Gashwin Gomes on consistories and other manifestations:

I know there are many who look askance at all of this. Too triumphalistic. Too ritualistic. Too anachronistic. I cannot disagree more. This – the ceremonies, the rituals, the whole darned range of proudly anachronistic stuff is definitely part of what I so love about being Catholic. Of course, this "isn’t what it’s about." That’s the Gospel. (Hey, and read the Pope’s homily at the event. He wasn’t about to let anyone forget that!) But these visible manifestations of ecclesial communion are so important. Especially in an era where everything would be dissolved by the vitriol of a secularism (and a mediocrity) that rages at any manifestation of the religious that is vibrant, and joyful, and beautiful.

I agree. I have been thinking a lot about these things since my visit to Rome and have many thoughts, most of them still unformed. But I think (and this will be no big news to those of you who do think and write about these things) the place of understanding I’ve come to is this:

Human beings will ritualize. They just will. In one of her letters, Flannery O’Connor remembers how the girls at her college in Milledgeville would take any opportunity they could to dream up ceremonies that involved lighting candles. It’s just what we do.

We will dress up. We will invest places and things and even garb with symbolism and meaning.

And in the context of the Catholic Church, what all of this does  – this rich, layered ritual and ceremony – is keep everything steady. It embodies 2000 years of people believing in Christ and trying to express what that means. Some of us snicker at those who are positively enraptured with the minutiae of ecclesiastical garb and ritual, and some of that interest can get rather weird and off-subject, but I think one of the reasons people do get so intrigued in it all is because of the meaning those gestures, pieces of metal and stone, and even fabric, folded just so and bearing this or that color – bear. Forgive me, but it is like a code. Or, like a treasure box, perhaps? The more you dig, the more you see what things mean, and how, in the context of say, the 14th century, this gesture or vestment or ceremony evolved as an expression of faith, and keeping it going, hanging on to it, is a sign of continuity with that same faith.

Not that it doesn’t need to be cleaned out at times. Not that it can’t ever get in the way.

But when you think about the alternatives – Ritual-As-You-Go that runs just as much risk, and perhaps even more – of pointing to us rather than God, of physical objects that communicate nothing more than here and now, of a bunch of fellows in suits, perhaps, coming forward to get – what – a pen holder? A certificate? A special parking sticker? – from another guy in a suit – you might say, like I’ve come to – no thanks. This is better. It says a lot more, and it speaks loudly, not just of the present, but of where we’re rooted.

Yes, it can be an obstacle. As can anything. But in graced moments, as Gashwin points out, when we have a Pope at the center who focuses us so clearly and resolutely on Christ and what discipleship means – it all comes together and makes about as much sense as anything else.