When to Bow Before Communion

[WanderAimlessly]

Found this out on Zenit:

**When to Bow Before Communion

****And More on Lighted Candles at the Lectern

**ROME, OCT. 11, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University.

Q: In the dioceses of the United States, the following directive is in force: “When receiving Holy Communion standing, the communicant bows his or her head before the sacrament …” Now to me, to bow my head “before the sacrament” means I should be in direct view of it, that is, once I get to the head of the Communion line. However, I had a religious sister tell me recently that I should make my reverence before I reach the head of the line. She says this is in the directive, yet I cannot find such a stipulation anywhere. Furthermore, to bow before I reach the head of the line implies to me that I am bowing to the person in front of me. Is there some specification as to when in the Communion line one is to make his reverence before the sacrament? – K.M., Darlington, Maryland

Full Story

PF

 

[aurora77]

We went through the “when to bow” phase at our parish over the last few months. Our priest is really trying to enforce this; he announces it just before he receives Communion, to remind all of us. It’s pretty much worked out that we bow as the person in front in receiving, and then receiving ourselves. It felt wierd at first (in the sense of different), but now it feels very reverant.

 

[wynd]

Should one bow before both species? A priest told me that it is not necessary to bow before the Blood.

 

[kmktexas]

wynd:

Should one bow before both species? A priest told me that it is not necessary to bow before the Blood.

Our correspondent refers to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 160, which we quote in full along with the number which follows it:

“When receiving Holy Communion, the communicant bows his or her head before the Sacrament as a gesture of reverence and receives the Body of the Lord from the minister. The consecrated host may be received either on the tongue or in the hand, at the discretion of each communicant. When Holy Communion is received under both kinds, the sign of reverence is also made before receiving the Precious Blood.”

This is from the OP article.

I still haven’t got the “rhythm” down on the bow. My kids were taught this from day One so they do it beautifully. I would say less than 10% of the people in the Communion line even try at our parish.

 

[sententia]

Probably 90% do it here, and we do a “profound bow”, from the waist, usually as the person before us is recieving.
I mean,remember, too, just like the big gold tabernacle behind the alter, the person in front of you become one too LOL! Jesus knows where are heart is, and that we are giving reverence and worship to him before recieving him. I love it, I love all the small gestures which people give, in or outside of church.

 

[MooCowSteph]

I’ve wondered about the timing as well. our old priest told us to bow wjen the person in front of us was receiving, but it feels wierd to me too. I usually do it as he is finishing, when I can see the priest. At our old parish about 10% of the people would bow. I was an EMHC, so I got a good look at everyone. In our new parish even the EMHC do not bow, and I’ve only seen a small handful of people bow in all the months we’ve been there.

 

[Annunciata]

I bow w/ a nod of my head when it’s my turn to receive before both the Body and The Precious Blood…

Very few bow in my parish and no further instruction from the priest has been given since the directive came about.

 

[msproule]

I have also struggled with how to carry out the USCCB “sign of reverence”, the bow of the head. I begin my bow (which admittedly resembles a profound bow more than a simple “nod” of the head) when the communicant before me advances toward the priest and prolong it until it is my turn to approach for Holy Communion.

To me it makes more sense for the gesture of reverence to be in response to hearing “Body of Christ / Blood of Christ” rather than in advance of hearing it. It should not happen after receiving, either on the tongue or in the hand, because of the directive to consume the host immediately.

 

[SMHW]

I usually receive communion at the same time as the choir so I’m surrounded by people who know to bow so I have limited knowledge of what others do.

But those times I have not been singing with the choir it seems that most people did bow. In general I see people doing something halfway in between a profound bow and a nod of the head. I think people do that because they want to make sure that their bow is observed by others. What I don’t know is by whom and WHY they want to be seen. Is it for the benefit of the person distributing communion or is it for everyone else?

I chose to believe they do it as a form of witness or instruction.

 

[kayla]

I remeber listening to a tape by Fr. Larry Richards “Mass Explianed” …during his talk on how to recive the Eucharist he said something that relly struct me, he said if we really knew that Jesus was truely present in the Holy Eucharist or standing before us on the Alter…would we ever get off our knees?
Since then I have contemplated kneeing instead of bowing before Communion.

 

[MooCowSteph]

kayla:

I remeber listening to a tape by Fr. Larry Richards “Mass Explianed” …during his talk on how to recive the Eucharist he said something that relly struct me, he said if we really knew that Jesus was truely present in the Holy Eucharist or standing before us on the Alter…would we ever get off our knees?
Since then I have contemplated kneeing instead of bowing before Communion.

That line has always stuck with me as well. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Elzee]

kayla:

I remeber listening to a tape by Fr. Larry Richards “Mass Explianed” …during his talk on how to recive the Eucharist he said something that relly struct me, he said if we really knew that Jesus was truely present in the Holy Eucharist or standing before us on the Alter…would we ever get off our knees?
Since then I have contemplated kneeing instead of bowing before Communion.

That is the line from his CD that has always stuck with me also. It’s an awesome CD.