OH, HO, HO, IT'S MAGIC:

In one provocative chapter, Mosebach tries to explore the thesis that contradicts his own: the idea that Christianity does not need a ritual. Wasn't Christ constantly setting aside the ritual law, relativizing the letter of the law by championing its spirit?  Did not Christ move through ancient Israel in such a way as to practically forbid his followers from setting up shrines to him? And ultimately, did he not prophesy the destruction and religious displacement of Jerusalem itself, the holy city meant to be an image of the heavenly temple?

The anti-ritualism of the modern mind suspects that there always is a dichotomy between the outward appearance and the inward reality. As one of Mosebach's English reviewers put it, this anti-ritualist attitude shaped the new Mass. "Since nearly everything is optional and unnecessary, the Ordinary Form [the post-Vatican II Mass), for Mosebach, perpetually communicates the disunity of spiritual intent and external gesture. The plethora of options for both laity and priests in the liturgy contributes to the sense that physical gestures and symbols are merely sentimental adornments to real internal worship."

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