Genuflect or bow? When, why and how.

there's a principle in the Catholic Church called Lex Ronde Lex credenzie which in English means what we pray or that is the rule of Prayer is the rule of belief and I think that is really important for us to understand as Catholics that what we do actually signifies a meaning for instance when we genuflect or bow in church it says something about our belief and also our faith so when we enter a church when there's a tabernacle at the center of the sanctuary you'll often see people genuflect and a genuine flexion is a bend of the right knee to the ground which signifies adoration and what precisely are we doing well Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and that is really about the principle of lex Ronde lex credenzie is what we're doing signifies what we believe so when we genuflect we're saying we believe in the Blessed Sacrament I believe in the Eucharist so actions in the church are sacramentals their signs and symbols to signify something and also to point us to a direction and that direction is really belief that we believe in what we are doing according to the general instruction of the Roman Missal there are two types of boughs the first one is a head bow which is just above the head and also profound bow which is about from the waist a very profound bow so we do this at various points of the mass the first time is when we pass the altar when we've started the mass when we pass by the altar we give a profound bow that is a bow of the waist to acknowledge the presence of Christ at the altar we also give a head bow so whenever the name of Jesus Christ or names of saints like the Blessed Virgin Mary we offer that very small head bow and actually also prior to receiving Holy Communion the general instruction of the Roman Missal tells us to give a head bow as a form of reverence so any bow we gave whether profound or a head bow is a form of reverence

Channel: Catholic Sentinel

Views: 57,485

Keywords: bowing, Genuflection (Religious Practice), Cathedral Of The Immaculate Conception (Building), Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon

Id: AzRJNRqUryo

Length: 2min 10sec (130 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 17 2015