The healing power of ritual...

In the aftermath of the horrible killings at Virginia Tech its interesting to me to note the use of ritual to come to terms with the realities of that day and even life itself. Thousands of students attended a mass gathering that ended with a unison chant and then yesterday evening they gathered for a candlelight vigil. Ordered group activities with sensual elements like music and candles were where people naturally gravitated to begin to understand the harsh truth of the past days.

People sometimes ask Orthodox about our ritual life, the vestments, the "smells and bells", and the sometimes complex movement of people and objects that mark our worship. Its because we understand that humans are creatures of ritual and even in a bastion of intense secularism like the modern University campus that primal call to understand the world in the movement of "liturgy", if you like, cannot be quenched.

And the goal is the same as well. The rituals at Virginia Tech are designed to begin a process of human transformation from intense pain and loss to some future time when the more regular rythms of life will once again prevail. In Orthodoxy we seek a transformation as well, one not rooted in a response to a specific moment but rather to the love of God and the continuing hope that we can always be drawn through that love into a union with Him.

Over the centuries the things we do, despite thier appearance as unnecessary complexities in a world that worships efficiency above efficacy, have been the numinous things whose effects have radically changed people and even cultures towards holiness. They are powerful and touch the deepest part of the human soul even if that soul is unaware. They call us to ancient and heavenly cycles of life, remind us of our place in life, and carry us through the moments of struggle to our true home.