Rituals

Here's the value of rituals: rituals help bring about consistency.

I use rituals to help cultivate my spiritual life. Rituals are simply activities a person does on a regular and consistent basis. Having a coffee every morning at 9 AM can be considered a ritual. Brushing your teeth before bedtime can be considered a ritual. Reading a book to your child before they sleep can be considered a ritual. We have rituals for many things in life—we just may not call it such.

I have plenty of rituals for my spiritual life. I pray through Common Prayer (www.commonprayer.net) every morning. I commune with God on the floor with my prayer mat, candles, and background music on most evenings. I recall and reflect on close to 200 verses of the Bible almost every day. I say the Lord's Prayer multiple times a day. I read 7 passages of Scripture throughout the day. I occasionally do the sign of the cross. These are some rituals I have that aid me in developing my relationship with Christ.

Do I need to use rituals? No. You can be as spontaneous as you want. No one is going to judge you for using or not using rituals. It's up to you. You can consider rituals as simply one tool for your spiritual growth. Can rituals, however, be beneficial? Yes. Many people find that the added structure and routine that rituals bring helps them be more consistent in communing with the Lord every day.

But as with many things in life, rituals are best used in conjunction with the heart—having the appropriate motivation, intentionality, and presence. If the heart isn't involved, rituals may not produce the intended outcome: a closer relationship with Christ. But when the heart is engaged, spiritual rituals have a way of leading us to Christ. This closer relationship with Jesus is what we want in the end.

If your heart isn't in it, should you engage in rituals? My personal answer is Yes. Though it's not the ideal situation, you may not want to give up on rituals so easily if your heart isn't in it. When is our heart fully present in something anyway? I'm always getting distracted and having to gently bring myself back to a spiritual activity that I'm doing.

But here's the value of rituals: rituals help bring about consistency. If you're consistent with a ritual, you have the opportunity to bring your heart to it. But if you stop a ritual, you don't give yourself a chance for the heart to eventually be present. So, even if your heart isn't present for now, I still suggest keeping the rituals going. You're giving yourself a chance for the heart to catch up to the ritual you're doing. If you stop the ritual altogether, the heart will have nothing to catch up to in the end.

Again, rituals are simply a tool to aid you in your spiritual journey. If they're helpful, utilize them. I have personally found rituals to be incredibly beneficial for my own spiritual growth. Experiment with different spiritual rituals to see what would be helpful for you.

Barnabas the Monastic

Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.