THE POWER OF LITURGY

'How is it that something so repeatedly sung, done, or said can remain so spellbinding? Fragments, mere wisps of liturgy, hang about in our hearts and cannot be exercised by unbelief. Familiarity itself becomes unfamiliar. There is no knowing what is happening. Poets know not to grapple with it. To let it be.'

Ronald Blythe, Next to Nature, p.436. 

RITUAL

'The purpose of any ritual is to deepen one's commitment, to move a person deeper into a certain view of the world. Addictive rituals also have this purpose, pushing a person deeper into the the addictive process.'  

Craig Nakken, The Addictive Personality, p.44. 

THE POWER OF HABIT

'...there is no formation without repetition. Virtue formation takes practice, and there is no practice that isn't repetitive. We willingly embrace repetition as a good in all kinds of other sectors of our life - to hone our golf swing, our piano prowess, and our mathematical abilities, for example. If the sovereign Lord has created us as creatures of habit, why should we think repetition is inimical to our spiritual growth.'  

James KA Smith, You Are What You Love, p.80.