Why kneel at mass?

Praying involves our whole being: we pray with all our heart and all our body. The adage from the Rule of Saint Benedict, “Let the spirit be in harmony with the voice” speaks in its own way of the necessary intimate union of body, mind, and heart.

Jesus castigated the excesses of formalism (refer to Hosea, chapter 6, verse 6): praying well presupposes total sincerity (refer to James, chapter 4, verses 2 and 3) and the attitude of the body contributes to this accuracy.

Kneeling expresses the humility of the believer before God, supplication, respect, adoration.

Sitting promotes listening.

The standing position is characteristic of the Christian: evoking the resurrected Christ, it is the “Sunday”, “Easter” attitude par excellence. To pray standing is to welcome the Kingdom that is coming. Jesus speaks about it, but it is by denouncing the hypocrisy of some (refer to Mark, chapter 11, verse 25; Matthew, chapter 6, verse 5; or even, Luke, chapter 18, verse 11).

Furthermore, he gave the example of kneeling during his agony in the Garden of Olives (refer to Luke, chapter 22, verse 41): an attitude to be favored at the time of the great universal prayer of Good Friday, for example.

The General Presentation of the Roman Missal encourages the faithful to adopt a common attitude at Mass, a sign of unity, and to participate “as one man” (refer to Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 1) in the celebration.

Michèle Clavier