Religious Ritual Quotes

“But to reject, marginalize, trivialize, or be suspicious of the sacraments (and quasi-sacramental acts such as lighting a candle, bowing, washing feet, raising hands in the air, crossing oneself and so forth) on the grounds that such things CAN be superstitious or idolatrous or that some people might suppose they are putting God in their debt, is like rejecting sexual relations in marriage on the grounds that it's the same act that in other circumstances constitutes immorality.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

“If a man begins his sacrifice when the flames are luminous,
and considers for the offerings the signs of heaven, then
the holy offerings lead him on the rays of the sun where
the Lord of all gods has his high dwelling.
But unsafe are the boats of sacrifice to go to the farthest
shore; unsafe are the eighteen books where the lower
actions are explained. The unwise who praise them as the
highest end go to old age and death again.
Abiding in the midst of ignorance, but thinking them-
selves wise and learned, fools aimlessly go hither and
thither, like blind led by the blind.
Wandering in the paths of unwisdom, 'We have attained
the end of life', think the foolish. Clouds of passion conceal
to them the beyond, and sad is their fall when the reward
of their pious actions has been enjoyed.
Imagining religious ritual and gifts of charity as the final
good, the unwise see not the Path supreme. Indeed they have
in high heaven the reward of their pious actions ; but thence
they fall and come to earth or even down to lower regions.
But those who in purity and faith live in the solitude of
the forest, who have wisdom and peace and long not for
earthly possessions, those in radiant purity pass through
the gates of the sun to the dwelling-place supreme where
the Spirit is in Eternity.”
― Juan Mascaró, The Upanishads