Standing or Kneeling During Consecration
This past weekend my family and I attended Mass at another parish out of town. During the consecration they remained standing instead of kneeling. Once I noticed a few people were kneeling, my family and I also knelt. Boy did we feel out of place. Are there any Church documents, or Church Laws concerning the practice of kneeling during the consecration? What are the arguments for the practice of standing during the consecration? Any information concerning this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Dear Gregg,
Before beginning to write this answer to your message, I called the Chancery Office of a major U.S. Archdiocese to consult litrugy and canon law personnel there about present-day discipline regarding kneeling and/or standing during the Eucharistic prayer (and, therefore, at the Consecration) of the Mass. I shall be reporting to you here the substance of what I found out.
I can find no Roman document mandating or even recommending standing instead of kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer, including the Consecration and thereafter. Elliott's Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite (Ignatius Press), p. 56, says: "(The people) are meant to observe the rules of the episcopal conference concerning standing, kneeling and sitting during celebrations." COMMENT: I was told, when I called the aforementioned archdiocesan chancery officials, that the U.S. episcopal conference has *not* issued any directives about standing/kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer OR while receiving Communion. I was further told that, when section 34 of "Eucharisticum Mysterium" (Sacred Congregation of Rites, April 13, 1967) says: "The faithful should willingly adopt the method indicated by their pastors," the word "pastors" means "bishops" or "episcopal conferences", not (repeat *not*) "parish priests" or "liturgy coordinators". Therefore, the congregation remains free to stand or kneel as each one chooses. Parish officials do not have the authority to impose a uniformity which the local bishop, or bishops' conference, or Rome does not impose.
This would apply not only to the whole Eucharistic prayer but also to the manner of receiving Holy Communion. The instruction Inaestimabile Donum of the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, April 17, 1980, lays down this principle in section 11: "With regard to the manner of going to Communion, the faithful can receive it either kneeling or standing, in accordance with the norms laid down by the episcopal conference."
But, once more, our own episcopal conference has laid down *no* norms in this area, so people should be *left free* to kneel or stand for Holy Communion. (The diocesan bishop may establish uniformity for his own territory, but parish officials have no right to do so.)
In this regard, one should observe the principle laid down in "Eucharisticum Mysterium" no. 45:
"THE LAWS OF THE CHURCH MUST BE FAITHFULLY OBSERVED IN CELEBRATING MASS
"In the celebration of the Eucharist above all, no one, not even a priest, may on his own authority add, omit, or change anything in the Liturgy. Only the supreme authority of the Church, and, according to the provisions of the law, the bishop and episcopal conferences, may do this. Priests should, therefore, ensure that they so preside over the celebration of the Eucharist that the faithful know that they are attending, not a rite established on private initiative, but the Church's public worship, the regulation of which was entrusted by Christ to the Apostles and their successors."
The same point is made with even more poignancy and vigor by Pope John Paul II in his letter to all the bishops, Dominicae Cenae, On the Mystery and Worship of the Eucharist, February 24, 1980, section 12:
"Each one should also remember that he is responsible for the common good of the whole Church. The *priest as minister*, as celebrant, as the one who presides over the eucharistic assembly of the faithful, should have a special *sense of the common good of the Church*, which he represents through his ministry, but to which he must also be subordinate, according to a correct discipline of faith. He cannot consider himself a 'proprietor' who can make free use of the liturgical text and of the sacred rite as if it were his own property, in such a way as to stamp it with his own arbitrary personal style. At times this latter might seem more effective, and it may better correspond to subjective piety; nevertheless, objectively it is always a betrayal of that union which should find its proper expression in the sacrament of unity."
Although standing at prayer is certainly approved, kneeling and genuflection may be considered to have a solider scriptural foundation. We are to bend our knees at Jesus' Name (Phil 2:10)--so how much more before His Real Presence in the Eucharist, at the Consecration and thereafter, and particularly at Holy Communion.
In Jesus' presence, people almost by instinct knew they should kneel (Matt. 8:2, 9:18, 15:25, 17:14, 20:20; Mark 1:40, 10:17). So kneeling was a favored posture of prayer for New Testament Christians (Acts 9:40, 20:36, 21:5; Eph 3:14).
Nowadays, we Catholics are enjoying a revival of interest in and study of the Bible. We should be consistent and let the Bible guide even our bodily worship: "Come, let us *bow down* in worship; let us *kneel* before the Lord who made us, for He is our God" (Ps 95:6-7). In this regard, the instruction "Inaestimabile Donum" says in section 27:
"Most of the difficulties encountered in putting into practice the reform of the Liturgy and especially the reform of the Mass stem from the fact that neither priests nor faithful have perhaps been sufficiently aware of the theological and spiritual reasons for which the changes have been made, in accordance with the principles laid down by the Council.... Without an adequate biblical training, priests will not be able to present to the faithful the meaning of the Liturgy as an enactment, in signs, of the history of salvation."
Sincerely in Christ,
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