Quotes about Ritual

Ritual observance without moral rectitude is worse than empty; it is a counterfeit religious coin with which a worshipper wishes to procure divine and human approval for behavior that deserves censure (see Isa. 58:3—7).

The function of a university is to teach a [person] how to drink tea, not because anything is important, but because it is usual to drink tea, or for that matter anything else under the sun. And whatever you do, every act, however small, can teach you everything, provided you see who is acting." ? Thomas Merton, Thomas Merton On Prayer

The return from the walk, and the arrival of tea, should be exactly coincident, and not later than a quarter past four.

Carefully they replaced the soil and covered the entire grave with uprooted grass. Neither one had spoken a word.

Eating is a ritual, and rituals make things easier.

New Year's a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions.

Custom is second nature.

There are three elements of the traditionalist pathway: ritual (or liturgical pattern); symbol (or significant image); and sacrifice. Evelyn Underhill, a popular Christian writer in the early part of this century, calls these three elements "sensible signs of supra-sensible action." They are ways we use the physical world to express nonphysical (spiritual) truths.

For, like his nose, his short, black little pipe was one of the regular features of his face. You would almost as soon have expected him to turn out of his bunk without his nose as without his pipe.

Your dreamer may do without a creed, but he always wants a ritual.

The Latin word for the wafer of the Eucharist (often referred to as "the host") is hostia, which literally means "the victim." All

In Catholicism, the pint, the pipe and the Cross can all fit together.