Why do we stand, kneel, and sit in a Mass?

Whenever you have a group of non-Catholics come to Mass, and it is often when we have a baptism, wedding, funeral, or other special event during the Mass, you sometimes have questions, like why does the church not have cup-holders or “How do you know when and why to stand, kneel, and sit?” or, why do you stand, sit, and kneel. We sometimes don’t really know why we do these different things, but we do it because that is the way we were taught, but there is a reason for our postures during Mass.

As for the cup holders, we should be reminded that the Mass is not a form of entertainment, or a show, but it is a time of worship to God and not just another place to have our dessert coffee or soda, and yes, we still have the hour fast before we receive Communion. As for the posture, each part of the Mass has a different posture and a reason for that posture. Standing is a posture that tells us we are ready to do something, to come or go it is also a posture of honor and respect. We stand at the beginning and end of Mass because we are coming or going. We stand during the Gospel as a sign of respect for the words of Christ, the Gospels hold a higher place among the rest of the word of God because they are directly related to Christ’s bodily time on this earth. During the time of Christ, the teacher or master was the one that sat down and the students would stand around them. Sitting is a posture of relaxing as well as listening and meditation we sit during the readings and the preparation of the gifts because we are being attentive to what is going on. This is the way that students now listen, sitting so that they can be focused. Pews were a later addition in the Catholic Church; we have only had them for about 500 years. Kneeling is a sign of humility and penitence. Within the United States we kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer and at Communion time as a reminder of our humility and reverence for Christ in the Eucharistic species. To go along with this is the genuflection. This also is a reminder of our humility to Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, which is why we genuflect to the tabernacle as we enter and leave the church.

Sometimes the different postures we do at Mass are jokingly called Catholic Calisthenics but they actually do mean something and not just to get us moving so we do not fall asleep at the long sermons. So, as you stand, sit, and kneel at Mass, remember that each action helps us to give witness that we give witness to Christ in these actions.

God bless,
Fr. Ken