Bow your head at the name of Jesus

  • Thread starter Thread starter 14er
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
In the Traditional Mass both the priests and servers bow their heads whenever the Name of Jesus is said or the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit such as during the Glory Be.
 
I was taught by the nuns also to bow my head at the name of Jesus and at age 73 I still do,I am surprised that no one in church does, not even the priest.
 
Digitonomy said:
Brooklyn gave us the scriptural source for a bow at the name of Jesus (even though the text suggests bending the knee, rather than bowing the head). Is there a known source for these other traditions/devotions?
Click to expand...
From the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal):
275(a). A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together, and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.
 
Thank you for the GIRM reference!
God Bless!
To Jesus, through Mary
 
Hi everybody,

Even non-catholics. With much response regarding bowing the head to the mention of Jesus’s name, making the sign of the cross when passing a parish out of reverence for the Holy Eucharist as they do in Mexico is not common, I don’t believe here in the US. When a local bus in Mexico passes a Catholic church there, its nice to see the reverance people give to Jesus, there. God bless you all!
 
ArthurQArch said:
This is an awesome practice. I am seeing more and more priests do it as well. It is a little act of reverence and humility on the part of man who owes his Redeemer everything.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree, we cannot bow enough to the Lord Jesus. May His will be done forever in our lives!
 
amgp said:
From the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal):
275(a). A bow of the head is made when the three Divine Persons are named together, and at the names of Jesus, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Saint in whose honor Mass is being celebrated.
Click to expand...
I know one priest who actually does this!! It’s a shame it’s not done everywhere like it’s supposed to be. But then again, liturgical abuse is much more common than not.
 
To bow our heads at the name of Jesus is a very small show of repect of Our Lord and God.
I learned this when I was in school along time ago and didn’t for a while but I fill much happer to have started again. Who deserves more respect the Jesus Our Lord.
ML64
 
Thank you to whoever started this thread and for all the thoughtful and beautiful replies! I noticed our pastor doing this and he also encourages the congregation to practice. I do have some questions, however, should we bow our heads whenever praying the Hail Mary whenever we say the name of our Blessed Mother and our Lord? Of course I wouldn’t mind but that sure is a lot of bowing during a rosary! Also should your head remain bowed for the entire time the names are mentioned? For example, during the Gloria, the head bow can last several seconds if we are singing.
 
una_fides said:
In the Traditional Mass both the priests and servers bow their heads whenever the Name of Jesus is said or the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit such as during the Glory Be.
Click to expand...
It is also the custom in the TLM to bow ones head at the mention of our Lady and the Saint of the day.

When reciting the Traditional Office in common, or assisting at Mass, clergy in the Traditional rite usually wear the biretta when sitting. They will bow their heads, and remove the biretta, when the name of Jesus is mentioned, the biretta is usually brought down to the knee, as one bows head and shoulders, and for our Lady or the Saint of the day the head is bowed, and the biretta is brought over ones chest or heart. The significance is a deeper bow for our Lord than for our Lady or the saints.

If during a sermon the priest mentions our Lord or Lady more than three or four times, most clerics will remove their birettas, and hold them at their right knee, so it does not become a circus, and distracting by the of doffing one’s biretta, but is respectful.
 
Regina_Coeli said:
should we bow our heads whenever praying the Hail Mary whenever we say the name of our Blessed Mother and our Lord?
Click to expand...
I would recommend making the bow of the head, unless you’re kneeling, which is already a posture of reverence (and actually bending the knee, rather than just the “knee of the heart”). If you’re standing or sitting while praying the Rosary, I would recommend bowing your head. I bow my head once at “Hail Mary” and once (not twice) at “Jesus – Holy Mary”.
Regina_Coeli said:
Also should your head remain bowed for the entire time the names are mentioned? For example, during the Gloria, the head bow can last several seconds if we are singing.
Click to expand...
Unless the name is held really really long, to the point that it would actually disrupt the singing of the name, I would try to bow for the whole word.
 
Regina_Coeli said:
Thank you to whoever started this thread and for all the thoughtful and beautiful replies! I noticed our pastor doing this and he also encourages the congregation to practice. I do have some questions, however, should we bow our heads whenever praying the Hail Mary whenever we say the name of our Blessed Mother and our Lord? Of course I wouldn’t mind but that sure is a lot of bowing during a rosary! Also should your head remain bowed for the entire time the names are mentioned? For example, during the Gloria, the head bow can last several seconds if we are singing.
Click to expand...
At a Traditional Latin Mass, when it is sung, the priest and servers keep their head profoundly bowed for the entire time the name of the blessed Trinity is said during the Glory Be. It is really nice to see during the Asperges Me in the beginning before the Mass when the priest is going down the aisle sprinkling everyone with holy water and then stops during the Glory Be, turns towards the tabernacle along with the servers and bows the entire time the name of God is vocalized. The reverence for our Lord is so clearly portrayed in that Mass!
 
My sons serve for both the Traditional Latin Mass, and the Novus Ordo English Mass (I’m in charge of the altar boy program at our parish). For our servers, we’ve incorporated much of the reverence and rubrics from the TLM Mass into the NO Mass, and people always comment on how wonderfully reverent all of the servers are. They’re never too young to learn proper reverence to our Lord, and having them up in the sanctuary leading by example helps the entire congregation learn as well.
👍
 
amgp said:
we’ve incorporated much of the reverence and rubrics from the TLM Mass into the NO Mass … leading by example helps the entire congregation learn as well.
Click to expand...
I cannot stress how important it is for altar servers to be examples of reverence at Mass. People will notice them, since they move around more than pretty much anyone else. It’s not helpful to have altar servers who twiddle their thumbs, yawn, slouch, otherwise don’t pay attention to the Mass.
 
Forgive me for writing this, but ever since I can remember, bowing my head in prayer to our God or speaking his name, has been, what I thought was common practice. After reading the many comments or questions, When to “bow our heads or even kneel” to our Lord, the way to speak to our Lord was how to show the respect or reverence to him. Pardon me, I’m not here to say “I’m anywhere holier than thou”, but it only seems right. Not having a “communion rail” in a parish to receive, just that, Holy communion, is really a shame.:rolleyes:

The Father of a parish that I attended for many years kept the communion rail in the church. They removed it after he had retired. I’ve even been in a parish where they didn’t even have kneelers in the pews! Please, “Forgive them Lord for they truly did not know what they did.” God bless you all!
 
God judges the motive of our heart: Bowing our head, kneelers, altar rails are of little or no use (or may even be impediments) if our heart-motive is not where it should be… Wasn’t this the argument used by Jesus against the Pharisees? If our actions follow a righteous cause then let them be, otherwise we enter into ‘Spiritual materialism.’
 
I noticed that in some Anglican Use parishes they bow their heads at the name of Jesus. As a former Anglo Catholic we always bowed our heads at the name of Jesus.

I still do at times during Mass. It takes a conscience effort to bow your head at our Lord’s name, which makes one more aware of Jesus and why your worshiping Him.

Of course like anything else we do it can just become a habit. But not all habits are bad.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette
 
Bernadette,
NO IT DOESN’T : NOT NECESSARILY SO !!
I’ve been to Mass and seen people bow their heads at the name of Jesus (?) and thought, "Are they doing it to relieve boredum, show others how religious they are or another form of attention-seeking (fooling themselves, ‘the more I act holy the more holy I’ll be’, especially when their interaction with others is markedly questionably un-Christian, ‘You just look how pious I am!’).
This argument is related to Confession - motives can be far removed from action.

In my own life: If you don’t want to give me a present, don’t give me one. Don’t just give me something because that’s what’s expected, it’s traditionally done, or people may have negative thoughts if you don’t “perform.”

Personally I think this was at the basis of some of the reforms of Vat.2:thumbsup:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top