Msgr. Marco Agostini, who is an official in the second section of the secretariat of state and an assistant master of pontifical ceremonies, wrote in L’Osservatore Romano last month that the beautiful floors of many old churches were “made for the knees of the faithful” as a “perennial carpet of stones” for prayer and humility. [Beautiful artwork in old churches is not for the sake nostlagia. There is a story behind it. Compare it with the drab, one image "Resurrectifix" churches we have after Vatican 2!]
According to a translation provided by Vatican expert Sandro Magister, Msgr. Agostini noted that kneelers have “disappeared” from many churches, as have the communion rails at which the faithful would receive communion while kneeling.[There was no legislation to remove such but liturgists who claim they are authority in these matters, started the wrecknovation trumpeting the winds of change of Vatican 2!]
“And yet in the New Testament, the act of kneeling is present every time the divinity of Christ appears to a man,” the monsignor continued, noting the kneeling during the visit of the Magi, the reaction of the man born blind, or the reaction of Mary Magdalene in the garden on Easter Morning. [Ask those liturgists if they ever kneel to pray.]
“Jesus himself said to Satan, who wanted to make him kneel wrongfully, that it is only to God that one's knees must bend." [Imagine that! Even Satan knows the importance of kneeling!]
“Satan is still forcing the choice between God and power, God and wealth, and is tempting even more profoundly. But in this way glory will not be given to God at all; knees will bend to those whom power has favored, to those to whom the heart has been bound through an act.” [And these liturgists want you to "bow" to their every whim.]
Msgr. Agostini recommended a return to kneeling at Mass as a “good training exercise” to overcome idolatry. This is also one of the ways of active participation in the liturgy endorsed by the Second Vatican Council, he commented. [The way to put things in the right perspective! Not these modernists way!]
Kneeling also helps one realize the beauty of the older floors in Catholic churches. The monsignor spoke of how the “sumptuous flooring” of ornate churches helped the faithful feel themselves “part of the order that is the soul of the world.” [Imagine how many souls and saints knelt down on the same floor to adore and thank God and beg of His mercy and grace?]
He explained how church floors helped preserve Christian mysticism and helped give the processional directions for the liturgy. These floors were not made to be covered by pews, he commented, claiming they were introduced “relatively recently” to make the naves of churches suitable for listening in comfort to long sermons.
“These floors are primarily for those who live and move in the liturgy, they are for those who kneel before the epiphany of Christ,” the monsignor added. “Kneeling is the response to the epiphany given by grace to a single person. The one who has been struck by the brilliance of the vision falls prostrate to the ground, and from there sees more than all around him who have remained standing.”
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If you want more commentaries about kneeling, read this from Adoremus. This is the response of Jorge A. Cardinal Medina Estévez, then prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the questions of kneeling to receive Holy Communion and the right of Catholics to address concerns to the Holy See.
Comment time!
Does your Parish, chapel or school encourage kneeling at certain moments at Mass?
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