Not Kneeling At Mass

[morostheos]

Morostheos, I believe it would be a better thing to say that the development of the Doctrine on the Holy Eucharist, and our understanding of Jesus's Real Presence in the Eucharist, was more the reason the Church started kneeling more at Holy Mass than anything else.

To say the development of the Doctrine on the Holy Eucharist and our understanding of Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist was the reason people started kneeling seems short sighted to me. I am definitely no scholar on Church History or anything, so I could be wrong, but the increased piety towards the Eucharist (a GREAT thing!) was not because of an increased understanding of the Real Presence, but rather an increased attitude of unworthiness. In the context of the Middle Ages, that was a bad thing, because it also kept most people from receiving the Eucharist more than once or twice in their lives.

The Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is a Doctrine that has always been there, and was not further developed in the middle ages. True, it was further defined with the term transubstantiation, but beliefs did not change.

My intent with my original post was not in any way to say we shouldn't kneel, or that kneeling is not a good and pious practice, but mostly that Catholics have not always knelt, and the origination of kneeling in the liturgy has both negative and positive aspects to it.

[jasJis]

Go to the USCCB site, Liturgy section. They address this issue and provide history... ;)