I love being Catholic. I know it should go without saying, but it is true. When I was in college I drifted away for several months to a non-denominational, evangelical group but returned to the Catholic Church when the group that I was a member of suggested that they would determine where I was to live, and with whom I would share a room with, for the coming semester. Best decision I ever made. Why do I feel the Catholic faith is where I belong? 1) It is the Church that was founded by Christ. 2) It is the Church that was carried on by the Apostles. 3) It was the only Church until the Protestant revolution. 4) Truth is truth. Catholic dogma remains in spite of cultural shifts throughout the centuries. 5) It is worshipped in mostly the same way across the globe. 6) The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. 7) The sacraments. 8) The Mass
But here is the thing. Many of these reasons involve some form of ritualistic worship. The actions we perform while taking part in these activities. And this is one of the areas in which the Church gets criticized from others on the outside looking in. The view is that we are stuck in the Old Covenant of the Old Testament and should be focused on the New Covenant that Christ instituted. The comparison can also be made with the ceremonial focus of the Sadducees and Levitical priests during Christ’s time. Numerous customs were associated with eating, drinking, worship, sexual activity, managing illness, etc. It was said that the ruling political class built a “hedge” around Mosaic Law. That is, establishing restrictions in order to decrease the likelihood of breaking any of the Laws of Moses. So custom, ritual and ceremony did play a large role in religious life during Jesus’ time. Then are we as Catholics similarly guilty in that we may be choosing ritual over relationship with Christ? After all, we partake in many ritualistic activities: the sacraments and the form of each, we pray the rosary, the Mass itself is filled with custom, Eucharistic Adoration, the use of Holy Water, making the sign of the cross and many “programed” prayers.
In the reading today from Hosea we hear the line, “For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” And in In Mark 7:8-9, “in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You thrust aside the commandment of God in order to preserve the traditions of men.” And we know what Jesus said about cleansing the outsides of cups and not tending to the insides (the content of our hearts).
But is Jesus and Hosea condemning all ritual practice? In 1 Corinthians 10:16 we read “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?” A reference to the Eucharist and the real presence which from the time of the early Church was held to be valid. And in Matthew 28:19 we hear Jesus instructing his disciples in administering the rite of Baptism, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
St. Justin Martyr, an early Church Father, wrote his book, “First Apology”, between 153 and 155 A.D. and in it he describes how the early Christians worshipped. He outlined how the Mass was celebrated just a generation or two after Christ’s ascension. And it closely mirrors the actions we take today during the Mass. In addition to religious ceremony, don’t we see rituals in our secular lives? Graduation ceremonies, secular wedding ceremonies, military exercises, Presidential inaugurations, fireworks on Fourth of July. All these serve to mark special occasions. And we mark them in order to separate them from everyday life. And that is because in one way or another they are considered to be special and, as such, should be separated from the everyday. So if this is important in secular society, even the more so when it comes to setting aside the spiritual from the profane. The everyday from what is heaven based.
It is, therefore, not ritual in itself that is suspect but what place ritual holds in our hearts. Do we stand on ceremony. Do the actions we perform at Mass take precedence over our relationship with God. Is there a sense that all we need to do is to perform these actions and we are in. A tick in a check box. Each of these rituals and ceremonies of the Church serves to serve God and keep our minds and hearts fixed on Him. They are a means to an end. Dipping into the holy water receptacle when entering or leaving Mass is meant to remind us of our Baptism. Praying the rosary is meant so that we could meditate on the lives of Christ and Our Blessed Mother. The Sign of the Cross reminds us of the Trinity.
It is when the ritual supersedes our relationship with Christ that there becomes a problem. When we perform the action almost robotically and forget that the action merely serves as a reminder to keep Jesus with us always. In the Gospel today we see a Pharisee and a tax collector praying in the temple. The Pharisee seems set on box ticking when he prays, “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” It is the outward sign to others that matter him the most. While the tax collector prays in a penitential manner revealing himself as a sinner: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
So soak in the incense at Mass but remember it is there to create an atmosphere of spirituality and separate us from the profane so that our focus is on God and not the football (or futbol) game that will be on later in the day. Tap your chest 3 times during the Confiteor but realize that we are reminding ourselves of our sinfulness and assuming a posture of humility in the sight of God. And praise God with rote prayers so that we may raise or voices as one community. Catholic worship is rich in beauty, steeped in tradition but also focused solidly on our relationship with our Creator and His Son.
