LOL. It's really because of bad knees. ;O)
"LOL. It's really because of bad knees."
I assume that you are referring to the length of our services, and the need to stand throughout?
In addition to the obligatory Sunday Novus Ordo Mass I try to attend a daily Latin Mass on one week day. I am 51, slightly overweight and not of athletic build even in my better days. Kneeling really hurts me. The pain is at the lower back and at the shoulders as I try to balance the weight of my belly by pressing my elbows against the backrest of the pew in front of me, in order to push the body forward and not collapse till the butt finds support agains the edge of the seat. The monks used to have a contraption that swings out form under the seat to support the thighs; we the damned moderns do not get that, and in justice I don't think we should.
The Mass consists of kneeling throughout, interrupted by standing up for the two gospel readings and a walk to the communion rail, -- where, of course, you kneel again. Unlike the High Mass, that is sung in full voice and involves elaborate processions, the daily Mass is austere and almost inaudible. Basically, you observe a priest, his back to you, hushedly pray to God in a language you are not exactly fluent in, for about one hour as you kneel and ache, and observe the body of Christ crucified in the fractured bread. Beside the communion, the lay participation is limited to the said kneeling and an occasional "et cum spiritu tuo". The audial high point is "non sum dignus" -- "I am not worthy" proclaimed by the priest, and he means all of us by that.
Yesterday I was startled by two penitents shuffle on their knees along the aisle past me, toward the foot of the altar, where they paused and shuffled out just before the communion was offered.
If Catholicism is about any kind of usurpation of the glory of God, we have a funny way of showing it.