In the last two weeks of Lent, we enter the season of Our Lord's Passion, Passiontide. We focus all the more intensely on our Savior's suffering and death as we prepare for the Easter mysteries.
The primary visual characteristic of these last days of Lent is the covering of the Cross and other images in the church with the purple veil. Why do we veil the Cross? The veil symbolizes how our Lord began to hide himself from the crowds in the last months of his public ministry. Further, it symbolizes the wounds which covered and veiled his whole body during his Passion. Finally, it represents the order of Penitents from the early Church - those who were not permitted to participate in or view the Sacred Liturgy during Lent as they made public penance until the time of being reconciled to God and the Church.
We are called to embrace penance in our own days - we are called to join these Penitents, and be reconciled to God.
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