Signum Crucis, Left or Right?

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Patchunky,

Prosimlasku tvoju dati Bys’memohli svjaty byti p presvjata Djivo Mati
 
Joseph Bilodeau:
The same thing goes for which knee one genuflects on.
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In the Latin Rite, genuflecting is a part of the liturgy, and as such there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way is specified in paragraph 274 of the GIRM.
 
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Timidity:
In the Latin Rite, genuflecting is a part of the liturgy, and as such there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way is specified in paragraph 274 of the GIRM.
Click to expand...
GENUFLECTIONS AND BOWS

274 A genuflection, which is made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and for this reason is reserved to the Most Blessed Sacrament and to the Holy Cross, from the solemn adoration in the liturgy of Good Friday until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.

Three genuflections are made during Mass by the priest celebrant: after the showing of the Eucharistic bread, after the showing of the chalice, and before communion. Special features to be observed in a concelebrated Mass are noted in their proper place (see nos. 210-252).

If there is a tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament in the sanctuary, the priest, deacon and other ministers genuflect to it when they approach or leave the altar, but not during the celebration of Mass itself.

Otherwise, all who cross before the most Blessed Sacrament genuflect, unless they are involved in a procession.

Ministers who are carrying the processional cross or the candles bow their heads in place of a genuflection.

–

O well… guess i’m not showing adoration :cool:
 
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Timidity:
In the Latin Rite, genuflecting is a part of the liturgy, and as such there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. The right way is specified in paragraph 274 of the GIRM.
Click to expand...
The key phrase you used above was “is a part of the Liturgy”. Celebrants, Deacons, and other Liturgical ministers who make one or more of the liturgical genuflections mentioned in the GIRM as part of their liturgical roles should certainly conform to the GIRM to the extent possible. But genuflections made by the laity as they enter and leave their pews before and after Mass, or during Mass, if circumstances require, are extraliturgical, even though they may take place immediately before, after or during the Liturgy. They are customary acts of reverence, but are not actually required. There is no absolute requirement that a particular knee be used for a genuflection that, strictly speaking, is not itself absolutely required in the first place.

It is a laudable habit for persons to intentionally genuflect on their right knees with the intent of expressing reverence, but persons who genuflect upon their left knees, either by conscious choice for any reason (except for a deliberate intent not to express reverence) or by any unpremeditated circumstance, also do so with the intent to express reverence, and should not be hassled about this or made to feel that they are performing this act of personal piety in an incorrect manner.
 
Thank you for this thread and for the responses that indicate that using the left hand in this situation, while it might be considered strange or different, isn’t forbidden. I sent a similar question to ask an apologist last week but it hasn’t been selected for answer and it took me a while to find this thread.

As I am strongly left-handed my instinct is always to use my left hand. If it wasn’t that it makes shaking hands less reciprocal, I would shake hands left handed.

Wonder if there would have been so much prejudice against left handedness if the Latin word for left wasn’t sinister?
 
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