I really really really love a good solid High Mass or Divine Liturgy.
Others might disagree, finding a lot of ceremony distasteful, but I don't. In fact, I believe we owe God, for all that He has done for us, to pull out all the stops, at least occasionally, in our worship of Him, particularly when we draw near in the Sacrament.
But woe betide us when that is the extent of it.
Seriously, God has told us through the Holy Prophets time and again that when we dive headfirst into the ceremony, the rites, and the externals, but ignore the "weightier" matters of justice, compassion, and charity He finds the ceremony distasteful. Imagine, if you will, the sound of ironic, slow clapping with the words, "Bravo. Oscar worthy. Totally Meaningless."
Our Epistle at Mass and our Gospel reading as well address this. St. James in the Epistle reading tells the Church that mere lip service or "faith without works" is garbage. Many in the Protestant traditions blast the thought of good works being the means to get into Heaven, and to a degree they are right, because to believe that is Pelagianism, but they are wrong if they ignore the fact that good works are still REQUIRED of Christians. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." (St. Jas. 1.27) It does not get more clear than that. Care for the orphans, the widowed, the disadvantaged, and also we need to consecrate ourselves against the insidious attitudes of the world.
Our Lord too in today's Gospel attacks the attitude of right worship being the only requirement. He quotes the Prophet Isaiah who complained hundreds of years previously that Israel (well, by that time, Judah) focused only on the rites and the ceremonies and not what truly mattered. Our Lord used as a case study the purification rituals. He pointed out that if the observer did not heed the meaning and internalize it, where the corruption really resided, then the ritual was useless. What matters is what proceeds out of the person from within. "By their fruits you shall know them," (Mt. 7.16, 20) come from that same passage we read (but the Revised Lectionary omits), and here Our Lord tells us that if someone truly takes God seriously he or she will amend their actions and their attitudes to manifest in actions that are worthy of true repentance.
So what we have is a multi-faceted gem. Right attitude, right actions, right worship together make for someone who truly approaches the Kingdom of God. Missing any of it is to run off the road into the weeds. "Faith without works is dead," (St. Jas. 2.26) and the works spring from a heart whose faith is true. Then maybe we can take the Sacrament to its fullest benefit.
