a couple of months ago it would seem that a young lady did just that when it came to decide what to wear to mass- she was leading the singing and responses. The sad thing was when she bowed to the altar when she came up to the platform EVERYTHING was showing, well, her underwear was- I guess we are thankful that she was wear them!
I personally think the lack or respect that is shown at mass by the way we dress, No one genuflects when coming into the pew, instead of reflecting quietly and reverently before the mass starts; nearly everyone is talking loudly, laughing, kids running around- I cant begin to say how many times I have seen people chewing gum and go up to receive the consecrated host- I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t serve (YET), as I would tel them to spit out the gum before serving them. Many if not most people point to Vatican 2 as to the beginning of these http://www.rksloans.com/title-loans-mn/ problems- maybe yes may not,but it is certainly obvious at least to me that it seems to be the Beginning of these very serious issues in my opinion.