Faith rituals not ‘mindless chores’ but means to encounter mystery

Published: October 29, 2005

By Father Andrew Smith

Catholics are a ritually oriented people. This may be seen as a mixed blessing, depending on how you understand repetition. For some people certain rituals — doing the same thing over and over again — may help to make our lives boring and uninteresting. But repetition isn’t always a negative experience. Small children who are only just learning to use their imaginations love to repeat games over and over, crying “AGAIN!” until the adult is exhausted and begging for rest. Children take delight in the present moment so much that they can replay it again and again. Christianity is repetitive. Christians have literally been doing the same thing over and over again for 2,000 years. In his first Corinthian letter St. Paul writes of the mystery which was handed down to him, and which he is himself handing on, namely, how the Lord Jesus had anticipated the shedding of his blood by offering the cup of that blood to his disciples, and had offered his body to them as food. The Catholic Church has never maintained a principle of absolute ritual uniformity. Just as there are different local laws in various parts of the Church, so Catholics have their own local or national rites. They say prayers and perform ceremonies that have evolved that are appropriate to people of various countries, and are only different expressions of the same fundamental truths. The essential elements of the rituals are obviously the same everywhere, and are observed by all Catholics. Calling to mind the long history of Israel — the offering by Melchisedech of bread and wine, the blood of the Passover lamb which won freedom for the enslaved chosen people of God from pharaoh, the manna rained down from heaven into the barren desert — Jesus was gathering a history of repetition together and offered a new ritual interpretation of all those events. All the events far back in history lived and remembered again and again in prayer and sacrifice — these events find their fulfillment in the meal celebrated in the upper room by Jesus and his disciples. And from that upper room a new repetitiveness streams forth, flowing down the generations of the Church: “Do this in memory of me.” Do this over and over again, not as you would a task in the workplace or a mindless chore; not just as a child would repeat a fun game, but as that which gives meaning and shape to your entire life. Become what you do here. Throughout the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter we celebrate the Lord Jesus crucified, risen, ascended and glorified. And at Pentecost the Easter mystery finds its fullness in the confession that the Jesus who is enthroned at the Father’s right side is with us in the mission of the Holy Spirit. The Jesus who passed through death into life is with us — the Lord of all time, is truly present in our world and our lives. In every celebration of the Eucharist we encounter this real presence of the Lord. But why the repetition? Because this paschal mystery is given to us not just as an activity we have to live, but as a mystery we must become. The one sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus flows through the Church as a river. We continually share in it again and again so that we may become that perfect offering of praise and love to others. Father Andrew Smith is pastor of St. Bernard Church in Bella Vista and St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Fayetteville.

This article was originally published in Arkansas Catholic October 29, 2005. Copyright Diocese of Little Rock. All rights reserved. This article may be copied or redistributed with acknowledgement and permission of the publisher.