Image: Library Thing
Brother Patrick has an excellent post which I encourage you to read. BP is commenting on yesterday's gospel passage but what he has to say certainly pertains to the running thread here on funeral rituals, beginning with his opening paragraph:
A few years ago I took a class at Notre Dame on liturgical prayer, and as it so happened, I was the only student in the class who was not specializing in liturgical studies. At one point we were talking about particular ritual gestures at particular points in the prayers, and I got exasperated at what seemed like nit-picking and blurted out, “None of this stuff matters!” The professor calmly replied, “It does matter – we are embodied beings.” “OK,” I said, “it matters that we do SOMETHING with our bodies, but I can’t imagine that God cares whether we are sitting or standing or kneeling, using the orans position or whatever else, at any given moment.” I just couldn't imagine God being a micromanager, but I could understand the importance of sacramentality, that is, the relationship between our sensory world and our spritual lives...-ConcordPastor kenned-shriver funerals
(read the complete post)
Reminds me of these words by Andre Dubus:
ReplyDelete"I cannot achieve contemplation,as some can;and so,having to face and forgive my own failures, I have learned from them both the necessity and wonder of ritual. For ritual allows those who cannot will themselves out of the secular to perform the spiritual, as dancing allows the tongue-tied a ceremony of love."
I loved that post by BP and Anne's quote from Dubus is quite nice.
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