What would Christ say about Catholic rituals?

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Only thing I would add, the required, important, valid Catholic rituals are not ‘empty’.
 
JimG said:
I would add that children especially love ritual. If you have fixed ways of doing things as a family, such as a bedtime ritual, they want it done the same way every night; it gives them a sense of security.
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Indeed! I’ve watched my grandchildren, as soon as they’ve been old enough to sit up in a high chair, actually get very excited when the family starts crossing themselves and continues with meal time prayers. If that enthusiasm could be bottled.
 
The rituals are not empty. Try to think of it as a richness, pushed down, over flowing. God himself filled the world with beauty and variety to over flowing.

My in-laws had a birthday party it seemed every month. The amount of ritual around birthdays was extensive even though the grandkids were not baptized. The mom of the grandkids had the same complaint about the Catholic church regarding their empty rituals and yet the kid’s birthdays were loaded with things that had to be included. I won’t bore you with the list of stuff. What I realized was that humans love ritual and they ground us, they comfort us. Try telling a 7 year old that there will be no cake and candles and see how that goes over.
 
Le_Cracquere said:
So an argument that starts with “What would Christ say about x ?” is probably off on the wrong foot already.
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It wasn’t an argument. I was simply asking because I wanted to understand it better. Thanks to several of the other respondents, I see that there are very clear Biblical reasons for them.
 
A great book to read is Scott Hahn’s book “Signs of Life, 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots”. There is purpose to what we do as Catholics. We worship not only with our heart, mind, and soul but with all of our senses.
 
Given that the liturgy of Catholics is derived from the Old Testament era, it’s surprising to me that so many non-Catholic Christians have abandoned them. Are elements of the Mass also derived from the OT?

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Dirk
 
Yes, Our liturgy still follows the basic pattern of the Old Testament worship; it includes both the reading of the Word of God and the offering of sacrifice. We see Jesus following the same pattern on the road to Emmaus; He interpreted the scriptures concerning himself and then they knew him in the breaking of the bread. The mass has this in the “ Liturgy of the Word” and the “Liturgy of the Eucharist”.
Another book I am reading at the moment is “How Christ Said the First Mass”. The first part is all about how the mass was foretold in the Temple. Our divisions of porch, nave, and sanctuary, the ornaments, vestments and ceremonial , came from the Jewish Temple and synagogue of the time of Christ.
Christ came and fulfilled the old. I think he would be very pleased with how we worship. Prayerfully we come to him with the proper intentions and mindset to worship Him as the Body of Christ.
 
There is deep meaning in all Catholic rituals and traditions. What you are describing is when people (usually the scrupulous) disect them and pick them apart into tiny parts. That’s when the fullness of what we do starts to lose meaning.
 
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I love your question because it makes me examine the place of ritual in my own spiritual life. I think it is important to double check ourselves, just to make sure the rituals we observe have not become empty for us.

I find it useful to learn what I can about the rituals Jesus used in his spiritual life. He prayed, fasted, meditated, studied scripture, and followed Jewish customs and observations. I love to compare Catholic ritual to the Jewish customs and also to the Didache. Sometimes when I compare, I get a better sense of why we practice certain things. For instance, when I learned about the ritual bath in first century Judaism - the Mikvah - then each time I use the holy water at mass it has such a special feeling for me.

I feel that ritual helps keep us body/mind/soul aligned, especially if we know the hows and whys. Sometimes there may be scrupulosity, but at times when I have felt that (I certainly have), then I think it has come from really wanting to be a good person, to please God. Then I must remind myself that Jesus says to be anxious over nothing. For me, it is a balance… making an effort to follow a discipline (discipline builds character and strengthens moral convictions) while also realizing the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

I believe some of the importance placed on ritual, too, binds us as a community. It is so important to walk next to others on the spiritual path. In this world, which can be really spiritually challenging, it’s super valuable to have that community.
 
If you ever get invited to attend a Bar Mitzvah - I highly suggest you attend. I think you’d find it interesting how many liturgical concepts are incorporated into Catholic (and Protestant) liturgy. It’s been a while since I’ve no kidding gotten choked up at church (usually happens at weddings and baptisms) - but when my good friend’s son started reading from 1 Samuel in Hebrew - whew - all of a sudden I got a whole bunch of dust in my eye!

At the end of the service there is a prayer over bread and wine (at least in the Reformed service I was priveledged to attend). How cool is that?
 
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