'Appropriate dressing' for adoration?

One evening I was in church for a group meeting. Realising I was early, I wanted to go to the adoration room to spend some time with Jesus. However, I was wearing shorts. I have always believed that when we go for mass, we should dress well (not in shorts or spaghetti straps for ladies) for mass because it is a form of respect for God as we enter into His house. Since we need to dress appropriately when we attend mass, can we enter the adoration room if we are not dressed appropriately?

Thanks for the question. It’s nice to know you make efforts to dress well for mass. First of all, let me assure you that you can enter church even in shorts. There is no rule in the Church that bans worshipers from entering because they are dressed poorly. If there is any ‘rule’, it is an unwritten one.

Let’s look at what the key issue is here. The core of this unwritten rule is simply to pay reverence to the Lord. Jesus is Saviour and King. When we enter God’s house (no less), it is only right we dress appropriately.

Think about this: we’ll never enter the home of our President or of President George Bush without dressing up. At mass, we are entering the presence and the home of God! Surely it makes sense to dress well, as you correctly pointed out. We’re also keen on dressing well when we attend wedding banquets. Yet, every weekend, we attend a Eucharistic Banquet, higher than any other banquet. Why should we slacken?

There is an argument that will tell us: the Lord loves you the way you are. He will accept you even if you came in dirty and dressed badly. That’s true. Jn 15 tells us that Jesus the King indeed treats His servants (that’s you and me) as friends. Yet, true servants will never be overly informal to the point of disrespect.

If you treat your domestic help as part of the family – maybe by allowing her to eat with you at your table – she would still never dare to lie on your bed, or switch the TV channel when you are watching it. Even though you treat her as family, she still understands there is a certain level of respect between the two of you. Similarly, while God allows us to be friends with Him, we must ourselves pay due reverence.

Based on the above logic, then, it is easy to see how the same applies for visits to adoration room. There, we have the chance to experience the majestic presence of Jesus. It is only right that we dress appropriately when going in. That’s also why it’s important to be quiet and respectful when we’re in the prayer room.

That being said, we must be careful not to let the etiquette or the law get over our love for God. There will be times (particularly on weekdays) where you have no intention to attend mass or to go to church, but suddenly feel the need or desire to. If you’re dressed inappropriately then, and you have no chance of going home to dress up, you should not stop yourself from going to church, because laziness has not caused you to dress inappropriately. If you intend to go for mass or the adoration room, make the effort to dress appropriately.

It’s important to understand that we follow the law because we love God, we don’t love God because we’re following the law.

- Updated 9 Apr 2007