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Friday 26 February 2010

Genuflections


At the Name of Jesus, every knee must bow....


Much discussion in response to Fr Z's rant about the actual rubrics regarding genuflection, and kneeling and and bowing during Mass, (and otherwise,) by priests, and ministers, and laity (and otherwise.)
What caught my eye:
Unless you are carrying something big or precarious, whether it is during Mass or simply heading across the sanctuary after Mass to scrape some wax off the floor, in my opinion we should genuflect when we walk before the Lord, truly present.
Precarious, shmecarious; big, shmig... I knew I was somewhere special when I stopped into a particular parish church for the first time, (midday, just to make a visit,) and from a pew in the back, in the shadows, (I say this to indicate that the person I observed was most probably unaware there was another mortal in the place,) I saw a painfully slight young man in a cassock crossing the sanctuary bearing a step ladder, (aluminum, it looked, about a 12 footer,) and without hesitation, shifted all the weight of the ladder into his left hand, dropped to one knee, and blessed himself solemnly as he passed before the tabernacle.
Then he proceeded to the other side of the sanctuary to replace the candle in a tabernacle light.

As I said, someplace special.

2 comments:

Dad29 said...

At a prestigious local parish, the pastor doesn't even bother to genuflect after consecrating the Eucharist--neither Body nor Blood.

Sad.

Anonymous said...

I've been wondering, I think you are in the next diocese over, Scelata.
Why don't your deacons kneel for the Eucharistic Prayer?
I know from asking that your bishop has asked people not to kneel after the Lamb of God or after communion, but nobody I asked, (PIPs, I do not know any clergy) knew why the deacons always stand.