Ritual: the Essence of Religion

One of the things which causes religion to stand out are the rituals which surround them. This has more to do than merely attending worship on whatever your holy day of the week may be or the timing of your prayers. Ritual gives us comfort, understanding, and acceptance of what we believe.

Many people may argue against it staid, or mere repetition. Yet it is repetition by which we learn most anything. Schools do not teach math once and leave it at that. They make us repeat the basics until we understand them, then do the same thing at the next level, and so forth. Religious practice does much the same thing, only that it is much more important than simple academics.

That's why so much of religion is the repetition of the same things. These are things so important to our lives and our personal and spiritual well being that we must keep them always at the front of our minds. That's why, in Catholic practice, the Nicene Creed is said at every Mass. It is the encapsulated form of the Church's essential beliefs, and said constantly to remind Catholics of Her basic teachings.

The lesson is that we should not be bored by ritual. We should embrace it, pray it, and live it. It is how we become better people.