December 1, 2025 • 62 mins
A mother’s raw account of postpartum crisis turns into a story of God-inspired healing: spiritual, psychological, and physical. We trace the years-long birth of the Merciful Love Veil, why veiling expresses dignity and freedom, and what is the future for Lily at Veils by Lily, and does she have a new adventure waiting for her in this season of life?
• postpartum anxiety, depression, insomnia, and hospitalization
• parish and family support as lifelines
• therapy rooted in Catholic teaching and dignity
• St Elizabeth of the Trinity’s call to be loved
• medical roots: elevated copper and low vitamin D
• designing and launching the Merciful Love Veil
• veiling as sign of sacred identity and humility
• quality craft, ethical sourcing, lifetime warranty
• Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers and shipping deadlines
• practical veiling questions on length, fit, and discernment
• stepping back from leadership and sustaining the mission
• Advent hope, confession, Eucharist, daily conversion
Please join us every week on the Veil in Armor podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lens and mother’s heart.
To see Veils by Lily's veils and connect on social media:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lily Wilson (00:00):
So it was, it was very difficult after uh baby
number seven was born.
Just I I just struggled a greatdeal.
And uh when he was seven, sevenmonths old, um, it just all
kind of uh came to a head.
And uh I actually ended up inthe hospital.
And um, you know, I I never sawthis coming, you know, it was
(00:23):
something that I don't know,that happened to other people,
not to me.
And it really threw me for aloop.
It was a very dark period.
But through the mercy of God,he started to open my eyes to
the goodness that that wasaround me that I did not see
before.
But I think part that was partpart of the problem too, because
my my and I think a lot ofwomen's mo is to just take care
(00:48):
of everyone and everything,everyone's problems, neglect
ourselves, and then and then wesuffer.
We suffer for it.
And then our families suffer.
So we really have to take careof ourselves.
Self-care is not a selfishthing, you know, depending on
how you define it, but getgetting proper sleep, proper
nutrition, you know, speaking toa therapist a lot of times that
(01:09):
there's a lot of things fromchildhood that we have to um
that we have to overcome that behealed from, you know, various
wounds and things like that.
And it's really helpful to beable to reach out to uh to a
counseling professional whoknows your faith and who is
going to give you counsel inaccordance with the Catholic
(01:29):
faith and to where you can trustthat you won't be led astray is
is so very important.
Sheila Nonato (01:36):
Welcome back, Sisters in Christ, and welcome
to the first week of Advent.
This week we are going to lookat the theme of hope.
As previously we had looked atthe incredible story of Camille
Mendoza, her incredible journeyof healing from grief to
consolation in Jesus.
And this week we're gonna belooking at Lily Wilson, Veils by
(02:00):
Lily, and how she has overcomeher cross of post-partum
struggles.
And before that, I just wantedto ask you: did you see the
latest Miss Universe pageant?
A contestant from Brazil wore aveil and gown to symbolize our
blessed mother.
It was modest and magnificentbecause the style is timeless.
(02:26):
Unfortunately, the culture seesthe Veil of Mary as a sign of
weakness and oppression.
Yet Christianity has alwaysbeen a religion that is
counter-cultural.
The veil symbolizingfemininity, humility, and
(02:47):
vulnerability.
It is in fact a symbol offreedom and empowerment.
"My grace is sufficient for you,for my power is made perfect in
weakness." St.
Paul said in his letter, in thesecond letter to the
Corinthians, Chapter 9, Verse12, Let's hear from
(03:09):
Veils by Lily, CEO and founder,and how her vulnerability before
God during her trials afterhaving her seventh baby led to
her discovering the strengththat emanates from the Father's
merciful love and how thisnewfound discovery has led to a
(03:34):
beautiful, newfound creation inherself and in her business.
Thank you for joining us thisweek, and may you have a
blessed, blessed start of theAdvent season.
God bless.
Hello and welcome to the Veil inArmour Podcast.
(03:56):
This is your host, SheilaNanato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist.
Seeking the guidance of theHoly Spirit and the inspiration
of Our Lady, I strive to tellstories that inspire,
illuminate, and enrich the livesof Catholic women to help them
in living out our vocation ofraising the next generation of
leaders and saints.
(04:16):
Please join us every week onthe Veil in Armor podcast, where
stories come alive through ajournalist's land and mother's
heart.
So, welcome back, Lily Wilsonfrom Veils by Lily.
And I your episode has had overa thousand views.
Which at that time that werecorded, we had less than 500
(04:38):
subscribers.
So that's how big that was.
And so many comments.
And six months ago there wasactually a question.
It's still that scene.
So but yeah, let's let's startoff out with a prayer, please,
if you don't mind.
Absolutely.
Did you want to lead orwhatever you uh feel comfortable
(04:59):
with?
Either I guess you can lead ifthat's fine.
Yeah, oh me.
Okay.
Hail Mary.
Yeah, why don't we do a hailmary?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of theHoly Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Lily Wilson (05:12):
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (05:26):
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you very much.
And um, so uh did you want tostart off with your business or
did you want to introduce us tothe Merciful Veil?
The Merciful Love veil and howthis sort of informed your own
um, I guess would you call itsuffering your own cross that
(05:51):
that you were dealing with andhow that led to the Merciful
Love veil.
What did you want to start offwith?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, so um, well, first of all, I'll to introduce
my business for those who arenot familiar with it.
Um it's Veils by Lily.
We've been in business for over15 years now.
Uh, we've been uh making veilshere in our workshop in Missouri
and uh and also importing veilsuh from abroad as well.
(06:19):
And uh it's been really a joyto be able to do this, to be
able to speak with so many womenuh who didn't realize that
something as simple as a headcovering would do so much for
their spiritual life.
Um and uh and to be honest, I'mcompletely awed and humbled at
(06:41):
what God has been able to dothrough through all of this.
Uh we have grown to where wehave about 15 women right now
working with us and to help it,you know, to help advance our
mission.
And uh it's just been reallysuch a privilege.
And um to to go to what youmentioned, uh in particular with
(07:05):
the with the merciful loveveil, uh, so we we launched the
the merciful love veil uh thisthis year, uh back in August.
And it's a veil that had beenin the works for for about six
years, is when we startedworking with with our uh uh lace
manufacturer.
(07:26):
Uh and uh and and it took along time.
It was a desire of mine to tomake a veil that was um was from
scratch our own.
So not not purchased lace andtrim and then sewn together, but
actually designed intentionallyum with the with the idea of of
(07:47):
just sharing it with as manypeople as possible.
And so that started in 2019, anduh, but then COVID hit, and
that had a very, verysignificant impact on our
business.
Um we it really cost us to tostruggle for the first time
because people people weren'tgoing to church.
(08:08):
And uh so that was a very, verydifficult period.
And as we were coming out ofCOVID and uh trying to decide,
you know, how are we going torecover?
You know, the the first thingthat came to mind was, you know,
the merciful love of God hasalways been there for me.
Uh, it helped me to recoverfrom postpartum mental health
(08:31):
issues after my seventh baby.
And um, and I really wanted toto honor it.
I I also made a uh an act ofoblation to merciful love after
the example of St.
Therese.
This was in uh in 2011, Ibelieve it was.
Uh, and um, and so just the theconcept of the merciful love of
(08:54):
the Lord that is so powerful,uh having brought me out of uh
just a very, very difficult timeof my life.
And I just wanted to dosomething to uh to to honor
that.
Um to, I don't know, just uh II don't know, just uh out of a
(09:16):
just a very deep sense ofgratitude for what the Lord did
for me in that.
So um, so so yeah, that's kindof where where the the story of
the merciful love veil begins.
Uh it's about uh it's about thethe Merciful Love of the Lord
that desires to pour himself outfor every single one of us.
(09:39):
So He's done this for me, he'sdone this for so many other
people that I know.
Uh and and it is there for theasking.
So um so so that's what sothat's what this is really
about.
Um and uh so uh in inparticular, and I know that uh
(10:00):
many women have experiencedpostpartum mental health
challenges.
Uh I'm not the only one.
And uh and this is inparticular for them.
Um and uh and I kind of wantedto share a little bit about uh
what the Lord did for me uh inthat time.
(10:22):
And so it was it was verydifficult after uh baby number
seven was born.
Um I just I I just struggled agreat deal.
And uh when he was seven, sevenmonths old, uh it just all kind
of uh came to a head.
And uh I actually ended up inthe hospital.
(10:43):
And um, you know, I I never sawthis coming, you know, it was
it was something that um I don'tknow, that happened to other
people, not to me.
And uh and it really threw mefor a loop.
Uh it was a very dark period.
Um, but through the mercy ofGod, you know, he started to
(11:06):
open my eyes to to the goodnessthat was around me that that I
did not see before.
Uh, I was almost stuck in inkind of a place of um, I guess
without intending to, a kind ofmentality of I have to save
myself and and also that I'mmore responsible for other
(11:29):
people than I actually am.
Um a kind of a sense ofover-responsibility, um, you
know, and uh and and that reallywas bringing me down.
Uh, but when I came out of thehospital, what I what I
experienced with just uh the theparish community that
surrounded me uh supporting me,first of all, of course, my
(11:52):
family, my sister flew in fromout of town to uh to be with me.
My mom came in um for about amonth and uh and I started to
see that things are not uh quiteas dark as they might seem when
when when we're in crisis, youknow.
Um but uh but shortly after theuh the you know the the
(12:19):
hospitalization in August of2022, uh I went on an
?
retreat uh with my parish.
And what I experienced therewas exactly that, the
unconditional love of thefather.
And it was just so beautifulbecause I knew, you know, the
Lord had brought me to my knees.
And I knew that it wasn'tanything that I had done to
(12:41):
deserve that love, that it wassimply because I was, you know,
or I am, you know.
Um and I and I think thatthat's really uh something that
uh that some people have notexperienced yet.
Uh, you know, to be loved justfor who you are and not because
of what you've done or or whatyou could do, uh, that kind of
(13:04):
thing.
So, you know, that's really soso very crucial for every
person.
Uh and so I was uh I had I wasfortunate that that that uh this
situation uh happened uh inorder that I might, you know,
open my heart to receive thatunconditional love.
(13:26):
And um I don't know what elseto say about that other than
it's you know uh I it was a hugestruggle because uh because I
didn't have any history oranything like that.
And so it was um it was alittle bit of uh of uh something
that really had us perplexed,you know, and and how are we
(13:49):
gonna get out of this and uhwhat medications are gonna help
me uh try various differentthings.
And um I didn't have uh propersupport at the beginning, uh,
but later I was able to find uha therapist from the Pastoral
Solutions Institute, Dr.
Greg Popak's uh organization,and um uh Dave McClow, if you
(14:15):
would uh pray for him, becausehe's currently suffering from
cancer.
Um he was instrumental in injust kind of bringing me out uh
of this in in in a I guess in apsychological sense, um and in
helping me re regain my myself-worth and uh and and and
(14:37):
just really live my sense ofself really rooted and grounded
in love, uh as opposed to fear,which is where I had been.
Uh and uh and so Dave workedworked with me for about two
years, and uh and the changethat happened uh was was really
(15:03):
just mind-blowing.
And uh I I've I have a hard timeputting this into words, but uh
but there's something aboutbeing treated as a as as a child
of God, full of dignity andvalue, uh, as opposed to a
diagnosis that uh that that isin itself so very healing.
(15:27):
And um and so that was that wasreally, really uh
life-changing, you know, thetime that he that he devoted to
helping me um, I don't know,rewrite a lot of scripts in my
mind that that I had uhdeveloped, I guess, as coping
coping mechanisms fromchildhood, you know, and uh and
(15:51):
and basically, yeah, it was itwas God's love uh uh just
pouring into me uh throughthrough the truth of who I am.
Uh and as we know, the truthsets us free.
So uh so it was a blessedexperience, very difficult.
Uh, but but that's you know,that's the merciful love of God,
you know, that that that lovesus as we are and raises us to
(16:15):
where he wants us to be.
Uh, and then by the grace ofGod, um, at one point I was
connected with a woman who hadsuffered the same thing.
And uh she had discovered thather problem was due to elevated
copper levels.
And uh that ended up being thesame uh for me.
(16:38):
And in addition, I also had umuh severely low vitamin D.
And uh so we got those both ofthose treated, and uh, and I was
able to come off, you know,most of the medications and and
it and and there was there wasreal healing, um, as in I could
(17:00):
sleep without without uh needinguh you know the help the help
of medications.
And so um, and so it was realhealing, uh, but it was both
spiritual, uh spiritual healing,also psychological, emotional,
and and physical, a physicalhealing uh through the through
(17:22):
the treatment of the of thecopper and vitamin D problems.
So um, you know, when they whenthey talk about miracles, I
consider this my miracle.
And uh, and I'm so so verygrateful for you know, all the
people that that work to addressall those different parts of
(17:42):
us, you know, the physical part,the emotional part, the
psychological and the spiritual.
And uh in in and that is intheir work and what they did for
me and uh and what my myfamily, the way that they took
care of me, uh, just was yeah, areal experience of the love of
(18:03):
God.
And uh and for that I am so verygrateful.
Uh, but after going through allof that, it just seemed
fitting, you know, to reallydedicate this new veil that we
finally were able to um uh toproduce and name it after after
merciful love, the merciful loveof God.
Uh and so that's that's whatwe're so pleased to be able to
(18:24):
offer to uh to women uh today asa reminder, you know,
especially when when we you knowstart going into uh into those
negative thought patterns, youknow, that that my worth is
defined by who God says I am.
And uh and and that veil isjust a symbol of that, that I'm
(18:46):
his beloved, that I am uhsacred, precious, precious, and
worthy of being loved.
So uh so yeah, that veil is forhim.
Sheila Nonato (18:56):
Well, thank you for um that courageous story.
And you know, a lot of women uhprobably have experienced this,
but they just don't have a aname uh for it, and maybe they
don't even think that somethingis going on.
Were there any symptoms when itfirst kind of appeared?
Lily Wilson (19:17):
Uh just it was um severe anxiety, uh uh severe
depression.
Um and then uh at one point Isaw I stopped being able to
sleep.
Um so I was awake for threedays straight.
And at that point, you know,when you're awake for three days
straight, your brain starts togo haywire.
Um, so it was um it was quiteterrifying.
(19:40):
But um yeah, that was yeah, anexperience I I wouldn't wish of
my worst enemy, you know, butthe Lord brought me through.
And that's that's the miracleright there.
Sheila Nonato (19:52):
So and so did you notice the symptoms or was it
somebody else?
Did your husband notice it?
Lily Wilson (19:59):
Nobody noticed until um uh until I wasn't able
to sleep, and clearly there wasa problem.
And the longer that it went on,um uh, you know, I was I
started acting in ways thatweren't, you know, it just
weren't me, you know.
Um kind of pacing back andforth and and and saying things,
(20:21):
you know, um uh that that thatweren't it it just it wasn't me.
So uh, you know, things like umuh believing that I had
condemned myself to hell, um,that there was that there was no
hope, that, you know, any, youknow, all sorts of those things.
(20:42):
Um and um that was very, verydifficult.
Uh, but it was clearly, youknow, my we we are body and
soul, you know, we're not justspiritual beings.
And taking care of our bodies isuh, you know, we think it it's
oh yeah, I'll get to it.
(21:02):
But I think part that was partpart of the problem too, because
my my and I think a lot ofwomen's MO is to just take care
of everyone and everything, uh,everyone's problems, neglect
ourselves, and then and then wesuffer.
We suffer for it.
And then our families suffer.
Um, so we really have to takecare of ourselves.
(21:24):
Self-care is not a selfishthing, you know, depending on
how you define it, but getgetting proper sleep, proper
nutrition, um, you know, uhspeaking to a therapist a lot of
times that there's a lot ofthings from childhood that we
have to um that we have toovercome that be healed from,
you know, various wounds andthings like that.
And uh and and it is reallyhelpful to be able to reach out
(21:49):
to uh to to a counselingprofessional who knows your
faith and who is going to giveyou counsel in accordance with
the Catholic faith and to whereyou can trust that you won't be
led astray.
It's it's so very important.
Sheila Nonato (22:07):
So so that so the the help you sought, did you
first go to the doctor um to getsort of diagnosed to figure out
what was going on?
And then you sought out theother, you know, to deal with
um, I guess the vitamindeficiencies and and then
self-care is and then of courseprayer.
I'm sure you went to prayer aswell as you were mentioning.
(22:27):
That would you go to the doctorfirst?
Is that what you did?
Lily Wilson (22:31):
So I I did not, well, initially I called all my
OBGYN and they didn't reallyknow what to do because I
couldn't really explain whatwhat I was experiencing.
You know, it just sounded likelike just a regular depression,
and uh and and so they're like,well, you know, uh and they were
(22:52):
also very busy.
And so it just um kind of umgot put to the side.
I at one point I uh I went toone of our uh local emergency
rooms and uh and they, you know,they would speak to me and they
they didn't see anything out ofthe ordinary except just, you
(23:14):
know, she she probably looksdepressed, you know, and and
speaking slow and that kind ofthing.
Uh and so um so it was justvery hard to pinpoint.
And so when I started uh uh notsleeping, um that's that's what
really really did it.
And um then finally my husbandwas clued in that something
(23:36):
actually was wrong.
And and one of our priestsactually uh encouraged him to
take me to the hospital uh toget treatment.
So yeah.
Sheila Nonato (23:47):
And as you were saying women, usually mothers
especially, you know, want totake care of others first.
But this case we need to weneed to take care of ourselves
so that we can take good care ofother people.
And I love that you you went toour Lord.
Um, I mean you you went to thedoctors, as you said, us
(24:08):
counseling, um, but you alsowent to the Lord and you
experienced his merciful love.
Can you tell us, like, wasthere sort of a a moment, an
exact moment you felt that?
Were you in prayer,(Eucharistic) Adoration?
Um, can you can you give us aninsight?
Lily Wilson (24:23):
Right.
So, you know, there was areligious element to everything
that I was experiencing.
Um in fact, uh, when I was inthe hospital, I had a vision of
uh Jesus crucified.
Um and uh you might say avision or hallucination.
I don't know what you want,might want to call it, but um,
(24:45):
but uh but yeah, it was um itwas just very bizarre.
And uh, but you know, when Iwhen I came out of the hospital
because of the religious contentof of what I was experiencing,
um, you know, some peoplediscouraged me from uh from
(25:08):
praying.
They were thinking that I waspraying too much, you know, um,
which I wasn't, you know, butuh, but they were thinking they
were trying to problem solve forme.
They were, they were trying topinpoint, well, it must be this,
it must be that, you know, youneed to stop praying.
You know, like, you know, allthose things.
And uh, and and I just stoodfirm.
(25:28):
I'm like, I'm gonna, you know,this is this is my faith.
I'm not gonna turn, turn aside.
So even in the dark, so it wasa very, a very dark period, but
even in the darkness, you know,to have um uh to be able to keep
my eyes fixed on Jesus uhwithout feeling anything.
Uh no consolation, no um, no, noaffirmation of any kind, just
(25:53):
completely in the dark.
Uh, and that's exactly how itwas.
Um, but the I guess I knew itwas gonna start to get better
the first time I spoke withDave.
And uh he spoke directly into,and I don't want to cry, but he
spoke directly into um into thepain of my heart, into my
(26:20):
deepest insecurity.
And uh, and I'll have to share,I'm trying to see here, do I
have um trying to see where thisquote is?
Um okay.
(26:44):
So Dave really spoke directlyinto into that insecurity, into
into the deepest, um uh deepestpart of of my pain.
And um, you know, uh I'm tryingto find the um the quote from uh
(27:06):
from Saint Elizabeth of theTrinity, and I think I found it
here, so I'm gonna read it foryou.
Uh and so as we were wrappingup that initial call, uh Dave
left me with this quote from uhfrom Saint Elizabeth.
(27:26):
Um this was actually um uh uhwhat was it?
I think a letter uh from uhSaint Elizabeth of the Trinity
to her mother superior and umand she says to her uh I guess
she's she's passing on to herthe words of the Lord and says
(27:50):
to her, you are uncommonlyloved, loved by that love of
preference that the master hadhere below for some and which
brought them so far.
He does not say to you as toPeter, do you love me more than
these?
So she's saying he said toPeter, Do you love me more than
(28:11):
this?
But he says to you, letyourself be loved more than
these.
That is, without fearing thatany obstacle will be a hindrance
to it, for I am free to pourout my love on whom I wish.
Let yourself be loved more thanthese is your vocation, and it
(28:32):
is in being faithful to it thatyou will make me happy, for you
will magnify the power of mylove.
This love can rebuild what youhave destroyed.
Let yourself be loved more thanthese.
And uh clearly, you know, thistherapist with with over 30
years of experience worked withso many people in pain.
(28:55):
Uh, he he I I at that moment Ifelt that he saw me and uh and
and and the Holy Spirit gavehim, you know, that quote share
with me, which was exactly whatI needed and the exact
encouragement that I needed.
Because um I yeah, you know, II I think we we do all have the
(29:18):
temptation that we have to workfor our salvation.
And even if we say we don't, alot of times we act as if we do,
right?
So we have to do this and Ihave to do that, and then you
know, busy ourselves with thingsbecause we think that's what
the Lord is asking.
(29:38):
Um but the Lord first andforemost wants us to let Him
love us, you know, and uhwithout conditions, without
conditions, um that his love isnot like our human love.
(29:59):
That is imperfect and um andand that sometimes comes and
goes, you know.
But uh but that his love is istrue, uh, that he himself is
real, um, and that he desires topour out his love on us.
(30:21):
And who are we to tell him no?
You know, so uh but that momentthat's when I knew that
everything was going to be okay.
Sheila Nonato (30:36):
That's very beautiful.
It's I can imagine our Lordputting uh the most beautiful
veil on your head and justgiving me giving you a warm
embrace and Our Lady also beingthere with him.
Um that's just that's just abeautiful, beautiful image,
especially going into um Adventseason.
(30:58):
That we um you know, we see OurLady, she's clothed in the
veil.
Um and that's her beauty.
That was her beauty that thatshone, even though she was
veiled in her inner beauty, I'msure it radiated outwards, just
like women's beauty when you seeone and when you see a woman in
(31:20):
church, um, just like the brideof Christ, right?
Like I never saw it that waybefore.
Because I I always thought, youknow, you know, we're all
liberated.
We uh need to be free, freefrom, you know, we but being
clothed in the love of God, themercy mercy of God as you
described, um, it's so much moreuh beautiful.
(31:44):
And it it it gives I I can'teven describe it.
Like I'm trying to find animage, but it's just it it
escapes me because it's justwithout words, you know, the way
that you described it, that youyou felt this love.
And it feels like it soundedlike it felt that you felt this
love like beyond your yourphysical body, like your soul
embraced was embraced by Jesus,you know.
(32:07):
Is that sort of how you felt?
I don't want to put words intoyour mouth.
Is that sort of how you felt?
Lily Wilson (32:12):
Yeah, it really was.
I mean, I I I um I at thatmoment I didn't realize that
somebody could see so deeplyinto my soul and understand uh
what was it, what what it wasthat I actually needed to hear
at that moment.
And I think that that can onlycome from the Holy Spirit.
Um, the Holy Spirit is uh, youknow, dwells in the deepest
(32:35):
parts of our souls.
And in that moment, you know,uh heart spoke to heart, you
know, and it was such a great,um, great consolation and
encouragement and uh and just anexample of how we can be Christ
to one another through throughour words, our example, our um,
(32:55):
you know, our deeds.
Uh and and that's what we'reall called to do for one
another.
Sheila Nonato (33:03):
Yes, absolutely.
And and so how how are youdoing now?
Lily Wilson (33:07):
I am doing uh exceptionally well.
Um yeah, just you know, back tonormal.
Um I mean, I can sleep withoutmedication.
Uh, I'm enjoying life.
Uh my family is doing well.
Uh, there's peace in our home.
And I'm looking forward to to anew chapter.
(33:29):
So um I guess maybe this is agood time to uh to kind of share
that that I am gonna bestepping away from Bails by Lily
for a little while.
Um uh possibly indefinitely.
But um, but I've uh I've hireduh some wonderful women to to
take it over for me.
(33:49):
Uh and and we'll see what theLord has in store.
Uh so um I I have particularlyreceived a call uh to uh to work
with with the poor, especiallyum the spiritually poor.
Um my experience in thehospital was um was quite
(34:12):
life-changing.
And uh, you know, part of meuh, and when I think it back on
it, I I I um I reflect inparticular on one memory that I
have in in the common room atthe hospital, um, that it was
pretty chaotic in there, youknow.
And uh I don't know if I if youcan imagine it, but it was very
(34:33):
chaotic uh in the hospital.
Uh a lot of people who werestruggling more than I was.
Um, and I was just sitting thereon a chair observing
everything.
And at one point, one personsays to me, you know, everyone
here is crazy, except for you.
You're just sitting there, youknow, so and and I said, Yeah,
(34:56):
it's true.
Uh, but but I just I I trulyfeel that the Lord uh put me
there, you know, I guess youmight say divine pro providence,
um, to show me something.
I I truly feel that he showedme these people who were so very
spiritually poor, and uh and asa way to call me to um to
(35:24):
serve, to serve the poorest ofthe poor, which in in our
culture, it's not you know theslums of Calcutta, but it's the
people who don't know God.
And um that's where I'm goingthe exact uh the exact way that
or what what it will exactlylook like um is not clear yet.
Uh, but I know that this is acall from God, and I'm I'm I'm
(35:48):
excited to um to follow it.
So wow.
Sheila Nonato (35:52):
Well, thank you for for sharing that.
And I'm looking forward toseeing where you're gonna go
next.
Um, so it veils by Lily iscontinuing.
Is that what you said?
Lily Wilson (36:03):
Yes, it is.
Veils by Lily is stillcontinuing.
It is God's will that itcontinues.
There, there is uh such a sucha demand for veils, uh, and and
we're very happy to be able tocontinue this.
Um just that we have thecapability to do it, that the
Lord has provided uh the peoplethat Veils by Lily needs.
(36:24):
Um, and I'll I'll highlight inparticular uh
Mary Lee Salzer-Lutz, ourcurrent uh VP of operations.
Uh uh she is a very, verycapable lady with a lot of a lot
of experience.
Um, and uh I know she's gonnado a phenomenal job.
So you'll probably be hearingmore from her.
Sheila Nonato (36:44):
Okay.
And does this open leave thedoor open for you to come back
later?
Do you think?
Or you're not sure yet?
Lily Wilson (36:52):
You know, we'll see.
We'll see what happens.
So um, so I'm open to to towhatever the Lord wants.
And uh, whatever he says to do,I'll do.
You know, it's the it's theit's the only thing I can do
considering how gracious he'sbeen to me.
Um, and and just you know, howgood he is.
I can only, you know, the Lordspeaks and I listen and I act
(37:14):
and follow.
Sheila Nonato (37:16):
And so my husband went one day was like, maybe we
should go to Lily's shop inMissouri.
Is that still gonna be open oryes?
Lily Wilson (37:25):
It's still gonna be open.
Yep.
And uh 403 Oak Street inKimmswick, Missouri.
Uh, we love having visitorshere, and uh, and just we're
excited to to receive anybodywho wants to come.
Sheila Nonato (37:38):
Awesome.
And so if you can tell us, soyou talk about the Merciful Love
veil, what does it look like?
Uh, what colors does it comein, what lengths, and how do
people get access to it?
Lily Wilson (37:50):
Yeah, so it comes in three colors at this time,
and we may expand uh to morecolors in the future.
Uh, but it's available inchampagne, in uh amethyst, which
is a purple, and onyx, which isa shade of black.
Uh they're just so beautiful.
Um people can see pictures onour website, veils by lily.com.
(38:13):
I think that's the best way toget an idea of what they're
like.
Um, but they're very soft andvery flowy, uh, just a beautiful
design.
And um it just the quality isis is really truly amazing.
Our our lacemaker is uh is umuh a lacemaker of of real
craftsmanship.
And uh and I know that peoplewon't be disappointed, so much
(38:37):
so that we do offer a lifetimewarranty on the veil against
manufacturer defects.
Um and so we we offer areplacement veils if if the
edges ever start to unravel,which they should not, um, or if
there's any other problem uh,you know, uh caused by you know
(38:57):
by the by the manufacturingprocess, which there won't be
any, you know, but we're just soconfident in it that we do
offer a lifetime warranty on theveil.
Sheila Nonato (39:06):
So and then it's available when it is already
available.
Lily Wilson (39:12):
We launched it on uh was it August 22nd, which
incidentally is the the exactthree-year anniversary of the
day that I was admitted to thehospital.
It was the um oh, you knowwhat?
I just gave you the wronginformation.
No, it wasn't August 22nd.
That was our original plan.
(39:32):
So you have to cut out, you'llhave to cut that out of the uh
of the recording.
Uh, but yeah, so we launched iton September 30th.
Um, it was on the eve of thefeast of St.
Therese, um, because it was herinspiration through her act of
ablation to Merciful Love thatuh that we wanted to honor.
And the timing just worked outperfectly in order for us to be
(39:54):
able to do that.
Uh we received it from themanufacturer just in time.
We started um uh cutting it outof the rolls and uh and we were
able to start shipping on onSeptember 30th.
Sheila Nonato (40:08):
Okay, wonderful.
And um Black Friday's comingup.
So is there uh somethingspecial coming up for Vales by
Lily?
Lily Wilson (40:18):
Yes, so we are going to offer uh a generous 20%
off store wide from all the wayfrom Black Friday through Cider
Monday.
And so when we offer 20% off,it's usually a single veil or a
single color because our veilsare priced um as low as possible
(40:39):
to keep them affordable foreveryone, especially considering
all of our employees um arehere in the United States, uh,
which in itself is a big thing.
Um, so 20% off store wide uhfrom Black Friday through the
end of Cyber Monday.
And in addition to that, we arealso offering a whopping 40%
(41:01):
off the merciful love veil,because it it's it's my heart,
you know.
Uh my heart, my heart for theLord, my heart for the the
merciful love of God.
Um, so we are offering 40% offthe merciful love veil.
Sheila Nonato (41:16):
Wow.
I mean so that's gonna beexciting.
And um so for Christmasshopping, when do they have the
orders have to be in?
Um I guess let's let's talkabout the United States.
Um when do orders have to bein?
Yeah.
Lily Wilson (41:31):
So within the United States, um, you will want
to order uh if you're orderingone of our handmade to order
bales, uh, which we only have afew of them left.
Uh, we we we've been able tomake most of them ready to ship
to where we have them made andsitting on the shelf ready for
somebody to order.
(41:52):
Uh, but any of it are handmadeto order, uh, you can still
order them with the rush optionthrough the end of the day,
Wednesday, December 3rd.
Uh, then uh the vast majorityof our veils, which are ready to
ship veils now, uh, withstandard shipping, you'll want
(42:13):
to order by the end of the dayTuesday, December 9th.
And then with priority shippingfor ready to ship veils, you'll
want to order through the endof the day Saturday, December
13th.
And then for uh expeditedshipping, the ready to ship
veils, you'll want to order bythe end of the day Thursday,
(42:33):
December 18th.
And you can find all of thisinformation on our website under
Christmas deadlines.
Sheila Nonato (42:39):
Okay.
Okay.
And the website again,
Lily Wilson (42:42):
veilsbylily.com
Sheila Nonato (42:45):
Okay.
Um, and I just had a question uhfrom your episode.
Somebody asked, uh, "do youneed to have a veil that covers
the length of your hair?"
Lily Wilson (42:55):
So you don't.
That is optional.
Uh it's uh it's you know, in insome places it's tradition for
for women to cover the fulllength of the hair, um, but it's
not necessary.
Uh it's really um it's it'sreally meant to be uh a symbolic
covering, a symbolic act ofhumility.
(43:17):
Um, but some women do feel thatthat covering the full length
of your hair um serves thepurpose of the veil better.
And so it would be somethingfor you to pray about and
discern, you know, what what isit that you're comfortable with,
or maybe what is it that theLord is calling you to.
Uh and uh and and depending onwhat that is, you know, you can
(43:41):
make your choice and and and uhchoose a longer veil or
something a little shorter.
Sheila Nonato (43:50):
Okay.
And I picked up this book fromAmazon.
I didn't realize it was on yourwebsite too.
I think it's still on yourwebsite, the manic The Veil of
the Bride of Christ.
Yes.
And it was talking about in thebeginning, it's talking about
the biblical reasons of veiling.
Like we look in the OldTestament, Rebecca, and in the
New Testament, of course, SaintPaul talks about it, and of
(44:10):
course, our lady was veiled.
Um, Saint Veronica, you know,the veil of Veronica, again,
something that we are familiarwith.
But I guess it sort of fell outof favor in the church.
But to be honest, I've beennoticing, and it's like we've
been in different cities in uhin in the states, and then even
(44:31):
here in Canada, I've noticed theveil at Novus Ordo Masses,
actually.
Uh, and young ones, even littlegirls, they're it's really
sweet to see them.
It's like it's coming back.
It's um, yeah.
What do you what do you make ofthis kind of trend that's
that's coming back?
Lily Wilson (44:47):
Yeah, so it's it's a beautiful thing.
And I think um all of theeducation that we've been trying
to do for 15 years and that uhand that our very own customers
have been trying to spread hasreally been effective.
Um, people are are are finallyunderstanding the true reasons
why we wear the veil.
(45:08):
And and those are beautifulreasons, you know, grounded in
truth.
And um, you know, I think thatwhen the veils uh fell away uh
back with the feminist movementand all that, I think it was
caught up in a lot of thecultural thing, but it wasn't
something that needed to bediscarded, you know.
Um it was um it just I thinkpeople just needed to know more
(45:32):
about it at the right time.
And I think that was the righttime.
Sheila Nonato (45:37):
Yes, and um, I have a couple of your veils.
One the one that I purchasedwas Our Lady of Guadalupe, if
I'm not if I'm not mistaken.
Simple, very I just want tostart it off with something
simple because I wasn't sure.
And then the one you had giftedme, the Saint Therese, so
beautiful.
My husband is alwayscompliments, you know, like
(45:57):
that's so the quality of yourveils is amazing.
And when I see somebody or whensomebody sees me with a veil,
he asks, Where'd you get itfrom?
And I say, Veils by Lily orVeils B y Lily, or if I see
somebody with a veil, I'll askthem, "Where'd you get your
veil?" And they'll say Veils byLily.
Thank you.
In Canada, this is in Canada.
I I saw somebody yeah, on aretreat from and she was in New
(46:20):
York, actually, she lived in NewYork.
So uh so everyone pretty muchknows veils by Lily.
That's where you go.
So how are you able to maintainthis sort of level of quality
of the veils and and keepingyour mission, the core mission,
like central to what you'redoing?
Lily Wilson (46:38):
Yeah, so you know, the first thing is you know,
making sure that we're carefulwith with our suppliers.
Uh, we don't just buy our veilsfrom anywhere.
Uh and um, you know, we we'vehad some some customers, uh uh
people looking around ourwebsite uh claim that you know
some of our veils can be foundon on the cheap Chinese websites
(47:02):
for $3.
And um and I recently actuallyhad to had to um uh give
information to to a person whoposted a Google review in regard
to that.
And uh I was able to point outto that person uh like a
side-by-side picture differencebetween our our in particular
(47:24):
Spanish joymantilla and a um alow-quality reproduction by a
Chinese company.
And it's actually uh uh possibleto see the differences in the
quality of the of the veil.
And um, and so it's unfortunatethat the Chinese companies are
out there copying our designs.
(47:45):
Um, but but our customers canbe confident that that we use
reputable suppliers and uh andwe stand behind all of our all
of our veils.
So um, you know, we just havehigh standards and and our c a
quality control team really doesa wonderful job.
They are very, very thorough.
(48:06):
Um, they're eagle-eyed, if youwill.
Um, and uh they're you know, wewe feel that our customers def
deserve the best, and that'swhat we've trained them to do.
Sheila Nonato (48:19):
Yes, and um I never like paid attention to
this before, but my husband,when we um buy certain things,
like we don't know, he's like,we gotta put holy water, we
gotta bless it, because youdon't you don't really know who
made that and did the you know,people yeah, people can bless
things just like in the Bible,you know?
Blessings and then there arecurses, unfortunately.
(48:42):
So you never know.
And you know, if you buy a veilfrom, of course, Lily, you'll
you'll know they they made thatwith that that intention uh in
mind, Christ at the center.
And the other, I mean, not todisparage the other ones, uh,
you know, that you see.
And that's what you can afford.
I don't know.
But I'm just saying, like ifyou want peace of mind, right?
That you're you're giving yourmoney, your hard-earned money to
(49:06):
a business that, you know, awoman-run business, you know,
that you know, is helping to umfeed their family, basically,
right?
You know, that that's it'samazing.
Lily Wilson (49:17):
Yes, and honestly, not just mine, but the families
of all the other ladies who workhere.
And they're truly, trulywonderful women.
And I just couldn't, justcouldn't be more grateful for
for their contribution to ourmission.
Uh, it's just, it's just such ablessing.
Uh, it's created such awonderful community here at
Veils by Lily.
(49:38):
Um, so it's not just, you know,uh it's just not just about the
work anymore.
Uh it's also about thecommunity.
It's really wonderful.
Sheila Nonato (49:47):
Yes.
And I like price shouldn't bean an obstacle because you you
also started doing theseFacebook lives that you you
would offer some veils, youknow, I think I saw one for $20
or maybe even less.
Uh and so that, you know, for aperson who, you know, that
might be an obstacle, you couldconsider doing that.
So when do you do the Facebooklives?
Lily Wilson (50:08):
So a Facebook lives are every Wednesday at 12:15
p.m.
Central time.
Uh and um they're very quick.
And a lot of times the veils gofast.
So we do recommend people, youknow, just choosing the one they
want and going to order.
We do offer them at a discount.
Uh and for other people who arealso looking for a discount, uh
(50:29):
we recommend our Lazarus veils.
We call them Lazarus becausethey're given a second chance at
life.
They are a little less thanperfect, but it's not a reason
why they shouldn't be worn.
And so we discount those alsouh for anybody who needs a
discount on those.
Uh, but definitely people willwant to shop on uh Black Friday
(50:52):
through Cyber Monday for reallythe best deals uh on veils.
Uh they make beautiful,beautiful gifts.
It's something that's really,really quite thoughtful and and
women really enjoy receiving uhveils in particular from uh from
their significant others, uhhusbands, uh possibly
(51:13):
boyfriends.
Um, but that that is somethingthat really um uh conveys uh
thoughtful care um that goesinto a gift.
So we would definitelyrecommend that.
Sheila Nonato (51:26):
Awesome.
And finally, for those womenwho um, you know, might not ha
known have known about the veilor veiling, um, could you leave
them with some food for thought?
You know, what what convincedyou that, you know, I'd like to
take up this kind of traditionalpractice that um that used to
(51:47):
be, you know, what what what wasthe standard, I guess, for
women that now unfortunately nowwe're like unveiling women.
The the current Hollywood um Iguess style now is like
see-through clothing.
So this is the opposite ofthat.
So what what can you encourage,you know, women who, you know,
that you know, they they havetheir traditional kind of
(52:09):
classic tastes.
What would you say about?
Lily Wilson (52:12):
I would say and just remember that the church
has always veiled everythingthat is sacred.
And that means that you are,too.
Sheila Nonato (52:23):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And as Christmas is coming up,we look to Our Lady, who is the
new Ark of the Covenant, and shehoused our Lord.
And as you were saying in theBible, um, our Lord had very
careful instructions on how umthe Israelites were to construct
the Ark of the Covenant.
It was, you know, in gold andthere were cherubims.
(52:46):
Uh, it was glorious, andwhenever they went into battle,
the ark was there.
And now in our own spiritualbattle, we have our lady going
forward because she she carriesour Lord.
We have our lady, the rosary,and the veil to sort of help us
to arm us spiritually that wealways remember it's the
(53:06):
humility, the humility of ourlady that helped to sort of
write this story of salvation.
And of course, Jesus is OurSaviour, but our lady was part
of that story.
And um, any Christmas plans,Lily?
Speaker 3 (53:22):
Christmas plans now, just enjoy the family uh at
home.
Um we don't have family intown, so it's just me and my
husband and and our sevenchildren.
Uh, and I can't wait.
It's just uh lovely to spendthose holidays with them.
Uh, Thanksgiving is first, andthen uh and then Christmas, and
we're just all looking forwardto it.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
And do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?
Do you make something special?
Speaker 3 (53:48):
So uh my husband is usually the one that does most
of the of the creative cookingat home.
I do have an idea of somethingthat I want to make this year.
However, our big Chris uhThanksgiving tradition is to
after our Thanksgiving dinner,uh, we go to the uh the Shrine
(54:09):
of Our Lady of the Snows inBelleville, Illinois, uh for the
Way of Lights.
And uh they walk you throughthe the Nativity story.
Uh and there it's just filledwith Christmas lights and the
kids absolutely love it.
And it's been our traditionever since my husband and I were
married.
Our very first year uh we didit and we've done it ever since.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Beautiful.
And did you have any finalwords?
Speaker 3 (54:36):
No, just thank you for for letting me be here and
share my story.
Um uh I just encourage everyoneto uh especially those ladies
who might be on the fence aboutveiling, uh, to to to go for it
because it's it's really abeautiful thing that has
enriched enriched the spirituallives of so many women, you
know, when when when done with aproper interior disposition,
(54:58):
which is as you said, it's thehumility, the desire for for
humility, you know, um, youmight even say the commitment to
humility and to and and toalways um you know keep in mind
that that the goal is continualconversion, that it's not
perfection right now, but butbut to grow, uh to grow in
holiness and to to just be alittle bit more faithful to the
(55:23):
Lord every day, uh being willingto to repent of our sins, to
receive uh the sacrament ofreconciliation frequently,
receive the Eucharist uhfrequently as well, and just
live in God's grace.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yes, and just the final word on because on X,
there was some misunderstanding.
You know, there's so manyconversations, but the one I was
involved in, they always go toEphesians 5 and they always
don't understand submission isnot subjugation.
And we're not submitting toman, we're actually submitting
to God of our free will.
(55:58):
So it doesn't mean we're lessthan men, we're we're actually
clothing ourselves in the puritythat and the dignity that God
created us, each and every oneof us.
And I think unfortunately we'reit's getting lost, especially
amongst women um in the cultureHollywood, unfortunately, porn
(56:21):
culture, and it is having asevere effect on our young
people, especially the boys andthe girls who um they don't feel
like they're enough.
They have to and they don'tfeel special, they don't realize
how as you were saying, likethe God-given dignity and worth
that each and every one, andwe're we're losing that because
(56:43):
we're we think like everyone hasto have a piece of us, everyone
has to see us, but God wantsyou for himself, and uh if
you're called to marriage foryour future spouse, and one way
to sort of keep that in mind ishaving this veil in your mind.
Uh remembering, you know, yeah,remember Our Lady, how she
always wore the veil.
(57:04):
And if the mother of God, youknow, if if if she's if it's
good enough for her, you mean itshould be good enough for us,
right?
That that's you know, Godcertainly, I mean, Jesus
certainly treasured his mother.
And and the way we also see ourmothers, we would love to see
our daughters also kind ofemulate that purity, that
(57:24):
dignity.
Um, and I I really truly Iappreciate you coming back,
Lily.
And I think last time you wereon, the same same time as uh
Black Friday.
God's timing.
Lily Wilson (57:35):
That's right.
Sheila Nonato (57:36):
You know, whoever is um on the fence about it,
think about it.
And like like we were saying,there's um, as you were saying,
the Facebook lives and also theLazarus veils, if you're not
sure, um, you know, the priceshouldn't be an obstacle for
you.
You know, go into prayer andsee what you know what what is
the Lord calling you to do.
(57:57):
And it's really not just, it'snot just a piece of uh material,
right?
It's it's also part of your, itcan be part of your interior
life and your prayer practice.
It doesn't just have to be uh,you know, something that for
show.
It's it's really for you andfor God.
And um, and yeah, was thereanything else like did I
misspeak about something, Lily?
Lily Wilson (58:17):
No, you got it all right.
Yeah.
And uh it's just a beautifulthing to do for God, a a
beautiful reminder of yourdignity, especially when you're
tempted to believe that that uhthat that it's not there.
Um uh that that does happen.
You know, we continuallystruggle with these temptations,
but it's a it's a wonderfulreminder to always get us back
(58:38):
to uh to uh to understanding ourdignity before God and that
he's the one that gives us ourdignity and we don't have to
work for it, we don't have toearn it, uh, but it's just given
to us by by the fact that weare created in his image and
likeness.
Sheila Nonato (58:53):
Beautiful.
And God willing, Lily, if um ifyou're still in Missouri, uh do
you have any plasma moving?
Because we're we're thinkinglike maybe we should one day
take a trip to your shop.
Lily Wilson (59:04):
That would be wonderful.
It would be wonderful to me inperson, sure.
Sheila Nonato (59:08):
Definitely, thank you so much.
God bless you.
Thank you for sharing your verycourageous story that I'm sure
a lot resonates with a lot ofwomen who may feel like they
don't know what words to put towhat they're feeling, and you
put words to what you werefeeling.
So hopefully that gives themthe courage to seek help, you
know, to go to the doctor, tofind a Catholic counselor, a
(59:28):
priest for spiritual direction,go to the Eucharist, confession.
A ll the things that will helpus to heal.
Um, and especially as we'regoing to the busy Christmas
season, we have to we have tosort of um develop our own inner
strength because you know, thethe season is very busy, right?
And we we can as mothers, aswomen, we need that that
(59:50):
interior strength to to get usthrough all the dangers.
So thank you so much again,Lily.
God bless you.
My pleasure.
God bless you.
Take care.
Bye.
Thank you once again forjoining us, friends, and also a
special thank you to Lily Wilsonfrom Veils by Lily for opening
up her heart and sharing herstory of the consolation in
(01:00:15):
Jesus and the trials, the crossthat she carried after having
her seventh baby, the postpartumstruggles that we mothers can
face after such a monumentalevent in our lives, the the
birth of our children.
And we pray for Lily, continuedhealing and restoration, and for
(01:00:38):
her new adventure that she'sembarking upon.
We're blessed to have her onthis week.
And friends, we are coming upto the feast of the Immaculate
Conception, and I invite you to,if you haven't started already,
the to pray the novena for theImmaculate Conception.
And as we know, Mary isinviting us to a deeper
(01:01:01):
relationship with Jesus.
And for that reason, ourepisodes will be featuring the
feminine genius of Mother Mary,who leads us to Jesus.
And our next guest will beCarissa Douglas, mother of 16,
the author of the Little Douglasseries, Beautiful, Beautiful
Soul, Beautiful Mother.
(01:01:21):
And she also has aheart-wrenching story of hope
and healing and restoration.
And after we will be releasingvideos and interviews from the
Catholic Raider Conference, ablessed conference in
Steubenville, Ohio.
The organizer, one of the mainorganizers, Kyle Whittington, is
going to be our guest.
(01:01:42):
We are honored, uh humbled andhonored to have him on the show.
And also Estelle and KeithNestor.
Just a blessing to have metthem, to hear their story
firsthand, and many, many moreguests who had just have a love
and a big heart for Jesus andfor Mary.
So stay tuned, friends, and havea blessed, blessed week.
(01:02:05):
Thank you so much again forjoining us.
God bless the money.
Co-Host (01:02:41):
And be blessed together.
So it was, it was very difficult after uh baby
number seven was born.
Just I I just struggled a greatdeal.
And uh when he was seven, sevenmonths old, um, it just all
kind of uh came to a head.
And uh I actually ended up inthe hospital.
And um, you know, I I never sawthis coming, you know, it was
(00:23):
something that I don't know,that happened to other people,
not to me.
And it really threw me for aloop.
It was a very dark period.
But through the mercy of God,he started to open my eyes to
the goodness that that wasaround me that I did not see
before.
But I think part that was partpart of the problem too, because
my my and I think a lot ofwomen's mo is to just take care
(00:48):
of everyone and everything,everyone's problems, neglect
ourselves, and then and then wesuffer.
We suffer for it.
And then our families suffer.
So we really have to take careof ourselves.
Self-care is not a selfishthing, you know, depending on
how you define it, but getgetting proper sleep, proper
nutrition, you know, speaking toa therapist a lot of times that
(01:09):
there's a lot of things fromchildhood that we have to um
that we have to overcome that behealed from, you know, various
wounds and things like that.
And it's really helpful to beable to reach out to uh to a
counseling professional whoknows your faith and who is
going to give you counsel inaccordance with the Catholic
(01:29):
faith and to where you can trustthat you won't be led astray is
is so very important.
Sheila Nonato (01:36):
Welcome back, Sisters in Christ, and welcome
to the first week of Advent.
This week we are going to lookat the theme of hope.
As previously we had looked atthe incredible story of Camille
Mendoza, her incredible journeyof healing from grief to
consolation in Jesus.
And this week we're gonna belooking at Lily Wilson, Veils by
(02:00):
Lily, and how she has overcomeher cross of post-partum
struggles.
And before that, I just wantedto ask you: did you see the
latest Miss Universe pageant?
A contestant from Brazil wore aveil and gown to symbolize our
blessed mother.
It was modest and magnificentbecause the style is timeless.
(02:26):
Unfortunately, the culture seesthe Veil of Mary as a sign of
weakness and oppression.
Yet Christianity has alwaysbeen a religion that is
counter-cultural.
The veil symbolizingfemininity, humility, and
(02:47):
vulnerability.
It is in fact a symbol offreedom and empowerment.
"My grace is sufficient for you,for my power is made perfect in
weakness." St.
Paul said in his letter, in thesecond letter to the
Corinthians, Chapter 9, Verse12, Let's hear from
(03:09):
Veils by Lily, CEO and founder,and how her vulnerability before
God during her trials afterhaving her seventh baby led to
her discovering the strengththat emanates from the Father's
merciful love and how thisnewfound discovery has led to a
(03:34):
beautiful, newfound creation inherself and in her business.
Thank you for joining us thisweek, and may you have a
blessed, blessed start of theAdvent season.
God bless.
Hello and welcome to the Veil inArmour Podcast.
(03:56):
This is your host, SheilaNanato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist.
Seeking the guidance of theHoly Spirit and the inspiration
of Our Lady, I strive to tellstories that inspire,
illuminate, and enrich the livesof Catholic women to help them
in living out our vocation ofraising the next generation of
leaders and saints.
(04:16):
Please join us every week onthe Veil in Armor podcast, where
stories come alive through ajournalist's land and mother's
heart.
So, welcome back, Lily Wilsonfrom Veils by Lily.
And I your episode has had overa thousand views.
Which at that time that werecorded, we had less than 500
(04:38):
subscribers.
So that's how big that was.
And so many comments.
And six months ago there wasactually a question.
It's still that scene.
So but yeah, let's let's startoff out with a prayer, please,
if you don't mind.
Absolutely.
Did you want to lead orwhatever you uh feel comfortable
(04:59):
with?
Either I guess you can lead ifthat's fine.
Yeah, oh me.
Okay.
Hail Mary.
Yeah, why don't we do a hailmary?
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of theHoly Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Lily Wilson (05:12):
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (05:26):
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you very much.
And um, so uh did you want tostart off with your business or
did you want to introduce us tothe Merciful Veil?
The Merciful Love veil and howthis sort of informed your own
um, I guess would you call itsuffering your own cross that
(05:51):
that you were dealing with andhow that led to the Merciful
Love veil.
What did you want to start offwith?
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Yeah, so um, well, first of all, I'll to introduce
my business for those who arenot familiar with it.
Um it's Veils by Lily.
We've been in business for over15 years now.
Uh, we've been uh making veilshere in our workshop in Missouri
and uh and also importing veilsuh from abroad as well.
(06:19):
And uh it's been really a joyto be able to do this, to be
able to speak with so many womenuh who didn't realize that
something as simple as a headcovering would do so much for
their spiritual life.
Um and uh and to be honest, I'mcompletely awed and humbled at
(06:41):
what God has been able to dothrough through all of this.
Uh we have grown to where wehave about 15 women right now
working with us and to help it,you know, to help advance our
mission.
And uh it's just been reallysuch a privilege.
And um to to go to what youmentioned, uh in particular with
(07:05):
the with the merciful loveveil, uh, so we we launched the
the merciful love veil uh thisthis year, uh back in August.
And it's a veil that had beenin the works for for about six
years, is when we startedworking with with our uh uh lace
manufacturer.
(07:26):
Uh and uh and and it took along time.
It was a desire of mine to tomake a veil that was um was from
scratch our own.
So not not purchased lace andtrim and then sewn together, but
actually designed intentionallyum with the with the idea of of
(07:47):
just sharing it with as manypeople as possible.
And so that started in 2019, anduh, but then COVID hit, and
that had a very, verysignificant impact on our
business.
Um we it really cost us to tostruggle for the first time
because people people weren'tgoing to church.
(08:08):
And uh so that was a very, verydifficult period.
And as we were coming out ofCOVID and uh trying to decide,
you know, how are we going torecover?
You know, the the first thingthat came to mind was, you know,
the merciful love of God hasalways been there for me.
Uh, it helped me to recoverfrom postpartum mental health
(08:31):
issues after my seventh baby.
And um, and I really wanted toto honor it.
I I also made a uh an act ofoblation to merciful love after
the example of St.
Therese.
This was in uh in 2011, Ibelieve it was.
Uh, and um, and so just the theconcept of the merciful love of
(08:54):
the Lord that is so powerful,uh having brought me out of uh
just a very, very difficult timeof my life.
And I just wanted to dosomething to uh to to honor
that.
Um to, I don't know, just uh II don't know, just uh out of a
(09:16):
just a very deep sense ofgratitude for what the Lord did
for me in that.
So um, so so yeah, that's kindof where where the the story of
the merciful love veil begins.
Uh it's about uh it's about thethe Merciful Love of the Lord
that desires to pour himself outfor every single one of us.
(09:39):
So He's done this for me, he'sdone this for so many other
people that I know.
Uh and and it is there for theasking.
So um so so that's what sothat's what this is really
about.
Um and uh so uh in inparticular, and I know that uh
(10:00):
many women have experiencedpostpartum mental health
challenges.
Uh I'm not the only one.
And uh and this is inparticular for them.
Um and uh and I kind of wantedto share a little bit about uh
what the Lord did for me uh inthat time.
(10:22):
And so it was it was verydifficult after uh baby number
seven was born.
Um I just I I just struggled agreat deal.
And uh when he was seven, sevenmonths old, uh it just all kind
of uh came to a head.
And uh I actually ended up inthe hospital.
(10:43):
And um, you know, I I never sawthis coming, you know, it was
it was something that um I don'tknow, that happened to other
people, not to me.
And uh and it really threw mefor a loop.
Uh it was a very dark period.
Um, but through the mercy ofGod, you know, he started to
(11:06):
open my eyes to to the goodnessthat was around me that that I
did not see before.
Uh, I was almost stuck in inkind of a place of um, I guess
without intending to, a kind ofmentality of I have to save
myself and and also that I'mmore responsible for other
(11:29):
people than I actually am.
Um a kind of a sense ofover-responsibility, um, you
know, and uh and and that reallywas bringing me down.
Uh, but when I came out of thehospital, what I what I
experienced with just uh the theparish community that
surrounded me uh supporting me,first of all, of course, my
(11:52):
family, my sister flew in fromout of town to uh to be with me.
My mom came in um for about amonth and uh and I started to
see that things are not uh quiteas dark as they might seem when
when when we're in crisis, youknow.
Um but uh but shortly after theuh the you know the the
(12:19):
hospitalization in August of2022, uh I went on an
?
retreat uh with my parish.
And what I experienced therewas exactly that, the
unconditional love of thefather.
And it was just so beautifulbecause I knew, you know, the
Lord had brought me to my knees.
And I knew that it wasn'tanything that I had done to
(12:41):
deserve that love, that it wassimply because I was, you know,
or I am, you know.
Um and I and I think thatthat's really uh something that
uh that some people have notexperienced yet.
Uh, you know, to be loved justfor who you are and not because
of what you've done or or whatyou could do, uh, that kind of
(13:04):
thing.
So, you know, that's really soso very crucial for every
person.
Uh and so I was uh I had I wasfortunate that that that uh this
situation uh happened uh inorder that I might, you know,
open my heart to receive thatunconditional love.
(13:26):
And um I don't know what elseto say about that other than
it's you know uh I it was a hugestruggle because uh because I
didn't have any history oranything like that.
And so it was um it was alittle bit of uh of uh something
that really had us perplexed,you know, and and how are we
(13:49):
gonna get out of this and uhwhat medications are gonna help
me uh try various differentthings.
And um I didn't have uh propersupport at the beginning, uh,
but later I was able to find uha therapist from the Pastoral
Solutions Institute, Dr.
Greg Popak's uh organization,and um uh Dave McClow, if you
(14:15):
would uh pray for him, becausehe's currently suffering from
cancer.
Um he was instrumental in injust kind of bringing me out uh
of this in in in a I guess in apsychological sense, um and in
helping me re regain my myself-worth and uh and and and
(14:37):
just really live my sense ofself really rooted and grounded
in love, uh as opposed to fear,which is where I had been.
Uh and uh and so Dave workedworked with me for about two
years, and uh and the changethat happened uh was was really
(15:03):
just mind-blowing.
And uh I I've I have a hard timeputting this into words, but uh
but there's something aboutbeing treated as a as as a child
of God, full of dignity andvalue, uh, as opposed to a
diagnosis that uh that that isin itself so very healing.
(15:27):
And um and so that was that wasreally, really uh
life-changing, you know, thetime that he that he devoted to
helping me um, I don't know,rewrite a lot of scripts in my
mind that that I had uhdeveloped, I guess, as coping
coping mechanisms fromchildhood, you know, and uh and
(15:51):
and basically, yeah, it was itwas God's love uh uh just
pouring into me uh throughthrough the truth of who I am.
Uh and as we know, the truthsets us free.
So uh so it was a blessedexperience, very difficult.
Uh, but but that's you know,that's the merciful love of God,
you know, that that that lovesus as we are and raises us to
(16:15):
where he wants us to be.
Uh, and then by the grace ofGod, um, at one point I was
connected with a woman who hadsuffered the same thing.
And uh she had discovered thather problem was due to elevated
copper levels.
And uh that ended up being thesame uh for me.
(16:38):
And in addition, I also had umuh severely low vitamin D.
And uh so we got those both ofthose treated, and uh, and I was
able to come off, you know,most of the medications and and
it and and there was there wasreal healing, um, as in I could
(17:00):
sleep without without uh needinguh you know the help the help
of medications.
And so um, and so it was realhealing, uh, but it was both
spiritual, uh spiritual healing,also psychological, emotional,
and and physical, a physicalhealing uh through the through
(17:22):
the treatment of the of thecopper and vitamin D problems.
So um, you know, when they whenthey talk about miracles, I
consider this my miracle.
And uh, and I'm so so verygrateful for you know, all the
people that that work to addressall those different parts of
(17:42):
us, you know, the physical part,the emotional part, the
psychological and the spiritual.
And uh in in and that is intheir work and what they did for
me and uh and what my myfamily, the way that they took
care of me, uh, just was yeah, areal experience of the love of
(18:03):
God.
And uh and for that I am so verygrateful.
Uh, but after going through allof that, it just seemed
fitting, you know, to reallydedicate this new veil that we
finally were able to um uh toproduce and name it after after
merciful love, the merciful loveof God.
Uh and so that's that's whatwe're so pleased to be able to
(18:24):
offer to uh to women uh today asa reminder, you know,
especially when when we you knowstart going into uh into those
negative thought patterns, youknow, that that my worth is
defined by who God says I am.
And uh and and that veil isjust a symbol of that, that I'm
(18:46):
his beloved, that I am uhsacred, precious, precious, and
worthy of being loved.
So uh so yeah, that veil is forhim.
Sheila Nonato (18:56):
Well, thank you for um that courageous story.
And you know, a lot of women uhprobably have experienced this,
but they just don't have a aname uh for it, and maybe they
don't even think that somethingis going on.
Were there any symptoms when itfirst kind of appeared?
Lily Wilson (19:17):
Uh just it was um severe anxiety, uh uh severe
depression.
Um and then uh at one point Isaw I stopped being able to
sleep.
Um so I was awake for threedays straight.
And at that point, you know,when you're awake for three days
straight, your brain starts togo haywire.
Um, so it was um it was quiteterrifying.
(19:40):
But um yeah, that was yeah, anexperience I I wouldn't wish of
my worst enemy, you know, butthe Lord brought me through.
And that's that's the miracleright there.
Sheila Nonato (19:52):
So and so did you notice the symptoms or was it
somebody else?
Did your husband notice it?
Lily Wilson (19:59):
Nobody noticed until um uh until I wasn't able
to sleep, and clearly there wasa problem.
And the longer that it went on,um uh, you know, I was I
started acting in ways thatweren't, you know, it just
weren't me, you know.
Um kind of pacing back andforth and and and saying things,
(20:21):
you know, um uh that that thatweren't it it just it wasn't me.
So uh, you know, things like umuh believing that I had
condemned myself to hell, um,that there was that there was no
hope, that, you know, any, youknow, all sorts of those things.
(20:42):
Um and um that was very, verydifficult.
Uh, but it was clearly, youknow, my we we are body and
soul, you know, we're not justspiritual beings.
And taking care of our bodies isuh, you know, we think it it's
oh yeah, I'll get to it.
(21:02):
But I think part that was partpart of the problem too, because
my my and I think a lot ofwomen's MO is to just take care
of everyone and everything, uh,everyone's problems, neglect
ourselves, and then and then wesuffer.
We suffer for it.
And then our families suffer.
Um, so we really have to takecare of ourselves.
(21:24):
Self-care is not a selfishthing, you know, depending on
how you define it, but getgetting proper sleep, proper
nutrition, um, you know, uhspeaking to a therapist a lot of
times that there's a lot ofthings from childhood that we
have to um that we have toovercome that be healed from,
you know, various wounds andthings like that.
And uh and and it is reallyhelpful to be able to reach out
(21:49):
to uh to to a counselingprofessional who knows your
faith and who is going to giveyou counsel in accordance with
the Catholic faith and to whereyou can trust that you won't be
led astray.
It's it's so very important.
Sheila Nonato (22:07):
So so that so the the help you sought, did you
first go to the doctor um to getsort of diagnosed to figure out
what was going on?
And then you sought out theother, you know, to deal with
um, I guess the vitamindeficiencies and and then
self-care is and then of courseprayer.
I'm sure you went to prayer aswell as you were mentioning.
(22:27):
That would you go to the doctorfirst?
Is that what you did?
Lily Wilson (22:31):
So I I did not, well, initially I called all my
OBGYN and they didn't reallyknow what to do because I
couldn't really explain whatwhat I was experiencing.
You know, it just sounded likelike just a regular depression,
and uh and and so they're like,well, you know, uh and they were
(22:52):
also very busy.
And so it just um kind of umgot put to the side.
I at one point I uh I went toone of our uh local emergency
rooms and uh and they, you know,they would speak to me and they
they didn't see anything out ofthe ordinary except just, you
(23:14):
know, she she probably looksdepressed, you know, and and
speaking slow and that kind ofthing.
Uh and so um so it was justvery hard to pinpoint.
And so when I started uh uh notsleeping, um that's that's what
really really did it.
And um then finally my husbandwas clued in that something
(23:36):
actually was wrong.
And and one of our priestsactually uh encouraged him to
take me to the hospital uh toget treatment.
So yeah.
Sheila Nonato (23:47):
And as you were saying women, usually mothers
especially, you know, want totake care of others first.
But this case we need to weneed to take care of ourselves
so that we can take good care ofother people.
And I love that you you went toour Lord.
Um, I mean you you went to thedoctors, as you said, us
(24:08):
counseling, um, but you alsowent to the Lord and you
experienced his merciful love.
Can you tell us, like, wasthere sort of a a moment, an
exact moment you felt that?
Were you in prayer,(Eucharistic) Adoration?
Um, can you can you give us aninsight?
Lily Wilson (24:23):
Right.
So, you know, there was areligious element to everything
that I was experiencing.
Um in fact, uh, when I was inthe hospital, I had a vision of
uh Jesus crucified.
Um and uh you might say avision or hallucination.
I don't know what you want,might want to call it, but um,
(24:45):
but uh but yeah, it was um itwas just very bizarre.
And uh, but you know, when Iwhen I came out of the hospital
because of the religious contentof of what I was experiencing,
um, you know, some peoplediscouraged me from uh from
(25:08):
praying.
They were thinking that I waspraying too much, you know, um,
which I wasn't, you know, butuh, but they were thinking they
were trying to problem solve forme.
They were, they were trying topinpoint, well, it must be this,
it must be that, you know, youneed to stop praying.
You know, like, you know, allthose things.
And uh, and and I just stoodfirm.
(25:28):
I'm like, I'm gonna, you know,this is this is my faith.
I'm not gonna turn, turn aside.
So even in the dark, so it wasa very, a very dark period, but
even in the darkness, you know,to have um uh to be able to keep
my eyes fixed on Jesus uhwithout feeling anything.
Uh no consolation, no um, no, noaffirmation of any kind, just
(25:53):
completely in the dark.
Uh, and that's exactly how itwas.
Um, but the I guess I knew itwas gonna start to get better
the first time I spoke withDave.
And uh he spoke directly into,and I don't want to cry, but he
spoke directly into um into thepain of my heart, into my
(26:20):
deepest insecurity.
And uh, and I'll have to share,I'm trying to see here, do I
have um trying to see where thisquote is?
Um okay.
(26:44):
So Dave really spoke directlyinto into that insecurity, into
into the deepest, um uh deepestpart of of my pain.
And um, you know, uh I'm tryingto find the um the quote from uh
(27:06):
from Saint Elizabeth of theTrinity, and I think I found it
here, so I'm gonna read it foryou.
Uh and so as we were wrappingup that initial call, uh Dave
left me with this quote from uhfrom Saint Elizabeth.
(27:26):
Um this was actually um uh uhwhat was it?
I think a letter uh from uhSaint Elizabeth of the Trinity
to her mother superior and umand she says to her uh I guess
she's she's passing on to herthe words of the Lord and says
(27:50):
to her, you are uncommonlyloved, loved by that love of
preference that the master hadhere below for some and which
brought them so far.
He does not say to you as toPeter, do you love me more than
these?
So she's saying he said toPeter, Do you love me more than
(28:11):
this?
But he says to you, letyourself be loved more than
these.
That is, without fearing thatany obstacle will be a hindrance
to it, for I am free to pourout my love on whom I wish.
Let yourself be loved more thanthese is your vocation, and it
(28:32):
is in being faithful to it thatyou will make me happy, for you
will magnify the power of mylove.
This love can rebuild what youhave destroyed.
Let yourself be loved more thanthese.
And uh clearly, you know, thistherapist with with over 30
years of experience worked withso many people in pain.
(28:55):
Uh, he he I I at that moment Ifelt that he saw me and uh and
and and the Holy Spirit gavehim, you know, that quote share
with me, which was exactly whatI needed and the exact
encouragement that I needed.
Because um I yeah, you know, II I think we we do all have the
(29:18):
temptation that we have to workfor our salvation.
And even if we say we don't, alot of times we act as if we do,
right?
So we have to do this and Ihave to do that, and then you
know, busy ourselves with thingsbecause we think that's what
the Lord is asking.
(29:38):
Um but the Lord first andforemost wants us to let Him
love us, you know, and uhwithout conditions, without
conditions, um that his love isnot like our human love.
(29:59):
That is imperfect and um andand that sometimes comes and
goes, you know.
But uh but that his love is istrue, uh, that he himself is
real, um, and that he desires topour out his love on us.
(30:21):
And who are we to tell him no?
You know, so uh but that momentthat's when I knew that
everything was going to be okay.
Sheila Nonato (30:36):
That's very beautiful.
It's I can imagine our Lordputting uh the most beautiful
veil on your head and justgiving me giving you a warm
embrace and Our Lady also beingthere with him.
Um that's just that's just abeautiful, beautiful image,
especially going into um Adventseason.
(30:58):
That we um you know, we see OurLady, she's clothed in the
veil.
Um and that's her beauty.
That was her beauty that thatshone, even though she was
veiled in her inner beauty, I'msure it radiated outwards, just
like women's beauty when you seeone and when you see a woman in
(31:20):
church, um, just like the brideof Christ, right?
Like I never saw it that waybefore.
Because I I always thought, youknow, you know, we're all
liberated.
We uh need to be free, freefrom, you know, we but being
clothed in the love of God, themercy mercy of God as you
described, um, it's so much moreuh beautiful.
(31:44):
And it it it gives I I can'teven describe it.
Like I'm trying to find animage, but it's just it it
escapes me because it's justwithout words, you know, the way
that you described it, that youyou felt this love.
And it feels like it soundedlike it felt that you felt this
love like beyond your yourphysical body, like your soul
embraced was embraced by Jesus,you know.
(32:07):
Is that sort of how you felt?
I don't want to put words intoyour mouth.
Is that sort of how you felt?
Lily Wilson (32:12):
Yeah, it really was.
I mean, I I I um I at thatmoment I didn't realize that
somebody could see so deeplyinto my soul and understand uh
what was it, what what it wasthat I actually needed to hear
at that moment.
And I think that that can onlycome from the Holy Spirit.
Um, the Holy Spirit is uh, youknow, dwells in the deepest
(32:35):
parts of our souls.
And in that moment, you know,uh heart spoke to heart, you
know, and it was such a great,um, great consolation and
encouragement and uh and just anexample of how we can be Christ
to one another through throughour words, our example, our um,
(32:55):
you know, our deeds.
Uh and and that's what we'reall called to do for one
another.
Sheila Nonato (33:03):
Yes, absolutely.
And and so how how are youdoing now?
Lily Wilson (33:07):
I am doing uh exceptionally well.
Um yeah, just you know, back tonormal.
Um I mean, I can sleep withoutmedication.
Uh, I'm enjoying life.
Uh my family is doing well.
Uh, there's peace in our home.
And I'm looking forward to to anew chapter.
(33:29):
So um I guess maybe this is agood time to uh to kind of share
that that I am gonna bestepping away from Bails by Lily
for a little while.
Um uh possibly indefinitely.
But um, but I've uh I've hireduh some wonderful women to to
take it over for me.
(33:49):
Uh and and we'll see what theLord has in store.
Uh so um I I have particularlyreceived a call uh to uh to work
with with the poor, especiallyum the spiritually poor.
Um my experience in thehospital was um was quite
(34:12):
life-changing.
And uh, you know, part of meuh, and when I think it back on
it, I I I um I reflect inparticular on one memory that I
have in in the common room atthe hospital, um, that it was
pretty chaotic in there, youknow.
And uh I don't know if I if youcan imagine it, but it was very
(34:33):
chaotic uh in the hospital.
Uh a lot of people who werestruggling more than I was.
Um, and I was just sitting thereon a chair observing
everything.
And at one point, one personsays to me, you know, everyone
here is crazy, except for you.
You're just sitting there, youknow, so and and I said, Yeah,
(34:56):
it's true.
Uh, but but I just I I trulyfeel that the Lord uh put me
there, you know, I guess youmight say divine pro providence,
um, to show me something.
I I truly feel that he showedme these people who were so very
spiritually poor, and uh and asa way to call me to um to
(35:24):
serve, to serve the poorest ofthe poor, which in in our
culture, it's not you know theslums of Calcutta, but it's the
people who don't know God.
And um that's where I'm goingthe exact uh the exact way that
or what what it will exactlylook like um is not clear yet.
Uh, but I know that this is acall from God, and I'm I'm I'm
(35:48):
excited to um to follow it.
So wow.
Sheila Nonato (35:52):
Well, thank you for for sharing that.
And I'm looking forward toseeing where you're gonna go
next.
Um, so it veils by Lily iscontinuing.
Is that what you said?
Lily Wilson (36:03):
Yes, it is.
Veils by Lily is stillcontinuing.
It is God's will that itcontinues.
There, there is uh such a sucha demand for veils, uh, and and
we're very happy to be able tocontinue this.
Um just that we have thecapability to do it, that the
Lord has provided uh the peoplethat Veils by Lily needs.
(36:24):
Um, and I'll I'll highlight inparticular uh
Mary Lee Salzer-Lutz, ourcurrent uh VP of operations.
Uh uh she is a very, verycapable lady with a lot of a lot
of experience.
Um, and uh I know she's gonnado a phenomenal job.
So you'll probably be hearingmore from her.
Sheila Nonato (36:44):
Okay.
And does this open leave thedoor open for you to come back
later?
Do you think?
Or you're not sure yet?
Lily Wilson (36:52):
You know, we'll see.
We'll see what happens.
So um, so I'm open to to towhatever the Lord wants.
And uh, whatever he says to do,I'll do.
You know, it's the it's theit's the only thing I can do
considering how gracious he'sbeen to me.
Um, and and just you know, howgood he is.
I can only, you know, the Lordspeaks and I listen and I act
(37:14):
and follow.
Sheila Nonato (37:16):
And so my husband went one day was like, maybe we
should go to Lily's shop inMissouri.
Is that still gonna be open oryes?
Lily Wilson (37:25):
It's still gonna be open.
Yep.
And uh 403 Oak Street inKimmswick, Missouri.
Uh, we love having visitorshere, and uh, and just we're
excited to to receive anybodywho wants to come.
Sheila Nonato (37:38):
Awesome.
And so if you can tell us, soyou talk about the Merciful Love
veil, what does it look like?
Uh, what colors does it comein, what lengths, and how do
people get access to it?
Lily Wilson (37:50):
Yeah, so it comes in three colors at this time,
and we may expand uh to morecolors in the future.
Uh, but it's available inchampagne, in uh amethyst, which
is a purple, and onyx, which isa shade of black.
Uh they're just so beautiful.
Um people can see pictures onour website, veils by lily.com.
(38:13):
I think that's the best way toget an idea of what they're
like.
Um, but they're very soft andvery flowy, uh, just a beautiful
design.
And um it just the quality isis is really truly amazing.
Our our lacemaker is uh is umuh a lacemaker of of real
craftsmanship.
And uh and I know that peoplewon't be disappointed, so much
(38:37):
so that we do offer a lifetimewarranty on the veil against
manufacturer defects.
Um and so we we offer areplacement veils if if the
edges ever start to unravel,which they should not, um, or if
there's any other problem uh,you know, uh caused by you know
(38:57):
by the by the manufacturingprocess, which there won't be
any, you know, but we're just soconfident in it that we do
offer a lifetime warranty on theveil.
Sheila Nonato (39:06):
So and then it's available when it is already
available.
Lily Wilson (39:12):
We launched it on uh was it August 22nd, which
incidentally is the the exactthree-year anniversary of the
day that I was admitted to thehospital.
It was the um oh, you knowwhat?
I just gave you the wronginformation.
No, it wasn't August 22nd.
That was our original plan.
(39:32):
So you have to cut out, you'llhave to cut that out of the uh
of the recording.
Uh, but yeah, so we launched iton September 30th.
Um, it was on the eve of thefeast of St.
Therese, um, because it was herinspiration through her act of
ablation to Merciful Love thatuh that we wanted to honor.
And the timing just worked outperfectly in order for us to be
(39:54):
able to do that.
Uh we received it from themanufacturer just in time.
We started um uh cutting it outof the rolls and uh and we were
able to start shipping on onSeptember 30th.
Sheila Nonato (40:08):
Okay, wonderful.
And um Black Friday's comingup.
So is there uh somethingspecial coming up for Vales by
Lily?
Lily Wilson (40:18):
Yes, so we are going to offer uh a generous 20%
off store wide from all the wayfrom Black Friday through Cider
Monday.
And so when we offer 20% off,it's usually a single veil or a
single color because our veilsare priced um as low as possible
(40:39):
to keep them affordable foreveryone, especially considering
all of our employees um arehere in the United States, uh,
which in itself is a big thing.
Um, so 20% off store wide uhfrom Black Friday through the
end of Cyber Monday.
And in addition to that, we arealso offering a whopping 40%
(41:01):
off the merciful love veil,because it it's it's my heart,
you know.
Uh my heart, my heart for theLord, my heart for the the
merciful love of God.
Um, so we are offering 40% offthe merciful love veil.
Sheila Nonato (41:16):
Wow.
I mean so that's gonna beexciting.
And um so for Christmasshopping, when do they have the
orders have to be in?
Um I guess let's let's talkabout the United States.
Um when do orders have to bein?
Yeah.
Lily Wilson (41:31):
So within the United States, um, you will want
to order uh if you're orderingone of our handmade to order
bales, uh, which we only have afew of them left.
Uh, we we we've been able tomake most of them ready to ship
to where we have them made andsitting on the shelf ready for
somebody to order.
(41:52):
Uh, but any of it are handmadeto order, uh, you can still
order them with the rush optionthrough the end of the day,
Wednesday, December 3rd.
Uh, then uh the vast majorityof our veils, which are ready to
ship veils now, uh, withstandard shipping, you'll want
(42:13):
to order by the end of the dayTuesday, December 9th.
And then with priority shippingfor ready to ship veils, you'll
want to order through the endof the day Saturday, December
13th.
And then for uh expeditedshipping, the ready to ship
veils, you'll want to order bythe end of the day Thursday,
(42:33):
December 18th.
And you can find all of thisinformation on our website under
Christmas deadlines.
Sheila Nonato (42:39):
Okay.
Okay.
And the website again,
Lily Wilson (42:42):
veilsbylily.com
Sheila Nonato (42:45):
Okay.
Um, and I just had a question uhfrom your episode.
Somebody asked, uh, "do youneed to have a veil that covers
the length of your hair?"
Lily Wilson (42:55):
So you don't.
That is optional.
Uh it's uh it's you know, in insome places it's tradition for
for women to cover the fulllength of the hair, um, but it's
not necessary.
Uh it's really um it's it'sreally meant to be uh a symbolic
covering, a symbolic act ofhumility.
(43:17):
Um, but some women do feel thatthat covering the full length
of your hair um serves thepurpose of the veil better.
And so it would be somethingfor you to pray about and
discern, you know, what what isit that you're comfortable with,
or maybe what is it that theLord is calling you to.
Uh and uh and and depending onwhat that is, you know, you can
(43:41):
make your choice and and and uhchoose a longer veil or
something a little shorter.
Sheila Nonato (43:50):
Okay.
And I picked up this book fromAmazon.
I didn't realize it was on yourwebsite too.
I think it's still on yourwebsite, the manic The Veil of
the Bride of Christ.
Yes.
And it was talking about in thebeginning, it's talking about
the biblical reasons of veiling.
Like we look in the OldTestament, Rebecca, and in the
New Testament, of course, SaintPaul talks about it, and of
(44:10):
course, our lady was veiled.
Um, Saint Veronica, you know,the veil of Veronica, again,
something that we are familiarwith.
But I guess it sort of fell outof favor in the church.
But to be honest, I've beennoticing, and it's like we've
been in different cities in uhin in the states, and then even
(44:31):
here in Canada, I've noticed theveil at Novus Ordo Masses,
actually.
Uh, and young ones, even littlegirls, they're it's really
sweet to see them.
It's like it's coming back.
It's um, yeah.
What do you what do you make ofthis kind of trend that's
that's coming back?
Lily Wilson (44:47):
Yeah, so it's it's a beautiful thing.
And I think um all of theeducation that we've been trying
to do for 15 years and that uhand that our very own customers
have been trying to spread hasreally been effective.
Um, people are are are finallyunderstanding the true reasons
why we wear the veil.
(45:08):
And and those are beautifulreasons, you know, grounded in
truth.
And um, you know, I think thatwhen the veils uh fell away uh
back with the feminist movementand all that, I think it was
caught up in a lot of thecultural thing, but it wasn't
something that needed to bediscarded, you know.
Um it was um it just I thinkpeople just needed to know more
(45:32):
about it at the right time.
And I think that was the righttime.
Sheila Nonato (45:37):
Yes, and um, I have a couple of your veils.
One the one that I purchasedwas Our Lady of Guadalupe, if
I'm not if I'm not mistaken.
Simple, very I just want tostart it off with something
simple because I wasn't sure.
And then the one you had giftedme, the Saint Therese, so
beautiful.
My husband is alwayscompliments, you know, like
(45:57):
that's so the quality of yourveils is amazing.
And when I see somebody or whensomebody sees me with a veil,
he asks, Where'd you get itfrom?
And I say, Veils by Lily orVeils B y Lily, or if I see
somebody with a veil, I'll askthem, "Where'd you get your
veil?" And they'll say Veils byLily.
Thank you.
In Canada, this is in Canada.
I I saw somebody yeah, on aretreat from and she was in New
(46:20):
York, actually, she lived in NewYork.
So uh so everyone pretty muchknows veils by Lily.
That's where you go.
So how are you able to maintainthis sort of level of quality
of the veils and and keepingyour mission, the core mission,
like central to what you'redoing?
Lily Wilson (46:38):
Yeah, so you know, the first thing is you know,
making sure that we're carefulwith with our suppliers.
Uh, we don't just buy our veilsfrom anywhere.
Uh and um, you know, we we'vehad some some customers, uh uh
people looking around ourwebsite uh claim that you know
some of our veils can be foundon on the cheap Chinese websites
(47:02):
for $3.
And um and I recently actuallyhad to had to um uh give
information to to a person whoposted a Google review in regard
to that.
And uh I was able to point outto that person uh like a
side-by-side picture differencebetween our our in particular
(47:24):
Spanish joymantilla and a um alow-quality reproduction by a
Chinese company.
And it's actually uh uh possibleto see the differences in the
quality of the of the veil.
And um, and so it's unfortunatethat the Chinese companies are
out there copying our designs.
(47:45):
Um, but but our customers canbe confident that that we use
reputable suppliers and uh andwe stand behind all of our all
of our veils.
So um, you know, we just havehigh standards and and our c a
quality control team really doesa wonderful job.
They are very, very thorough.
(48:06):
Um, they're eagle-eyed, if youwill.
Um, and uh they're you know, wewe feel that our customers def
deserve the best, and that'swhat we've trained them to do.
Sheila Nonato (48:19):
Yes, and um I never like paid attention to
this before, but my husband,when we um buy certain things,
like we don't know, he's like,we gotta put holy water, we
gotta bless it, because youdon't you don't really know who
made that and did the you know,people yeah, people can bless
things just like in the Bible,you know?
Blessings and then there arecurses, unfortunately.
(48:42):
So you never know.
And you know, if you buy a veilfrom, of course, Lily, you'll
you'll know they they made thatwith that that intention uh in
mind, Christ at the center.
And the other, I mean, not todisparage the other ones, uh,
you know, that you see.
And that's what you can afford.
I don't know.
But I'm just saying, like ifyou want peace of mind, right?
That you're you're giving yourmoney, your hard-earned money to
(49:06):
a business that, you know, awoman-run business, you know,
that you know, is helping to umfeed their family, basically,
right?
You know, that that's it'samazing.
Lily Wilson (49:17):
Yes, and honestly, not just mine, but the families
of all the other ladies who workhere.
And they're truly, trulywonderful women.
And I just couldn't, justcouldn't be more grateful for
for their contribution to ourmission.
Uh, it's just, it's just such ablessing.
Uh, it's created such awonderful community here at
Veils by Lily.
(49:38):
Um, so it's not just, you know,uh it's just not just about the
work anymore.
Uh it's also about thecommunity.
It's really wonderful.
Sheila Nonato (49:47):
Yes.
And I like price shouldn't bean an obstacle because you you
also started doing theseFacebook lives that you you
would offer some veils, youknow, I think I saw one for $20
or maybe even less.
Uh and so that, you know, for aperson who, you know, that
might be an obstacle, you couldconsider doing that.
So when do you do the Facebooklives?
Lily Wilson (50:08):
So a Facebook lives are every Wednesday at 12:15
p.m.
Central time.
Uh and um they're very quick.
And a lot of times the veils gofast.
So we do recommend people, youknow, just choosing the one they
want and going to order.
We do offer them at a discount.
Uh and for other people who arealso looking for a discount, uh
(50:29):
we recommend our Lazarus veils.
We call them Lazarus becausethey're given a second chance at
life.
They are a little less thanperfect, but it's not a reason
why they shouldn't be worn.
And so we discount those alsouh for anybody who needs a
discount on those.
Uh, but definitely people willwant to shop on uh Black Friday
(50:52):
through Cyber Monday for reallythe best deals uh on veils.
Uh they make beautiful,beautiful gifts.
It's something that's really,really quite thoughtful and and
women really enjoy receiving uhveils in particular from uh from
their significant others, uhhusbands, uh possibly
(51:13):
boyfriends.
Um, but that that is somethingthat really um uh conveys uh
thoughtful care um that goesinto a gift.
So we would definitelyrecommend that.
Sheila Nonato (51:26):
Awesome.
And finally, for those womenwho um, you know, might not ha
known have known about the veilor veiling, um, could you leave
them with some food for thought?
You know, what what convincedyou that, you know, I'd like to
take up this kind of traditionalpractice that um that used to
(51:47):
be, you know, what what what wasthe standard, I guess, for
women that now unfortunately nowwe're like unveiling women.
The the current Hollywood um Iguess style now is like
see-through clothing.
So this is the opposite ofthat.
So what what can you encourage,you know, women who, you know,
that you know, they they havetheir traditional kind of
(52:09):
classic tastes.
What would you say about?
Lily Wilson (52:12):
I would say and just remember that the church
has always veiled everythingthat is sacred.
And that means that you are,too.
Sheila Nonato (52:23):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And as Christmas is coming up,we look to Our Lady, who is the
new Ark of the Covenant, and shehoused our Lord.
And as you were saying in theBible, um, our Lord had very
careful instructions on how umthe Israelites were to construct
the Ark of the Covenant.
It was, you know, in gold andthere were cherubims.
(52:46):
Uh, it was glorious, andwhenever they went into battle,
the ark was there.
And now in our own spiritualbattle, we have our lady going
forward because she she carriesour Lord.
We have our lady, the rosary,and the veil to sort of help us
to arm us spiritually that wealways remember it's the
(53:06):
humility, the humility of ourlady that helped to sort of
write this story of salvation.
And of course, Jesus is OurSaviour, but our lady was part
of that story.
And um, any Christmas plans,Lily?
Speaker 3 (53:22):
Christmas plans now, just enjoy the family uh at
home.
Um we don't have family intown, so it's just me and my
husband and and our sevenchildren.
Uh, and I can't wait.
It's just uh lovely to spendthose holidays with them.
Uh, Thanksgiving is first, andthen uh and then Christmas, and
we're just all looking forwardto it.
Speaker 2 (53:43):
And do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?
Do you make something special?
Speaker 3 (53:48):
So uh my husband is usually the one that does most
of the of the creative cookingat home.
I do have an idea of somethingthat I want to make this year.
However, our big Chris uhThanksgiving tradition is to
after our Thanksgiving dinner,uh, we go to the uh the Shrine
(54:09):
of Our Lady of the Snows inBelleville, Illinois, uh for the
Way of Lights.
And uh they walk you throughthe the Nativity story.
Uh and there it's just filledwith Christmas lights and the
kids absolutely love it.
And it's been our traditionever since my husband and I were
married.
Our very first year uh we didit and we've done it ever since.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Beautiful.
And did you have any finalwords?
Speaker 3 (54:36):
No, just thank you for for letting me be here and
share my story.
Um uh I just encourage everyoneto uh especially those ladies
who might be on the fence aboutveiling, uh, to to to go for it
because it's it's really abeautiful thing that has
enriched enriched the spirituallives of so many women, you
know, when when when done with aproper interior disposition,
(54:58):
which is as you said, it's thehumility, the desire for for
humility, you know, um, youmight even say the commitment to
humility and to and and toalways um you know keep in mind
that that the goal is continualconversion, that it's not
perfection right now, but butbut to grow, uh to grow in
holiness and to to just be alittle bit more faithful to the
(55:23):
Lord every day, uh being willingto to repent of our sins, to
receive uh the sacrament ofreconciliation frequently,
receive the Eucharist uhfrequently as well, and just
live in God's grace.
Speaker 2 (55:38):
Yes, and just the final word on because on X,
there was some misunderstanding.
You know, there's so manyconversations, but the one I was
involved in, they always go toEphesians 5 and they always
don't understand submission isnot subjugation.
And we're not submitting toman, we're actually submitting
to God of our free will.
(55:58):
So it doesn't mean we're lessthan men, we're we're actually
clothing ourselves in the puritythat and the dignity that God
created us, each and every oneof us.
And I think unfortunately we'reit's getting lost, especially
amongst women um in the cultureHollywood, unfortunately, porn
(56:21):
culture, and it is having asevere effect on our young
people, especially the boys andthe girls who um they don't feel
like they're enough.
They have to and they don'tfeel special, they don't realize
how as you were saying, likethe God-given dignity and worth
that each and every one, andwe're we're losing that because
(56:43):
we're we think like everyone hasto have a piece of us, everyone
has to see us, but God wantsyou for himself, and uh if
you're called to marriage foryour future spouse, and one way
to sort of keep that in mind ishaving this veil in your mind.
Uh remembering, you know, yeah,remember Our Lady, how she
always wore the veil.
(57:04):
And if the mother of God, youknow, if if if she's if it's
good enough for her, you mean itshould be good enough for us,
right?
That that's you know, Godcertainly, I mean, Jesus
certainly treasured his mother.
And and the way we also see ourmothers, we would love to see
our daughters also kind ofemulate that purity, that
(57:24):
dignity.
Um, and I I really truly Iappreciate you coming back,
Lily.
And I think last time you wereon, the same same time as uh
Black Friday.
God's timing.
Lily Wilson (57:35):
That's right.
Sheila Nonato (57:36):
You know, whoever is um on the fence about it,
think about it.
And like like we were saying,there's um, as you were saying,
the Facebook lives and also theLazarus veils, if you're not
sure, um, you know, the priceshouldn't be an obstacle for
you.
You know, go into prayer andsee what you know what what is
the Lord calling you to do.
(57:57):
And it's really not just, it'snot just a piece of uh material,
right?
It's it's also part of your, itcan be part of your interior
life and your prayer practice.
It doesn't just have to be uh,you know, something that for
show.
It's it's really for you andfor God.
And um, and yeah, was thereanything else like did I
misspeak about something, Lily?
Lily Wilson (58:17):
No, you got it all right.
Yeah.
And uh it's just a beautifulthing to do for God, a a
beautiful reminder of yourdignity, especially when you're
tempted to believe that that uhthat that it's not there.
Um uh that that does happen.
You know, we continuallystruggle with these temptations,
but it's a it's a wonderfulreminder to always get us back
(58:38):
to uh to uh to understanding ourdignity before God and that
he's the one that gives us ourdignity and we don't have to
work for it, we don't have toearn it, uh, but it's just given
to us by by the fact that weare created in his image and
likeness.
Sheila Nonato (58:53):
Beautiful.
And God willing, Lily, if um ifyou're still in Missouri, uh do
you have any plasma moving?
Because we're we're thinkinglike maybe we should one day
take a trip to your shop.
Lily Wilson (59:04):
That would be wonderful.
It would be wonderful to me inperson, sure.
Sheila Nonato (59:08):
Definitely, thank you so much.
God bless you.
Thank you for sharing your verycourageous story that I'm sure
a lot resonates with a lot ofwomen who may feel like they
don't know what words to put towhat they're feeling, and you
put words to what you werefeeling.
So hopefully that gives themthe courage to seek help, you
know, to go to the doctor, tofind a Catholic counselor, a
(59:28):
priest for spiritual direction,go to the Eucharist, confession.
A ll the things that will helpus to heal.
Um, and especially as we'regoing to the busy Christmas
season, we have to we have tosort of um develop our own inner
strength because you know, thethe season is very busy, right?
And we we can as mothers, aswomen, we need that that
(59:50):
interior strength to to get usthrough all the dangers.
So thank you so much again,Lily.
God bless you.
My pleasure.
God bless you.
Take care.
Bye.
Thank you once again forjoining us, friends, and also a
special thank you to Lily Wilsonfrom Veils by Lily for opening
up her heart and sharing herstory of the consolation in
(01:00:15):
Jesus and the trials, the crossthat she carried after having
her seventh baby, the postpartumstruggles that we mothers can
face after such a monumentalevent in our lives, the the
birth of our children.
And we pray for Lily, continuedhealing and restoration, and for
(01:00:38):
her new adventure that she'sembarking upon.
We're blessed to have her onthis week.
And friends, we are coming upto the feast of the Immaculate
Conception, and I invite you to,if you haven't started already,
the to pray the novena for theImmaculate Conception.
And as we know, Mary isinviting us to a deeper
(01:01:01):
relationship with Jesus.
And for that reason, ourepisodes will be featuring the
feminine genius of Mother Mary,who leads us to Jesus.
And our next guest will beCarissa Douglas, mother of 16,
the author of the Little Douglasseries, Beautiful, Beautiful
Soul, Beautiful Mother.
(01:01:21):
And she also has aheart-wrenching story of hope
and healing and restoration.
And after we will be releasingvideos and interviews from the
Catholic Raider Conference, ablessed conference in
Steubenville, Ohio.
The organizer, one of the mainorganizers, Kyle Whittington, is
going to be our guest.
(01:01:42):
We are honored, uh humbled andhonored to have him on the show.
And also Estelle and KeithNestor.
Just a blessing to have metthem, to hear their story
firsthand, and many, many moreguests who had just have a love
and a big heart for Jesus andfor Mary.
So stay tuned, friends, and havea blessed, blessed week.
(01:02:05):
Thank you so much again forjoining us.
God bless the money.
Co-Host (01:02:41):
And be blessed together.
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The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.