NOTE:  In response to this article on "Reverence," I received the following in an email from Jeanette Salerno (www.padrepiosworld.com).  I think it is a beautiful description of what the Church once was, and what we have lost.

 

"Such unimaginative Archbishops, to have written those letters against kneeling. So this is why kneelers are disappearing from the churches?!

I look back to pre-Vatican II days. There were beautiful marble railings across the width of our church altar. Communicants stood in line, moving in a stream down the center aisle. They were guided to the railing by  ushers, where they knelt on the white marble steps with pads beneath their knees. From one end of the railing to the other they knelt, with a line of standing people waiting behind them. The priests (there were at least always two) started at the center gate of the altar and gave out Communion going down the line to the end of the right section or left section of the railing. They were always accompanied by an altar boy with a paten. As the people received Communion, always in the mouth, of course, they left the railing and returned to their seats, and those behind them stepped forward and knelt in their place. When the priest reached the end of his section, he turned and went back to the gate and started again.  On the other side of the altar gate the same thing was happening. 

It always had the feeling of anticipation, a feeling of awe as through the corner of my eye I could see the priest getting closer and hear his whispering voice . . .Then it was my turn. It truly, truly was as though a great spotlight came upon you...I remember feeling the warmth of that spotlight...like a powerful kleig-light through which God was seeing you. . . And then the Host was upon your tongue...In those days the Host was smaller, lighter, soft and white--it had the feel of something immaculate. It melted in your mouth in almost an instant, like some small (though in reality enormous) miracle that invisibly sent the Savior to your soul. No chewing. We rose up from kneeling and made our way back to our pews and knelt, covering our faces in prayer and thanksgiving, Jesus within us . . .

Railings and kneeling are gone now, the still moment as you knelt and awaited the Host, gone. When standing replaced kneeling, out went a moment to pause and anticipate Our Lord's arrival, to see Him approaching and be ready. . .

Now, aware of all that was lost, bowing and genuflecting has been instituted, to try and recapture the  immensity of the moment... But there is no railing to help the elderly place themselves, and they can’t genuflect unless they hold on to the pew beside them.

Yes, we "stand" out of respect when someone important enters a room. We used to stand when a priest entered the classroom. We stand when giving a ‘standing’ ovation or greeting at the theater or opera. So many have been quoting Marshall McLuhan these days because he called attention to a simple truth. the medium is the message...Is our 'standing' when receiving Communion giving Jesus no more than the respect or secular worship an actor gets? 

The answer is in many places such as The Imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,  But the beautiful words at the Birth of Jesus Christ Our Savior in the Christmas carol Cantique de Noel, reach the depths of our souls as 'standing' never can.  They were written for midnight Mass by the French poet Placide Cappeau, at the request of a parish priest. "People kneel down, wait for your deliverance..."

Or in an English version, Fall on your knees...O hear the angel voices..."