Doves Dressing for Mass "Strength and Dignity are Her Clothing" Proverbs 31:25

Clothed in Dignity
Modesty and Humility

The crowing virtues that serve to express
the charism of the DOVES

Our first expression of modesty is manifested in the clothes we wear to every Mass that we attend.
We witness to our heritage when we dress for the occasion
of coming into the Kingly Presence of our Eucharistic Lord.
These clothes are the clothes we reserve for special occasions.

Daughters are asked to wear a skirt or dress when serving as DOVES.
My daughter is only six, but I have explained to her that we wear our
P.J. (princess/prince for Jesus) clothes whenever we come to Mass
as a sign of our love for the True Presence of Jesus Christ our King and Lord.
This is a simple beginning for her, but truly inspires daughters of all ages
to consider their time in preparing before coming to Mass,
as daughters of the Loving Lord.

Written by Sharon M. Willoughby
Copyright 2010

“Modesty is the virtue that moderates all the internal and external movements and appearance of a person according to her endowments, possessions, and station in life. Four virtues are commonly included under modesty: humility, studiousness and two kind of external modesty, namely in dress and general behavior.

Humility is the ground of modesty in that it curbs the inordinate desire for personal excellence and inclines one to recognize her own worth in its true light. It is the moral virtue that that keeps one from reaching beyond herself. It is the virtue that restrains the unruly desire for personal greatness and leads people to an orderly love of themselves based on a true appreciation of their position, with respect to God and their neighbors.

Moral humility recognizes one’s creaturely equality with others. Yet humility is not only opposed to pride; it is also opposed to immoderate self-abjection, which would fail to recognize God’s gifts and use them according to His Will.

Studiousness moderates the desire and pursuit of truth in accordance with faith and right reason. Its contrary vices are curiosity, which is an excessive desire for knowledge, and negligence, which is remissness in acquiring the knowledge that should be had for one’s age and position in life.

Modesty in dress and bodily adornments inclines a person to avoid not only whatever is offensive to others, but whatever is not necessary. Modesty in bodily behavior directs a person to observe proper decorum in bodily movements, according to the dictum of Saint Augustine, ‘In all your movements let nothing be evident that would offend the eyes of another’.”

[Father John A. Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, p. 260, p.356.]