Interestingly, we routine-up our rituals and ritualize our routines.
Yes, I know this is a couple of days late. I am vastly imperfect. This is a topic I feel is obvious but not given enough attention.
Rituals are important. They matter to our psyche. I don’t know why but I am confident they do. The reality is, especially for catholics, we turn our rituals into routines. Well Mass anyway.
Mass is THE most AMAZING ritual! But we go because it’s an expectation, we recite words without thinking and turn up in body, but do we turn up in spirit? There is so much in the Mass that we could reflect on – is it too much, perhaps, to take in at once? This is possible.
It’s an interesting conundrum to me. You need to know what to do, the words and gestures etc in a ritual (especially a repeated ritual). And yet, you need to also dive into the rich indulgence of being present in every word and gesture. It is hard to do that. We are so busy. Do we ‘tick-off’ attending Mass? Sad but human.
Then we ritualise watching our favourite shows. I admit that I do. I love to watch the Suncorp Super Netball with a glass of wine. It is an important part of my weekend. It is both indulgent and useful in that it gives me ideas for my team that I coach. Obviously, the wine is not useful in that, lol, but it has become a ritual or tradition for me.
What of family traditions? We ritualise them and they become so rich for the heart.
We need to feed not only our bodies, but also our souls, our minds and our hearts. When we ritualise things we nourish parts of ourselves that we do not always acknowledge as mattering. But then we also need to immerse our hearts and souls (not just our bodies) in our religious rituals if we are to fully benefit from this commitment.
It seems a bit silly that we make the physical effort but don’t engage our hearts, minds and spirits as fully as we can.
We need rituals. Rituals help us make sense of our connection to the divine and our connection to humanity. We live in a world full of confusion so any help to navigate the mess is welcome. What ritual do you engage in that you need to bring your heart and soul to?
The Female Theologian 