ritual and relationship

I'm going to guess that this is from Anthony Esolen, but in any case, it appeared in Touchstone (April 2008)-- and I can't tell who wrote it, from what I saved or from the info available on their website....

Some believe that an emphasis on sacraments must produce an externalized, mechanical form of the Christian life. That is no doubt partly the fault of high-church Christians who permitted their participation to become externalized and mechanical.

But it is also the fault of low-church Christians who operate with a simplistic (I would say "modern") duality that assumes a necessary polarization between heart-experience and ritual. The slimmest exposure to medieval Eucharistic piety should be enough to show that this is nonsense.

I'm not overly familiar with medieval Eucharistic piety, but know enough to concur. Moreover, I've seen the possibility of warm and effective piety in contemporary settings to know that this is possible, if not probable.

The difficulty/tension remains: how can one form a personal relationship with God from a pietistic, ritualistic background? Once one has that personal relationship, then piety and "ritual" can be meaningful. It's a bit of a Catch-22...