Q: Why do Catholics perform rituals?
A: Again, I’d like to emphasize, don’t get sucked into word games. In these days, this is a term used to make it sound bad if you have “rituals”. Nowhere in the bible does it say it is bad to have rituals. Quite the contrary, Jesus followed rituals himself but what people typically think of when they hear the word “rituals” is best described as “empty” rituals and the hypocracy Jesus was offended so much with when the Pharisees, Saducees etc.
First of all, what is a “ritual”? A ritual is nothing more than a well formed habit. If you have a habit of praying before each meal and thanking the Lord, or doing the same before bedtime or in the morning then you perform a ritual. By all means, have yourself a ritual and that is ok as long as it doesn’t become such a habit that you do it without meaning.
From ritual daily bathing to celebrating passover, the Jewish religion was full of rituals. But Jesus was against the hypocracy of the ones that called themselves “teachers” and “Rabbi’s” and said one thing just to be seen and given credit but did another.
Mathew 23:1-7
| Then addressing the crowds and his disciples Jesus said, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 ‘The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 You must therefore do and observe what they tell you; but do not be guided by what they do, since they do not practise what they preach. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader headbands and longer tassels, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 being greeted respectfully in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi. also Mathew 6:1-7
This has nothing to do with repetitin. There are many forms of prayer and worship and repetition is a scriptural way of praying. Jesus himself repeated the prayer three times in Mathew 26:44 asking God to let this cup pass him without drinking…44 Leaving them there, he went away again and prayed for the third time, repeating the same words. In Revelations 4:8 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was studded with eyes all the way round as well as inside; and day and night they never stopped singing: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; who was, and is and is to come.’ If you do the research, you will find Catholic “rituals” are deeply rich in fath, scripture and tradition, all for the love of Jesus Christ. The congregation in Catholic Mass sits, stands and kneels at certain parts of the mass the are appropriate to do so. They stand to pray, kneel to worship, sit to listen to teaching etc., The smelly smokey stuff is incense, symbolic of our prayers rising to heaven & God like the prayers of the saints (Rev 8:4) etc. It is simply the way Catholics worship. It may be worthwhile to note that other faiths may choose to hold their worship service in different styles, many times beginning with what they call (worship) and what Catholics or others would call singing and praising God and then they preach from the bible which most Catholics and others would consider more like a bible study. As Catholics, the entire Mass is a Worship service. We praise, pray, learn from scripture both new and old, listen to Psalms etc. They also have bible study but that is something done outside the Mass. |
“Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you”
1 Peter 3:15