Kneeling and Pain

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I’ve been sticking a prayer rule that includes kneeling and nothing in my Protestant background has prepared me for it.

Do you ever get use to it? I’m just kneeling on rug and sometimes a pillow. Can this also be used as a form of penance?

🧐
 
It can be a good mortification. It is nice to have a respectful posture during prayer.
 
I can’t say I ‘dislike’ the pain (as odd as that may sound). Praying the rosary and litanies this way seems to make prayer more lively and real.
 
Also can depend on your age and physical limitations. I wish I could kneel but unfortunately, I’m pretty limited to before Mass only.
 
I seem to have heard that Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church have liturgies where it is common to stand for the entire liturgy. In the western Roman rite, there is kneeling, generally traceable (probably) to scripture which says that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend.

Kneeling is what you might call a small-t tradition, not sinful one way or the other. For some years churches have shown much more sensitivity to people with handicaps.
 
Honestly, this is a conversation better suited for a medical doctor. Pain is a signal that something’s not correct.

You may just need to build better muscles and develop better balance…but talk to your doctor first.
 
If you haven’t been kneeling regularly, yes it will hurt and you don’t have the muscles developed for it.
Feel free to use a cushion, experiment with different postures that hurt less, and start with a few minutes at a time and gradually increase the time. Be patient with yourself.
If you continue to have significant pain, see a doctor.
 
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Wic said:
I can’t say I ‘dislike’ the pain (as odd as that may sound). Praying the rosary and litanies this way seems to make prayer more lively and real.
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Be careful with this. It’s not a great idea to associate prayer with a lot of physical pain, especially if you’re a relative beginner. Prayer isn’t supposed to hurt, any more than a conversation with your dad is supposed to hurt.
 
otrrl said:
I seem to have heard that Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church have liturgies where it is common to stand for the entire liturgy. In the western Roman rite, there is kneeling, generally traceable (probably) to scripture which says that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend.
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Let’s take a step back, first.

Until the medieval period in the west, standing was the position of respect, and kneeling was only a position of penitence, both East and West. The canons of Nicea actually prohibit kneeling on Sunday.

Over the course of the middle ages, kneeling and genuflecting before lords and kings became the norm. At that point, people in the west are to kneel in the church as certainly the King of Kings was due that which was due to earthy kings. The section you cite may have been mentioned as justification, but it was not the reason.

The norm for Eastern Christian liturgy is standing, although sitting during certain parts, such as the homily, is accepted and normal. There are also a couple of points at which the instruction to “Arise” is given, showing that not having been standing until that point was common even in the first millennium.

US Eastern churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, commonly have pews, and even a liturgy with instructions to sit, but this is an americanization (shared with RC, who also have pews now . . .)

hawk
 
We are guaranteed pain and suffering. It is our response to it, our use of it, which deepens our faith life. We can offer that pain, and any type of mortification, for the sake of others - the greatest of charities.
 
I’m only 21 and I have congenital spinal stenosis meaning that I have a genetic defect that makes my lower spinal column narrower than normal. It presses against my disk when I stand or kneel for long, so I usually have something to rest my rear on while kneeling. For instance, I sometimes do the sitting-while-kneeling thing at Mass when the pain is just too much. For private prayer, I use a cushion or sit in a chair.
 
If pain is interfering with your concentration in prayer, I would recommend sitting instead. Praying the entire rosary is typically a little under 20 minutes. That is a long time to kneel if you are not used to it.

I would gradually increase as I built up muscle if I was you.

Many disagree with me on this next point, but I think God is more interested in your connection with Him while praying than the posture. Most of my prayer is done while sitting. It works for me.

When I first started praying the rosary, I used to press the beads into my index finger. I kept doing it when it was causing me discomfort.

Now the finger is arthritic and it causes me problems when I write. I joke that I invented “rosary finger” like tennis elbow.

It effects my daily activity. I now hold the rosary in my left hand gently. I don’t think God minds the difference even though there are some people who believe holding it in the right hand is more efficacious.

The moral of the story is learn from my stupidity and stubbornness. Don’t invent “prayer knee”.
 
Horton said:
But for most, kneeling is possible even though it may be difficult or painful.
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I’m sorry, but this is not your call to make and it is this kind of attitude that can be very off-putting to many people.
It is no one’s business why I can or cannot kneel, genuflect, etc. and making assumptions that one is lazy or just complaining is rude and unChristian.
If, with your issues, you can kneel, fine, do it. But don’t look down on anyone else for not doing what you do or enduring what you endure.
 
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I agree praying is more about your relationship with God than posture. We are meant to pray unceasingly, does that mean we should always be on our knees? of course not. Just do what you can and work up to it, if you feel it is for you, take guidance from God. Try to be respectful and reverent in posture but this can be sitting or lying or standing or even walking/working (with practice usually). It is far better to concentrate on what you are doing than to feel you must rush to get it over with to end the suffering (I am not saying that’s how you feel - but it may be if you are in discomfort) . We dont have to copy the saints exactly, their path is their path, we are given our own paths, true some parts may be similar but need not be the same.
 
Horton said:
No one is talking about those for which it is impossible to kneel. But for most, kneeling is possible even though it may be difficult or painful. There is a couple who attend the same Mass I do. They sit in the very front row. I would guess they are late 80s to early 90s. They lean on each other to walk. They are on their knees before Mass, during the consecration, and after receiving. When I hear others younger than I complaining about how “hard” it is to kneel I get frustrated. I want to ask them how would they have felt if Jesus had said his sacrifice was hard?
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:roll_eyes:

Your frustration is no one’s problem but your own, sorry.

I’m only 50. God alone knows how much life I have left – could be a moment, could be another 50 years.

Because of a seemingly-insignificant little knee injury as a teen, if I now spend just a few minutes kneeling, it causes pain, and makes my knee difficult to use for a few minutes. I’m not handicapped. I don’t have a walker or cane. I’m often running around – literally and figuratively – at work, at home, at church… but I can’t kneel.

God gave me this body to serve Him. I don’t get to destroy it through pride – “I will show my holiness by kneeling in spite of the pain.” No. I take care of my one precious body so I have the strength and the mobility to serve Our Lord in the work He gives me for as long as He keeps me here.

That is how I honor Our Lord. Again, if that frustrates you, that is a problem you may want to discuss with your confessor, pastor, or spiritual director.
 
I knelt for the entire rosary…
Then I developed a severe pain in my right knee…
I might have cut off blood flow in a vein or something…
Stopped kneeling for rosary -
I’m surrounded by older woman who sit - so I don’t feel bad.

Had that pain with me for four five weeks -
Driving in my car - I’d often rub my knee -
It finally dawned on me to pray for my knee - lol
I was healed the very next day !

I do kneel at mass -
unless a person is in front of me, in the pew, is sitting back.
 
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i agree; kneeling is “possible” for me but physically difficult

i started to think my attempts at it were turning into a side-show

so i stopped trying to “kneel”

i’ve done my share of it in my youth

there a few pews where there are no kneelers; i arrive early and sit there

i sit quietly there during mass
 
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It’s getting harder for me to kneel since there’s arthritis in my back and knees. But there are other ways to honor God at Mass, like bowing your head instead of genuflecting at your seat; also bowing at the time when kneeling is expected.
 
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