Pre Vatican II, the Church used pagan and Jewish symbols to express Christian ideas about God. Basilicas, a form derived from Roman political systems, became the dominant architectural pattern. Sacrifice, the dominant ritual of the pre Christian world, was used to explain Christ’s relationship to us. Christian ritual mimicked pagan rituals as the simplest way to express the Christian mysteries in ways pagans would understand.
Vatican II changed all that, to copy Christ’s choice to reach out to us in a fully human form. Pagan ritual has largely faded from our consciousness, so alternative symbol systems were adapted. The same essential mystery still celebrates that God chose us to be His sons and daughters in Christ. The family of Our Father has replaced the sacrifice of Christ as the dominant way of explaining the same Eucharist.