Bishop Olmsted: Making a Case for Kneeling at Mass

Bishop Olmsted makes case for the need to kneel during consecration

Bishop Olmsted, the still freshly-minted leader of the Phoenix AZ diocese, has quickly earned for himself the reputation for orthodoxy and courage -- now he has quietly begun the process of "passive catechesis" it seems, by trying to explain WHY the Church does such seemingly silly things as asking for Catholics (in America anyway) to kneel during the consecration -- and why liturgists and priests should not be encouraging the congregation to do otherwise.

“The practice of kneeling assists our whole person to be attentive to the Lord, to surrender to His will, to lift our soul and our voices in worship,” said Bishop Olmsted.

The human body has a vital role in the “full, conscious and active participation in the Sacred Liturgy,” he said.

...“Kneeling is more than a gesture of the overly pious,” he wrote. “It is a fundamental act of faith, a strong expression about Who stands at the center of one’s life and Who stands at the center of all creation.

“Bending the knee at the name of Jesus is a decisive act of those with athletic souls and humble hearts. There is nothing passive about kneeling in humility and adoration,” he continued. “When the knees act in response to a heart that loves Christ, there is unleashed a force so strong it can change the face of the earth. Grace is the name we give to this force.”

He added that according to Abba Apollo, a desert father who lived about 1,700 years ago, “the devil has no knees; he cannot kneel; he cannot adore; he cannot pray; he can only look down his nose in contempt.

“Being unwilling to bend the knee at the name of Jesus is the essence of evil,” he said, citing Isaiah and Romans. “But when we kneel at Jesus’ name, when we bow down in service of others, and when we bend the knee in adoration, we are following in the footsteps” of the saints.