I might note, too, that there is variety in our Sunday worship, as the seasons of the Church year-Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter-progress, each with its special prayers and readings. The age-old rituals of the Mass and the sacraments are a source of consolation and comfort in that we recognize that Jesus himself is the agent here, active through the dialogue between the priest and the people and present in word, in sacrament and in the very assembly which is the body of Christ made visible in his members. And he has given us the words and action we need if we are to relate to him with the love and reverence that are his due. RITUAL OF THE SHEPHERD HOW TOHow consoling it is to know how to behave when we come into his presence. This utterly human need for ritual has been honoured by God in our worship. Without well-established patterns of interaction, we cannot function. Think of sporting events, concerts family get-togethers at Christmas or for a reunion. Anyway, rituals, simple or complex, are everywhere. I was buying a newspaper and, being convinced that the clerk was not really interested in the state of my health, I made no response to her automatic query, “How are you?” My silence unnerved her, and she repeated her question in a louder voice: “HOW ARE YOU?” I foolishly replied, “Why do you ask?” She then shouted, “ BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW!” I muttered something and slunk from the store. “How are you?” is the most common way of establishing rapport, as I discovered once when I broke the pattern. To take a trivial case, it is very important to greet a friend or, in a shop, a customer. We are human beings and as such we need social conventions in order to function. Or funerals, which exhibit a similar need for a conventional mode of expressing sympathy and grief. Is there a more stereotypical event imaginable, from the gown and tuxedos to the maudlin, sometimes risqué talks at the banquet. Think for a moment about a wedding-the ceremony, the reception, &c. Furthermore, as human being we thrive on ritual. That complaint really amounts to noting that the Mass is a ritual, and as such will be repetitive: that’s simply what a ritual is. The first is that it’s always the same, week after week. Two reasons are advanced to demonstrate that Sunday worship is tedious. I may not find it so, but I cannot deny that someone else does. It’s the one statement that cannot be argued against because whatever one says in reply will also be boring. More times than I can count I have been told by young men and women that they do not attend Mass because they find it boring.
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