Kneeling while receiving Communion

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shewis

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I feel I may be being called to receive Communion while kneeling. I have come across 2 instances recently about doing it, one being an interview with Cardinal Burke:

youtube.com/watch?v=aXzsyuytMlQ&feature=player_embedded

I belong to a small country parish where most parishioners receive in the hand, and I do not want to come off as “holier than thou”. I have always received on the tongue, but feel maybe God is calling me to kneel. I have had a few wonderful experience while receiving communion and believe it is one of the most if the THE most important and reverent things about our faith. Any advice, suggestions, or (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated. Thank you so much and God Bless!
 
shewis said:
I feel I may be being called to receive Communion while kneeling. I have come across 2 instances recently about doing it, one being an interview with Cardinal Burke:

youtube.com/watch?v=aXzsyuytMlQ&feature=player_embedded

I belong to a small country parish where most parishioners receive in the hand, and I do not want to come off as “holier than thou”. I have always received on the tongue, but feel maybe God is calling me to kneel. I have had a few wonderful experience while receiving communion and believe it is one of the most if the THE most important and reverent things about our faith. Any advice, suggestions, or (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated. Thank you so much and God Bless!
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Maybe stand for Holy Communion as everyone else is doing, and after Mass go and kneel before the tabernacle for prayer and adoration. Being humble and contrite inside is really the most important and reverent things about our faith.
 
shewis said:
I feel I may be being called to receive Communion while kneeling. I have come across 2 instances recently about doing it, one being an interview with Cardinal Burke:

youtube.com/watch?v=aXzsyuytMlQ&feature=player_embedded

I belong to a small country parish where most parishioners receive in the hand, and I do not want to come off as “holier than thou”. I have always received on the tongue, but feel maybe God is calling me to kneel. I have had a few wonderful experience while receiving communion and believe it is one of the most if the THE most important and reverent things about our faith. Any advice, suggestions, or (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated. Thank you so much and God Bless!
Click to expand...
Would you kneel if Christ appeared in all his glory? If you desire to kneel before the Eucharistic King to show reverence and piety towards Him, then you have every right. Don’t let anyone stop you. Their is also a video where another Cardinal discusses it:
m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?feature=related&v=EcZhjmYn1K8
God love you 🙂
 
shewis said:
I feel I may be being called to receive Communion while kneeling. I have come across 2 instances recently about doing it, one being an interview with Cardinal Burke:

youtube.com/watch?v=aXzsyuytMlQ&feature=player_embedded

I belong to a small country parish where most parishioners receive in the hand, and I do not want to come off as “holier than thou”. I have always received on the tongue, but feel maybe God is calling me to kneel. I have had a few wonderful experience while receiving communion and believe it is one of the most if the THE most important and reverent things about our faith. Any advice, suggestions, or (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated. Thank you so much and God Bless!
Click to expand...
There’s nothing in the rubrics preventing you from kneeling while receiving, so you certainly can do so. But you have to be willing to live with the consequences. Perhaps people will think you’re being “holier-than-thou”. Perhaps they will find your devotion inspiring. Or maybe they’ll just think you’re a bit of an odd duck. Who can say? We have no control over what others may think.

There are other ways to show our reverence for the Eucharist, too. You might factor that into your discernment process.
 
shewis said:
I feel I may be being called to receive Communion while kneeling. I have come across 2 instances recently about doing it, one being an interview with Cardinal Burke:

youtube.com/watch?v=aXzsyuytMlQ&feature=player_embedded

I belong to a small country parish where most parishioners receive in the hand, and I do not want to come off as “holier than thou”. I have always received on the tongue, but feel maybe God is calling me to kneel. I have had a few wonderful experience while receiving communion and believe it is one of the most if the THE most important and reverent things about our faith. Any advice, suggestions, or (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated. Thank you so much and God Bless!
Click to expand...
IMO, never not do what you are lead to do because others might judge your actions. God leads, we follow. If it bothers others, then that is something they need to work out with themselves.

Just as you stated, others receive in the hand, but you receive on the tongue. You receive on the tongue because you are lead to, now you are being called to receive kneeling.

Speaking from experience, whenever I followed my heart and obeyed God and his calling, (even though it was unpopular or others might whisper), upon obedience I always received the biggest blessing.
 
If you are going to kneel, I would advise you to be last in line so no one will trip over you when you kneel.
 
Catholic Answers Live Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin explicitly notes the past and present norms for receiving Communion while kneeling in this video answer.

The norm, as of 2010, is to stand. But individual communicants may also kneel if they so desire. The norm does not allow pastors and extraordinary ministers to refuse Communion to anyone who kneels.

In short, it’s a matter of pastoral education on this clarification. Jimmy noted that kneeling has been fine in past years but the discipline has not been clearly taught or misunderstood.
 
You could sit in the front row and kneel at your pew. Then, before Communion is concluded, the priest can administer to you kneeling and on the tongue. Just ask your priest if he will accommodate you. I’ve seen this done at my parish.
 
I would like to suggest to you that you take the opportunity to discuss your feelings with some of your friends within your small parish and tell them what you would like to do. You may be surprised, or not, at the amount of support you will receive. Of course you do not need people’s approval to do what God is calling you to do, but you may get some interesting, useful feedback.
 
houseofsaul said:
Speaking from experience, whenever I followed my heart and obeyed God and his calling, (even though it was unpopular or others might whisper), upon obedience I always received the biggest blessing.
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Same here 🙂
 
I always thought it was beautiful whenever I’d see someone kneel when they went up to receive Communion, but our parish priest made an announcement one time asking people not to do that. 😦 Unfortunately, the few who did do it no longer attend our parish.
 
Our church stands throughout the entire portion of the communion portion of mass.

I preferred when kneeled
 
Delaine75 said:
I always thought it was beautiful whenever I’d see someone kneel when they went up to receive Communion, but our parish priest made an announcement one time asking people not to do that. 😦 Unfortunately, the few who did do it no longer attend our parish.
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Did the priest say why he did not want folks to kneel?
 
Do it for love of Jesus and you can’t go wrong. Don’t let a) people make you feel ashamed or wrong, or b) the evil one tell you that you’re better than people who stand.

I always kneel to receive and I’ll be praying for you.
 
The norm established by the Bishops is to receive while standing. A priest can not refuse a person who decides to kneel, but the person should be given some instruction on why we stand.

People who stand to receive, are being no less reverent than those who choose to kneel, so to suggest that kneeling is a more reverent way when you make yourself stand out from the others, can be a problem in itself. But you have to discern your motive for doing so.

You should also understand what reverence means.

Anyway, in my parish, we stand to receive and it’s so small, if some one decided to kneel, it would create an obstacle for others. Also, because the parish is small, the priest and deacon remain on the step before the isle. If a person knelt, they would be inordinately lower than the priest and he’d have to bend over to reach them.

So, use good judgment when you decide to do something out of the norm from your congregation. There are probably sound reasons for a community doing as they do.

Jim
 
Rocky24 said:
Would you kneel if Christ appeared in all his glory? If you desire to kneel before the Eucharistic King to show reverence and piety towards Him, then you have every right. Don’t let anyone stop you. Their is also a video where another Cardinal discusses it:
m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?feature=related&v=EcZhjmYn1K8
God love you 🙂
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Maybe someone here can remember the thread, but someone posted a link to a video about a priest who went to a busy street in some very busy city and took out a monstrance and exposed the Blessed Sacrament. Believe it or not, people began to kneel right there in the street. It was awesome! Don’t let anyone stop you from adoring Him in the manner you wish!
Dubay said:
Our church stands throughout the entire portion of the communion portion of mass.

I preferred when kneeled
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Is it me or was anyone else raised to remain kneeling not only throughout the entire distribution of the Eucharist but also to remain kneeling until the door of the Tabernacle was closed?
 
NeedsMercy said:
Is it me or was anyone else raised to remain kneeling not only throughout the entire distribution of the Eucharist but also to remain kneeling until the door of the Tabernacle was closed?
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I wasn’t but I do remain kneeling until the priest stands for the final blessing. I wasn’t sure if it was right but I noticed a few other people doing it as well. I don’t like to stand out, even if it’s for something good.

When I was young we were taught to receive on the tounge but not kneeling. I did it that way until I fell away in my late teens. When I returned I had to look up what the proper way to receive in the hands was. 😊
 
J_Peterson said:
I wasn’t but I do remain kneeling until the priest stands for the final blessing. I wasn’t sure if it was right but I noticed a few other people doing it as well. I don’t like to stand out, even if it’s for something good.

When I was young we were taught to receive on the tounge but not kneeling. I did it that way until I fell away in my late teens. When I returned I had to look up what the proper way to receive in the hands was. 😊
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Hey, J, I think I might be a tad older than you–when I received my First Holy Communion, the priest was still saying Mass facing away from the congregation! I am sooooo old…:eek: Seriously, maybe it would bode us well to go back to some of those older practices.
 
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