The Reverence of Standing

Humans alone stand upright. For the Christian philosopher Boethius, this was no small thing. “Man alone, erect, aspiring, lifts his forehead to the skies.” Our upright posture testifies to our ability to see ahead and, more importantly, to see above, to see that which transcends this world. Drawing on Ovid before him, Boethius knew that humans are stargazers dwelling firmly on the earth. We thus uniquely stand between heaven and earth. For him—as for most masters of the spiritual life—the task is bringing a correspondence between the inward and the outer and thus our eyes should gaze upward and our soul as well. “So, lift up your soul heavenward, you whose gaze is fixed on heaven, let not your soul sink downward lower than your body poised above.” While it is not the same Latin, these final words are redolent of the Eucharistic prayer’s “Lift up your hearts.” That upward movement pulls us upright; being upright signifies that upward movement. To stand is the most human, most heavenward, most reverent posture of all.

In the past several months, there have been multiple discussions of the posture of those receiving communion. These have been inspired by Cardinal Cupich’s article about the Eucharistic procession which was taken to be a critique of kneeling. The response of many to Cupich’s guidance as a successor to the apostles was scorn. His attempt to explain what we are doing when we receive corporately in a procession was mocked. One consistent pattern in these responses was that kneeling in contrast to standing is the way we receive reverently. Defending kneeling, John Paul Meenan wrote, “the more sacred, transcendent and invisible a reality, the more we need such symbols to support our faith in them. The signs point us to the deeper reality, and the exterior deportment of our bodies should be consistent with, and conducive to, the interior disposition of our soul.” More recently, Archbishop Cordileone was advocating for kneeling on Twitter again with the emphasis that kneeling is a reverent action with the implication that standing is, well, not so reverent. In what follows, I will aim to understand the reverence of standing, not to argue that kneeling is not reverent (it certainly is) but to explore what standing reveals about the human as taken up into the divine life. If the lex orandi includes standing as a reverent posture, I hope to disclose the lex credendi that standing discloses and, in the process, to understand more fully the great gift that is the reformed Roman rite.[1]

When We Stand Together in Reverence

Kneeling is an outward sign of inward reverence but so too is standing. And so, it is worth considering the two postures as expressions of reverence rather than considering one reverent and one not. The liturgy calls for many postures that offer a kind of corporate language of reverence. At times we bow from the waist or bow our head, genuflect or kneel, make the sign of the cross or strike our chest. Liturgical texts call for full prostration at some times and at others for walking procession. Some gestures are primarily for the priest (the orans hand position or self-communication of the Eucharist) whereas others are lay movements (bringing up the gifts and kneeling during the institution narrative). Both movements for the priest and the baptized are guided by rubrics which express through prayer what we believe. The rubrics are primarily for the priest who alone acts in persona Christi, but the Faithful are guided too because the baptized are active participants in the liturgy. Thus, the priest invites the faithful, “Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” No amount of laity can confect the Eucharist and yet we have a proper role in the liturgy. Part of that role is the reverent expressions of our bodies as guided by the liturgical texts.

So, what to make of when we stand in the liturgy? As Boethius explains, the posture of standing is the posture of transcendence. Built into our very body is our orientation to the divine. This orientation is fundamental as being in the image and likeness of God who participate in God in our being, living, and understanding. Thus, it is fitting that the baptized stand in moments when the participation of the baptized is particularly important. For instance, at the opening of the liturgy for the Procession, opening dialogue, and Gloria we stand. We also stand during the Creed, Intercessions, and the opening dialogue of the Eucharistic prayer. This is in notable contrast to when we are required to kneel, which is during the most priestly part of the Mass, the Eucharistic prayer itself, most especially the Institution Narrative. At that moment, the priest in particular acts in persona Christi. I can pray the Our Father, the Gloria, and the intercessions on my own. I cannot offer the bloodless sacrifice and so at that holy moment as the priest raises the Body and Blood before me, I kneel.

It is further notable that whenever some part of the Gospel is read or prayed, we stand. In the Liturgy of the Hours, we stand during the Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis. Likewise at Mass, we stand for the Gospel and the Lord’s prayer. Here Boethius is a good guide. Those moments are uniquely elevating. They draw us up into Christ who is most present to us in the Gospel when we hear his words directly from the priest in persona Christi. I stand to receive the highest not because I merit it but because I can look to God and know that “you have made us for yourself.” My vocation, especially in my baptism, is communion with the Highest and so in my body I ascend to him.

I also stand in hearing the Word because the Word became Flesh. He came down to our level to raise us to his level. Thomas Aquinas explains that “the only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.” The deepest and highest mystery of our faith is that we kneel before our equal and stand before our King. We are servants and friends, brothers and subjects, fellow humans and, by grace, sharers of divinity. Our standing expresses the dignity we have by grace which “does not destroy nature but perfects it.” It is our nature, as Boethius well knew, to stand towards the divine. By grace, our standing is restored and elevated towards its proper orientation through the Son, with the Spirit, toward the Father.

There is a further relevance to standing during the Gospel parts of the Liturgy. We stand to hear the Good News. That standing is an expression of deep joy. Thus, St. Basil wrote that “we offer our prayers on the first of the Sabbaths (Sunday) in a standing position.” Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the day of the Resurrection, for Basil is the day for standing. Here it is striking that for Orthodox Christians kneeling at all during the Sunday Liturgies is generally forbidden.[2] To stand is the posture of joy and the posture of our Resurrected body. This practice is not only held by the Orthodox; Maronite Catholics only stand and do not kneel on Sundays. The Good News is joyful; our bodies should show that joyful reception.

I am not here proposing Roman Catholics forego kneeling on Sundays. There is a power in our Sunday celebrations of moving through the liturgical postures of bowing, genuflecting, kneeling, sitting, and standing which express the full paschal mystery precisely in a way that the reformed Roman Rite is meant to do. Further, it is the power of knowing the sorrow of sin, the reverence of “bending the knee at the name of Jesus” (Phil 2:10), and of celebrating our reception of the Risen Christ. What the Orthodox and Maronite Catholics do remind us of is that standing is a posture of reverence proper to the most elevated and joyful moments of the liturgy.

It is worth considering here that in perhaps its most liturgical moment the book of Revelation describes “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Rev 7:9). Dressed in albs (the baptismal garment), they gather before the Lamb just as the baptized gather before the Lamb in the liturgy. Precisely in their joy and elevation before the Lamb, they stand. Certainly, there is bowing, prostrating, and genuflecting in Revelation but there is also standing before the Lamb as there is in the Mass.

Finally, it is notable that as member of the Body of Christ, we receive the Body of Christ. We are not, in reception, separate from the one we receive. Blessed Isaac of Stella writes that “when all are united with God, they become one God.” We can receive communion with God because we are in communion with God and thus are one with God (assuming we are not in a state of sin). This does not obliterate our difference with God but sees that difference in the context of our union with God in the Body. This union, as Thomas has taught, is the union of our being made divine by Christ having taken us into His Body. For Isaac, “the Son of God is one with God by nature; the Son of Man is one with him in his person; we, his body, are one with him sacramentally.” Christ is not kneeling when we receive him, and we do not approach him as other to him. “Those who by faith are spiritual members of Christ can truly say that they are what he is: the Son of God and God himself. But what Christ is by his nature we are as his partners; what he is of himself in all fullness, we are as participants.” Reception of Communion is the sacramental moment of the Communion of the Body of Christ. We receive Christ who is God by nature and in his hypostatic union; we receive him as sacramentally what he is. We are one in the Body with the One we receive in the Body.

So Should We Stand or Kneel?

What ought we do when we receive the Eucharist? The General Instruction of the Roman Missal proscribes that “as a rule” the faithful “approach in a procession.” Walking together in a corporate act, we receive communion as a communion. This is why sin is so terrible. In mortal sin, I fall out of communion with God and neighbor and thus cannot receive that communion. As I have experienced, not receiving is hard because of the loss of communion with the Eucharistic body of Christ and the ecclesial body of Christ. Remaining kneeling in the pew as others process is a powerful reminder of my fallenness and powerful incentive to rush to the Confessional to be reconciled so I can return to communion.

The General Instructions for the whole Church allow for both kneeling and standing but according to the recommendations of the local bishop or bishops’ conference. In the United States, and many other places, the General Instruction treats it as norm that we stand. However, it notably forbids turning away the faithful if they kneel because kneeling is an act of reverence and because the baptized rightly have a role in determining their posture. And no layperson should be turned away for doing so.

It is clearly the case that the Church considers both standing and kneeling to be reverent. Of course, with both we can fail to actually be reverent. I have seen what appeared to be desultory kneeling and genuflecting, including at TLM parishes. And I have seen people standing for reception in ways that seem not to be reverent either. And I have done both myself.

The point though, in part, is to show that standing is a bodily posture fitting (conveniens) for the sacred and transcendent in which our bodily posture is consistent and conducive to reception. Both standing and kneeling are allowed as reverent and traditional (standing was common until the Middle Ages).[3] However, it is notable that the bishops, as successors to the apostles, generally see standing as more consonant with reception and I think this greater fittingness is worth highlighting.

Again, kneeling is a reverent way to receive but so is standing. And, overall, I think standing is the more consonant action for reception because in reception we are most elevated upward towards the divine, we are most actively participating as the baptized receiving our Savior. In standing reception, we know in our bodies that it is the moment when we most participate in Divinity. We do so not as separate from divinity but as sacramentally united to divinity in the standing Resurrected Christ. We stand with the One who stands with us and who in standing with us redeems us into his Life. Thus, we stand for this moment of deepest joy, in the ecstasy of reception. We are beings made upright in our creation and returned to uprightness (rectitudo) by Christ’s Passover and our baptism into that Passover. We do so not as solitary recipients but as a community of reception and thus it is good for us, where possible, to move together as a body. If in a state of sin, we partially sundered from the community by our failure to be upright, which is the power of kneeling while the community receives. But if conformed to the standing Christ, it is good for us to stand together as the Body of Christ.

Thus, the moment of reception is a moment when it is most fitting that we stand together in communion. Kneeling is an essential posture of the liturgical life and is most certainly reverent in reception, and yet standing is rightly normed by the bishops. In receiving the Eucharist, we do not only gaze up at the stars as Boethius describes, we are elevated together by the One whose “love made the sun and other stars” and who lifts our upright souls and standing bodies into his Life in “the heaven of heavens” (1 Kings 8:27).

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