From Father Joe: Kneeling at Mass
Kneeling is an ancient prayer posture, we find it numerous times in both the Old Testament, “Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Psalm 95:6) and the New Testament, “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him.” (MT 17:14)
Why do we kneel and what does it symbolize? Kneeling is both a posture of humility and of trust. When we kneel, we completely surrender ourselves to our Heavenly Father in deep gratitude and reverence.
Kneeling is such an aspect of the physical way we worship that the Catholic Church’s instruction on the celebration of the Mass states, “The faithful should kneel at the Consecration, except when prevented on occasion by ill health.” (GIRM 43)
At Guardian Angels, the practice by some has been to stand while others kneel at the Consecration. To build more unity among worship and to follow the Church’s instruction for worship at Mass we will begin asking for everyone to kneel during the consecration and the elevations at our Masses. I do understand that kneeling may be physically difficult for some, so we ask that for those who cannot kneel to please sit during the consecration.
In Christ,
Fr. Joe