Knees to love Christ

Knees symbolize both strength and humility. Athletes use strong knees to run for touchdowns in football and to block shots and to slam-dunk in basketball. Knees also bend in adoration of the Eucharistic King and in recognition of the grandeur and majesty of the Most High God.

Already in Biblical times, knees were a symbol of humility and strength. To bend one’s knee before God was a profound act of worship; it stated boldly yet simply that God is the source of all power and that the one on bended knee is ready to place his life and all his energy at the service of the Lord.

What we do with our knees gives evidence of what we believe in our hearts. When we kneel down beside the bed of a dying person, when we stand up for the dignity of the unborn child, when we genuflect before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, we say louder than any rhetoric what matters most in our lives. Knees express what we believe and make clear what we will live and die for.

Not surprisingly, then, knees play an important role in the Church’s Sacred Liturgy, especially during the season of Lent. What we do with our knees during worship is anything but trivial. It rivals in importance what we do with our voices and our ears, what we do with our hands and our hearts.

When we gather at the Eucharist, our attention is drawn with awe and devotion to the sacramental presence of Christ. While the Body of Christ far exceeds the value of our own bodies, it also gives meaning to them. It reminds us, too, of the human body’s vital role in that “full, conscious and active participation in the Sacred Liturgy” called for by the Church at the Second Vatican Council.

It is understandable then why our posture at Holy Mass stirs such deep emotion within us who cherish our Catholic faith, and who know that our greatest treasure is the Eucharist. In three liturgical postures at Mass, our knees play a central role: kneeling, standing, and genuflecting.

The General Instruction for the Roman Missal (Third Edition) speaks of the proper posture for the laity during the Eucharistic Prayer. In paragraph 42, it states: “In the dioceses of the United States of America, they should kneel beginning after the singing or recitation of the Sanctus until after the Amen of the Eucharistic Prayer, except when prevented on occasion by reasons of health, lack of space, the large number of people, or some other good reason. Those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration. The faithful kneel after the Agnus Dei unless the Diocesan Bishop determines otherwise.”

It is expected, then, that the lay faithful kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer and after the Agnus Dei, unless they are prevented “on occasion” from doing so. It is only in exceptional situations and on extraordinary occasions that the laity stand during the Eucharistic Prayer. Or course, it is understood that some of the elderly and disabled will not be able to kneel. In chapels in nursing homes and similar environments, kneeling is often not possible.

Special problems are also posed by those few churches and chapels that presently have no kneelers. In these cases, until the installation of kneelers can occur (which I hope will be soon), kneeling may not be possible.

The practice of kneeling assists our whole person to be attentive to the Lord, to surrender to His will, to lift our soul and our voices in worship. Indeed, it points to the heart of what faith in Christ is all about. We see this reflected already in the earliest days of the Church. In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that St. Peter “knelt down and prayed” (9:40), and that St. Paul “knelt down and prayed with them all” (20:36); we see how the first Christian martyr St. Stephen fell to his knees and prayed that his enemies be forgiven (cf. 7:60), and we see how the whole community, men and women and children, prayed on their knees (cf. 21:5).

Jesus Himself knelt to pray to His beloved Father. We see this most dramatically in the Garden of Gethsemane where, on His knees, He speaks those deeply moving words: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

The passage of Sacred Scripture that gives the strongest theological foundation for kneeling is that famous hymn found in St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, 2:6-11, where we are told that, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Kneeling is more than a gesture of the overly pious. It is a fundamental act of faith, a strong expression about Who stands at the center of one’s life and Who stands at the center of all creation. Bending the knee at the name of Jesus is a decisive act of those with athletic souls and humble hearts. There is nothing passive about kneeling in humility and adoration. When the knees act in response to a heart that loves Christ, there is unleashed a force so strong it can change the face of the earth. Grace is the name we give to this force.

According to Abba Apollo, a desert father who lived about 1,700 years ago, the devil has no knees; he cannot kneel; he cannot adore; he cannot pray; he can only look down his nose in contempt. Being unwilling to bend the knee at the name of Jesus is the essence of evil (Cf. Is 45:23, Rom 14:11). But when we kneel at Jesus’ name, when we bow down in service of others, and when we bend the knee in adoration, we are following in the footsteps of the Magi, we are imitating Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Maximillian Kolbe, and all the saints and angels in heaven.

“Come, let us bow down and worship. Let us kneel before the Lord who made us.”

THURSDAY-SUNDAY
August 30 - September 2, 2001
volume 12, no. 147

The Germs of GIRM

Part Twenty-five: Standing for Nothing!
[Continuing with selected passages found in Chapter Two of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, in this issue Paragraphs 43 is analyzed. This is a prime example of the abnormal becoming normal for no matter the abuse, the Conference of Bishops can alter the interpretation of Rome and promote their own auto-demolition of the Mass and the Church under the guise of insisting the faithful heed "liturgical law" while ignoring the Traditions, Teachings and infallible decrees of past Pontiffs.]

Paragraph 43 of GIRM reads as follows:

"They should sit during the readings before the gospel reading and during the responsorial pslam, for the homily and the preparation of the gifts, and, if this seems helpful, during the period of religious silence after communion.

"They should kneel at the consecration, except when prevent by reasons of health, lack of space, the number of people present, or some other good reason. However, those who do not kneel at the consecration ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration.

"But it is up to the Conference of Bishops to adapt the gestures and posture in the Order of the Mass to the customs and reasonable traditions of the people according to the norm of law. The Conference, however, must make sure that such adaptations correspond to the meaning and character of each part of the celebration. Where it is the custom that the people remain kneeling from the end of the Sanctus until the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, this is laudably retained.

"For the sake of observing a uniformity in gestures and posture during the same celebration, the faithful should obey the directions which the deacon or a lay person or the priest give during the celebration, according to whatever is indicated in the liturgical books."

Comment and Analysis:

Ignore Paragraph 42. A priest does not have to give "greater attention" to what is "laid down in liturgical law" if his national conference of bishops (ours has been retitled the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) has been able to prove to the Holy See that an abuse, such as standing during the Consecration, has become an accepted practice in a particular country (or a region of the country).

As I have noted on other occasions, this is how we got Communion in the Hand, Communion under both kinds, and altar girls, among other one-time abuses which later received the stamp of approval from Rome. Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Cardinal Mahony issued his pastoral letter on the liturgy in 1997 to create a groundswell of support among the laity for his desire to introduce gestures and postures that deviate from the ancient traditions of the Roman Rite. He has done so in order to be able to demonstrate to the Holy See that standing for Consecration has become a local custom in the United States-or at least in certain parts of the United States. Do you really think he will be refused his request by the Holy See?

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has already begun the process of requesting indults from the Holy See for them to receive full authority from Rome to continue the implementation of novel practices in the celebration of the Mass. Ignoring altogether the fact that the gestures and postures of the Novus Ordo differ substantially from those of the various Masses celebrated over the centuries (Low Mass, Missa Cantata, High Mass).

The plain fact of the matter is that the gestures and postures associated with the Novus Ordo vary widely from parish to parish, so much so that Paragraph 43's expressed desire that the faithful follow the "directions" given them by a deacon or a priest or a lay person to stand or kneel becomes normative in the minds of the faithful, who cannot be expected to know every jot and tittle of liturgical law. Thus, the Novus Ordo demonstrates once again its inherently dangerous nature with respect to the interior life of the faithful and the destruction of the sense of the universality of the faith that obtained in the Latin Rite prior to 1969.

As can be seen quite plainly from this continuing analysis, GIRM does not solve any problems at all. Indeed, its codification of once exception after another will result in the continuing decay of the Mass along the lines of personal, local, regional, national, and ideological lines. The only antidote, obviously, is to continue to pray for the restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass as normative in the Latin Rite. Barring a miracle, this is not going to happen in our lifetimes. However, we must understand that the destruction of doctrine within the Church is the direct result of the attack upon the nature of the Mass and the way it is celebrated in the Novus Ordo.

Thomas A. Droleskey, Ph.D.

For past columns in The DAILY CATHOLIC by Dr. Droleskey, see Archives


August 30 - September 2, 2001 volume 12, no. 147 CHRIST or chaos www.DailyCatholic.org

Knees to love Christ

Part Two of Two

Our knees play an important role in our life in Christ, in our service to others and in our worship of the Lord. In my previous column, I considered how kneeling has always held such a prominent role in the prayer of the Church.

Now, let us consider the other two postures that our knees perform in the Sacred Liturgy: standing and genuflecting.

At key points of the Eucharist, we use our knees to express attentiveness, reverence and love. As we enter and as we exit a church where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, we genuflect as a reverential greeting of Christ, who is truly present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.

This action towards Christ in the Tabernacle prepares us to begin to pray as we enter the church and makes us ready to witness to Christ as we leave it. Indeed, to bend the knee before Our Blessed Lord in the Tabernacle also shows a desire to bend our will to God’s plan for us each and every day.

Standing out of love for Christ

While we remain seated to listen to God’s word in the first readings of the Sacred Scriptures at Mass, we rise to our feet and stand for the proclamation of the Gospel. Our standing in attentive and prayerful expectation is often accompanied by the singing of an acclamation, a procession with the Book of the Gospels and the use of incense. We always stand, too, at times of intercessory prayer, to show how we anticipate that the Father will hear and answer the petitions we bring with confidence before Him.

The priest stands during the Eucharistic Prayer as he acts in the person of Christ, in what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “so great and so holy a moment” (#1385). The posture of standing reminds us of that great multitude from every nation and race that “stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes…” joyfully crying aloud in praise of God the Father on His heavenly throne and in praise of Jesus, the Lamb of God (cf. Revelations 7:9). We also remember the words of the Second Eucharistic Prayer in which the priest prays to the Father, “We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you.”

Clearly, both the Sacred Scriptures and our liturgical tradition look upon standing, comparable to genuflecting and kneeling, as a reverential posture to express our faith in God and our love for Him. We should keep this in mind when we process forward and stand to receive Holy Communion, with a bow of the head as a sign of reverence prior to reception.

You have probably noticed that priests genuflect before receiving Holy Communion, rather than bowing their head.

Why would priests genuflect at this time but the laity only bow their head? Because the laity were kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer while the priest was standing. Since he has not been kneeling prior to Holy Communion, it is appropriate that the priest genuflect at this point to express his belief in the Real Presence of Christ and to manifest his reverence.

A few of our laity still kneel or genuflect prior to receiving Holy Communion, and rightly they are not denied the Blessed Sacrament. While I appreciate the good intentions that prompt these actions, I invite them to consider again the reverential nature of standing during the Sacred Liturgy and the real value of a unified expression of our fraternal communion in Christ. Taking exception to liturgical norms can distract others and even divert their attention during this most sacred moment of communing with our Savior. It can draw undue attention to oneself. Receiving Communion is also a statement of our union with the entire Church, not just a time of individual experience.

Nine Postures of St. Dominic

We are told that St. Dominic had nine different ways of praying, each marked by a different bodily posture. This great saint, who is associated with beginning the Rosary, knew well that praying involves more than just the soul.

Our body plays an important role in our communication with the Lord. Far from being trivial, what we do with our knees, whether we sit or stand, whether we genuflect or kneel, greatly impacts on our inner attitude before the Lord. It can stir our devotion or diminish it. If done sloppily or ignored, it hinders our openness to God’s grace. But if done out of love, it assists us in humbly seeking God’s mercy and in entering into loving communion with the Lord.

As we celebrate the Sacred Liturgy, then, whether at daily Mass or on a more solemn occasion, let us aim at more than external compliance with rubrics. Let us practice deep reverence before these Sacred Mysteries. Let us use our knees to live our faith every moment of every day and to express our love for Christ.

---The Catholic Sun - 3/3/2005 - Link: http://www.catholicsun.org/bishopColumn.htm

Note: Italics and bolds are in print edition. On-line edition is paragraphed more.
Note: Use FReepmail for on/off this ping list.

"He mentioned that in the GOC, kneeling is NEVER done on Sunday because it is the Day of Resurrection. Hopefully, he will respond with a more definitive response." Canon XX of the 1st Ecumenical Council (Nicea, 325AD) states:

"Since there are some persons who kneel in church on Sundays and on the days of Pentecost, with a view to preserving uniformity in all parishes, it has seemed best to the holy council for prayers to be offered to God while standing". St. Basil the Great wrote in this regard:

"We stand up when praying on the first of the week, though not all of us know the reason. For it is not only that it serves to remind us that when we have risen from the dead together with Christ we ought to seek the things above, in the day of resurrection of the grace given us, by standing at prayer, but that it also seems to serve in a way as a picture of the expected age. Wherefore, being also the starting point of days, though not the first with Moses, yet it has been called the first. For it says: ‘The evening and the morning were the first day’ (Gen. 1:5), on the ground that it returns again and again. The eighth, therefore, is also the first, especially as respects that really first and true eighth day, which the Psalmist too has mentioned in some of the superscriptions of his psalms, serving to exhibit the state which is to succeed this period of time, the unceasing day, the day without a night that follows, the day without successor, the never-ending and unaging age. Of necessity, therefore, the Church teaches her children to fulfill their obligations to pray therein while standing up, in order by constantly reminding them of the deathless life to prevent them from neglecting the provisions for the journey thither. And every Pentecost is a reminder of the expected resurrection in the age to come. For that one first day, being multiplied seven times over, constitutes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost. For by starting from the first day of the week, one arrives on the same day… The laws of the Church have taught us to prefer the upright posture at prayer, thus transporting our mind, so to speak, as a result of a vivid and clear suggestions, from the present age to the things come in the future. And during each kneeling and standing up again we are in fact showing by our actions that is was through sin that we fell to earth, and that through the kindness of the One Who created us we have been called back to Heaven…" (Canon XCI) In the Greek Orthodox Church, we kneel at the consecration through the year except from Pascha through Pentecost and during all weekday liturgies (again except from Pascha to Pentecost). This is a historical developement which arose for reasons not very relevant here. Suffice to say it is not canonical. In other jurisdictions, there is never any kneeling on any Sunday, which is canonical.

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