Do you ever bow before you receive the Eucharist?

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Yes. I bow to the Eucharist, not to the back of the person in front of me who is receiving.
 
We have to do some sort of reverence each time. Either by genuflecting, making a bow, kneeling and any other form of reverence. We shouldn’t be just going up to receive without acknowledging some how that this is Our God we are receiving. I once heard that this is what really gets to some atheists. I once heard a talk, and the man giving it said that an atheist professor had said to him “ This is why I don’t believe you Catholics. If you TRULy believed what you say you believe about th Eucharist, you would go up to receive Him crawling on your hands and knees”. I have to say that I agree with him. We don’t show Our Lord the love and reverence owed to Him.
 
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guanophore said:
I am surprised to hear this. A priest told the congregation “don’t bow to the backside of the person in front of you, wait to bow until you approach the Sacrament”. But I see that most people do bow “in advance” of arriving.
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I can imagine that might come from a sense of not wanting to hold up the line. It is one of the many drawbacks of having communion lines versus altar rails.
 
Holding up a line for all of about one to two seconds is not exactly earth shaking.
 
In my parish, probably more than ninety five percent bow.

Yes, I bow to the Body of the Lord.
 
That is what I do…as I was instructed.

Some people bow when they are third in line…they were probably not instructed.

The importance of such signs of reverence needs to be repeated.
 
OraLabora said:
I bow, genuflecting wouldn’t work for me as there is no means of upwards propulsion after getting down on my knee… age 60 and arthritis
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When I genuflect, getting in and out of my pew, I have to hold onto the back of the pew to get up and down. I’m 57years old and my right knee hurts and sometimes gives out on me. Still, with holding onto the back of the pew, I’m able to genuflect with my knee all the way down to the floor.

If I genuflected in the Communion line I’d fall over like a rolly-polly bug.
 
We are of similar vintage 😉

Fortunately the tabernacle at the abbey church is in a side chapel, so no need to genuflect getting in and out of my pew. However unless I’m running way late I always stop by the Blessed Sacrament chapel for at least a few moments of reflection/adoration, and then I do as you do upon arriving and departing. On days that I work at the abbey, I attend Terce, Mass, Sext+None (said together) and Vespers, so I appreciate having the tabernacle in the side chapel so I don’t have to genuflect.

My knees aren’t too bad but my left hip and left leg are affected by arthritis which is impinging on the sciatic nerve. Standing and keeling for a long time are also problematic. Which is why I truly appreciate EP II as well 😛

Oddly, I can still do long bike rides in the mountains… go figure.
 
Yes, it’s a pretty quick bow because there is a long line of people behind me, but I try my best to show reverence with it. All the parishioners I see do. No kneeling in my church, but we can receive on the tongue or in the hand. And we have the chalice, too. I bow before that as well, of course.
 
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I bow my head. It’s how I was taught and I do it generally when saying “Amen.”
 
almost2 said:
Some people bow before they receive the Eucharist.

Do you ever bow before you receive the Eucharist?
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I do. It helps to let go of myself. I see Jesus. Then bow before Him. I usually do when the priest bows at the entrance of Mass. And during the Creed just as we say: “Incarnate of the Virgin Mary.”

Helps let go of myself, and of all the internal attachments and distractions. Which my prayer life is inundated with, daily. What a struggle, to be honest.

I also make the sign of the Cross, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, whenever I can. I do the sign of the Cross at the end of each prayer petition: Lord hear our prayer. Also when we say with the Cherubim and Seraphim: “Holy, Holy, Holy.” At the end of the Our Father, during the Consecration, and “The Power, the Kingdom, and Glory are Yours…” And of course when the Priest blesses us, and announces the Mass in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Any point in Mass is the remedial and healing recovery of the spirit, the person’s soul, and their mind, body, will, and most of all their heart. Therein do we let go of our attachments to everything other than Jesus Himself, when we bow or make the sign of the Crucifix.

Happy Lent, as we approach a Joyful Easter.
 
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