When do you stop kneeling after communion?

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qmvsimp

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My mother taught me that we stay kneeling until the tabernacle is closed after communion. But we (my family) seem to be the last ones kneeling while the tabernacle is being closed.

Is there guidance on this from any source? What do you all do?
 
The “rules” state that one may spend the time after communion either kneeling or sitting depending on personal preference.

At my parish we remain kneeling until the celebrant is seated which doesn’t happen until the tabernacle has been closed.
 
The position you are in after communion is up to the person that received. If you want to be kneeling you can kneel, if you feel you must sit then you can sit. When to go from kneeling to sitting can be up to the person and/or local tradition. I have seen it where once the hosts are returned to the Tabernacle, people stop kneeling. I have also seen it where once the priest sits down, then people stop kneeling. I have also seen it where people stop kneeling when “announcements” are being made.

At my church people tend to stop kneeling once the Eucharist is returned to the Tabernacle.

The GIRM says,
" 88. When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying privately. If desired, a psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the entire congregation.
  1. To bring to completion the prayer of the People of God, and also to conclude the entire Communion Rite, the priest says the Prayer after Communion, in which he prays for the fruits of the mystery just celebrated.
    In the Mass only one prayer after Communion is said, which ends with a shorter conclusion; that is,
  • If the prayer is directed to the Father: Per Christum Dominum nostrum;
  • If it is directed to the Father, but the Son is mentioned at the end: Qui vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum;
  • If it is directed to the Son: Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum.
    The people make the prayer their own by the acclamation, *Amen*."
 
after the celebrant sits down. Our priest told us this one sunday with the closing announcements that since his presence on the Altar is represents Christ We should kneel until he sits.
 
I believe the approved posture after communion is sitting OR kneeling (as I think someone else has posted), with no further specification until the we stand for the final blessing.

I was taught to kneel until the tabernacle is closed, and I still try to do that even though many in my parish sit when the celebrant sits. We have a large parish, and mass generally boasts two priests, a permanent deacon, and a number of (unnecessary) eucharistic ministers. Thus, the celbrant is often sitting while the ministers are still distributing communion to the last few people on the side aisles, and certainly while the deacon completes the washing of the vessels.
 
It became established pious devotion that one ought to kneel anytime the Blessed Sacrament is out of the tabernacle. As such, many people will still choose to kneel at least until the tabernacle door is shut. In fact, as I recall, the bishops’ conference tried to establish this as normative, until the Vatican shot them down and said no. So we are allowed to use whatever posture of prayer we are most comfortable with, according to the norms. Sometimes I stay kneeling until the tabernacle door is closed or the priest sits, sometimes I kneel longer, sometimes I sit earlier. It all depends how I am feeling and what I am inspired to do on any particular day.
 
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chicago:
It became established pious devotion that one ought to kneel anytime the Blessed Sacrament is out of the tabernacle. As such, many people will still choose to kneel at least until the tabernacle door is shut. In fact, as I recall, the bishops’ conference tried to establish this as normative, until the Vatican shot them down and said no. So we are allowed to use whatever posture of prayer we are most comfortable with, according to the norms. Sometimes I stay kneeling until the tabernacle door is closed or the priest sits, sometimes I kneel longer, sometimes I sit earlier. It all depends how I am feeling and what I am inspired to do on any particular day.
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I stay kneeling until the Tabernacle is closed and all of hte communion vessels have been cleaned. But I do so because I’m trying to remain focused on the Eucharist in prayer for this period. If one sits they are not necessarily showing irreverence. Remember, when one is at Adoration adn the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, it is licit to sit if one wants.

IMHO, the flexibility is allowed by the Vatican as to insure that misunderstandings of piety and scrupulousness don’t arise.
 
Until the celebrant sits down, after the cleansing of the vessels.
 
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Orionthehunter:
If one sits they are not necessarily showing irreverence. Remember, when one is at Adoration adn the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, it is licit to sit if one wants.
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Exactly. For instance, when I sit it is due to the fact that I have a back problem, kneeling for too long can be painful and distracting, and I generally find sitting to be the posture which best fosters me being centered on prayer.
IMHO, the flexibility is allowed by the Vatican as to insure that misunderstandings of piety and scrupulousness don’t arise.
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Good observation!
 
At my parish (TLM) we all kneel from the Sanctus until after the priest prays the post-communion prayer in silence and then goes to the middle of the altar, turns toward the people and says: “Dominus Vobiscum” and “Ite Missa Est”. Then we all kneel for the final blessing.

Ken
 
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Ham1:
At my parish we remain kneeling until the celebrant is seated which doesn’t happen until the tabernacle has been closed.
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Same here!
 
In my parish we do both, sit or kneel. I was always taught to kneel until the tabernacle was closed and the priest went back to his seat. So my family kneels until that is completed.
 
Usually when the tabernacle doors are closed - whether anyone else in the congregation does it or not!
 
I continue to kneel until the celebrant says: “Let us pray”, although I believe we are free to kneel or sit as we see fit when we return from receiving Communion. What seems sort of comical to me is that it is commonplace for virtually the entire congregation to sit down en masse at the moment the celebrant sits down, as though it were required by some rubric. In most cases, the celebrant is not going to be sitting down for very long, so I don’t see the point in bothering to change positions when another change is soon to follow.
 
qmvsimp said:
My mother taught me that we stay kneeling until the tabernacle is closed after communion. But we (my family) seem to be the last ones kneeling while the tabernacle is being closed.
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I believe that you are doing it correctly. We do the same thing.
 
When I stopped doing it “whenever everyone else did”, I was taught to sit once the tabernacle was closed.

The reasoning for this that I’ve heard, besides staying focused on the presence of Our Lord within us, is that, as a guest at the Lord’s table, it would be impolite to excuse yourself from the normative position for the meal (in this case, kneeling) until the host has left. Therefore, once the Eucharist has been placed in the tabernacle and is no longer present on the altar (I also wait for the vessels to be cleansed, if that hasn’t happened by the time the tabernacle is shut).

Generally at my home parish the priest waits until the tabernacle is closed before sitting. At my parish at school, the priest does not wait to sit, but the majority of the congregation does.
 
We have a completely different experience in my diocese:hypno: . We STAND during the communion procession. Until it is completed in union with those who have not yet received. An image that we are all united through Christ.

So we BEGIN to kneel (or sit) when the procession ends. When is that? Some begin when the tabernacle door closes. Some when the priest sits, I begin when the last particle of the body is distributed and the last drop of the blood of Christ is consumed. Then remain kneeling while the priests sits (2 minutes or more… the holy silence after communion and AFTER the last communion song is completed. In fact our priest will not sit till the last song is completed to begin the holy silence.) I rise when he rises and says “Let us pray”.
 
JKirkLVNV said:
Until the celebrant sits down, after the cleansing of the vessels.
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I was a bit bothered, okay, surprised would be more like it, yesterday when the priest was cleaning the vessels, a speaker got up to give the Archbishop’s Appeal spiel. I didn’t notice if the tabernacle was open or not.

Should that have happened? I’m sure it was a mistake, I’m not pointing any fingers, but it was really abrupt.
 
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