Question 1 Answer

The purpose of the Mass is to worship God our Creator, while being instructed in His ways and made holy by His grace.  We are fed with His Word and His Body, the Eucharist, with the goal to become more like Him and share in His Divine Life.  We then go forth from the Mass to transform our fallen world and bring God to those who do not yet know Him. 

Just as God offers Himself to us in Word and Flesh, we too make an offering to God.  We may focus on giving time, money, or tangible items for the poor, as well as following commandments, ritual instructions and rules.  However, “the only real gift man should give to God is himself.” 2 As the greatest commandment tells us:  love the Lord God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.1  When we come to Mass every Sunday and holy day then, we offer our hearts fully present to Him; our souls properly cleansed from sin to receive His grace; our minds for conscious, mental attention; and our strength to actively exercise the postures, gestures, and responses meant for our human nature, making “the inner demands of our worship bodily visible.”2 

With participation that is both interior and exterior, our whole self is required.  Considering the visible acts of our worship then, what do our physical positions throughout the Mass truly mean?  Their origin and spiritual purpose tell us why each is essential to our relationship with God:

Sitting
“Sitting should be at the service of recollection. Our bodies should be relaxed, so that our hearing and understanding are unimpeded.”  Thus, we sit during the readings and psalm, as well as during the homily.2

Standing
“In the Old Testament, standing is a classic posture for prayer”, with many examples in Scripture.  Because Easter time is a time of joy in the Paschal victory of the Lord, “standing is also a posture of the victor.”  During certain times in the Church’s history, Christians would stand, not kneel, during Eastertide.  “This standing is also an expression of readiness; Christ is standing at the right hand of God in order to meet us.”  As it refers specifically to the Holy Gospel, the third Scripture selection in the Mass, but the only one from which we learn directly about Jesus’ life and ministry, death and resurrection, “we know that we are united to the victory of Christ, and when we stand to listen to the Gospel, it is an expression of reverence.” 2

Kneeling
“The Hebrews regarded the knees as a symbol of strength; to bend the knee is, therefore, to bend our strength before the living God, an acknowledgment of the fact that all that we are we receive from him.”  Throughout the Scriptures, many examples exist of saints and martyrs kneeling as an expression of worship.  For a more important passage on the theology of kneeling, see Philippians 2:5-10, where “every knee shall bow” at the name of Jesus, the name above every name. 2

Side Note:  With our newly-renovated church interior comes more lively acoustics that echo and amplify all sounds throughout the space.  As our postures require the movement of the pew kneelers, everyone is asked to maintain a prayerful atmosphere by quietly raising and lowering them at all times.

*          *          *
As we continue to deepen our genuine encounter with God in the Mass, we confidently answer Question 1:  during the proclamation of the Holy Gospel, our posture as the congregation is to: 

a.  Sit               b.  Stand                     c.  Kneel

Stay tuned for more answers and explanations to Know Your Postures and Gestures during Mass!

1 Mark 12:30, NAB version.
2 Collected Works: Theology of the Liturgy, Ratzinger, © 2008, 2014, p. 20, 122-123, 119-120, 124