Sit or kneel during Communion?

[Grace_Ortiz]

Is it true that if you have not received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion, you are not supposed to kneel and pray while Communion is taking place during Mass?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

According to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments:

Dubium: In many places, the faithful are accustomed to kneeling or sitting in personal prayer upon returning to their places after individually received Holy Communion during Mass. Is it the intention of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, to forbid this practice?

Responsum: Negative, et ad mentem. The mens is that that the prescription of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, no. 43, is intended, on one hand, to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture within the congregation for the various parts of the celebration of the Holy Mass, and on the other, to not regulate posture rigidly in such a way that those who wish to kneel or sit would no longer be free.

Francis Cardinal Arinze
Prefect

It would be illogical to claim if someone has received communion they may sit but if someone is not receiving communion they must kneel. Thus, once the communion rite begins, individuals are free to sit or kneel as they spiritually or physically see fit.