A Rite represents an ecclesiastical, or church, tradition about how the sacraments are to be celebrated. When the apostles brought the Gospel to the major cultural centers of their day the essential elements of religious practice were inculturated into those cultures. This means that the essential elements were clothed in the symbols and trappings of the particular people, so that the rituals conveyed the desired spiritual meaning to that culture. In this way ?the Church becomes all things to all men that some might be saved ? (1 Cor. 9:22).