“In the West the custom of kneeling and prostrating oneself before receiving the Eucharist was established in monasteries as early as the 6th century (e.g., in the monasteries of St. Colombanus). Later, in the 10th and 11th centuries, this custom became even more widespread.”
…]
"The most typical manifestation of worship is the biblical gesture of kneeling down, as understood and practiced by the early Christians.
"According to Tertullian, who lived between the 2nd and 3rd century A.D., the highest form of prayer is the worship of God, which is also to be manifested in the act of kneeling: “The angels pray, all creatures pray, cattle and wild beasts pray and bend their knees.”
"St. Augustine warned believers that they sinned unless they adored Christ’s body when receiving it in the Eucharist.
"As established in an ancient Ordo communionis of the liturgy of the Coptic Church: “Let all, young and old alike, prostrate themselves and in this way begin the distribution of the Eucharist.”
"According to the Mystagogic Catecheses ascribed to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the believer was to receive Holy Communion with a gesture of worship and veneration: “Do not hold out your hands, but with a gesture of worship and veneration come close to the cup which contains Christ’s blood.”
"St. John Chrysostom invited those on the point of receiving Christ’s Body in the Eucharist to imitate the Magi of the East in their spirit and gesture of worship: “Let us therefore come close to Him with fervor and burning love. The Magi themselves worshipped Him even though they found Him in a manger. Those men worshipped the Lord with awe and respect, though being Gentiles and barbarians. So we, who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven, must at least try to imitate those barbarians! Unlike the Magi, you do not only see this body, but have also experienced its strength and power of salvation. Let us therefore spur ourselves to show greater awe, reverence and devotion than the Magi.”
"Benedict XVI speaks about the same close link between worship and Holy Communion in his recent post-synodal exhortation Sacramentum caritatis: “Receiving the Eucharist involves an attitude of worship towards the One we receive” (n. 66).
"Even as a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger stressed this point: “Receiving the Eucharist is a spiritual event affecting the whole of human reality . . . Holy Communion affects us completely only when supported and understood by worship.”
“In the Apocalypse, the book of the heavenly liturgy, the 24 elders prostrating themselves before the Lamb of God provide a model of how the Church is to treat the Lamb when believers come into contact with Him in the Eucharist.”
Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider, “Cum Amore Ac Timore”(With Love And Awe), L’Osservatore Romano, January 8, 2008
catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=8059
This article in the official newspaper of the Vatican, proceeded the recent decision of the Holy Father that the proper mean of receiving communion from him is kneeling and on the tongue.
