Kneeling In The Presence Of The Lord: A Meditation

Jules-Jacques Veyrasset - Woman and Child Kneeling Before a Cross (1862)

[ 4 minute read ]

As one approaches the doors to the parish church, the spiritual faculties begin to expand in anticipation of entering the temple wherein the Blessed Sacrament is tabernacled.

Awe, wonder, joy. The Lord continually reaches into our hearts and minds during the Mass.

There we are in the Mass, praying the sacred texts that ripple through our souls as waves of light illuminating the shores of our hopes, our joys and our sorrows.

The Latin aphorism cor ad cor loquitur or heart speaks to heart (first coined by Saint Frances de Sales, cor cordi loquitur) was given particular attention by Saint John Henry Newman to "effectively convey the gracious intimacy of man's conformity to Jesus' loving obedience to his Father's divine will unto death."

Sonus verborum nostrorum aures percutit; magister intus est (St. Augustine). When a teacher speaks correctly about holy things - when the sound of the words reaches our ears - it is no longer simply words that enter, but God himself.

To kneel is to know and celebrate throughout one's entire physical being the liberation of the heart by God. To kneel is to share that one's heart is captured by the Holy Trinity. To kneel is to express humility and to know confidently that the Father loves us and has a plan for each one of us. 

God knows the gifts located upon the altar of our hearts and He invites us to offer up all that we are - our needs, our gratitude, our joys, our sorrows - to Him upon His altar.

May the Lord accept the sacrifice at thy hands, for the praise and glory of his Name, for our good and the good of all his holy Church. - Divine Worship: the Missal

The bread and the wine, symbols of our lives, are received and transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, to be received in Holy Communion. Magnificent!

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight:

Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. - F. Crosby

Knowing that our Lord is Present and offering Himself to us in a most vulnerable manner to share His life with us, the very life of God, how can we not kneel? How can we refuse to kneel? The temptation to race to the altar rail, to meet the Risen Lord, is building into action. We know Mary Magdalene's joy at having seen her Lord alive.

(Mary) saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). - St John 20:12-16

We arrive at the altar rail. Lowering ourselves to our knees, we assume the stature of a child.

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - St Matthew 18:3-4

Kneeling before the priest, Jesus is offered to us. We receive the most Precious Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, not a mere symbol!

Our souls are calibrated to the Love of the Father for the Son and to the Love of the Son for the Father, the Love that is the Holy Ghost.

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. - St Matthew 17:1-8

"And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only."

Pieter Coecke van Aelst - The Martyrdom of Paul (circa 1535)

Seeing Jesus only, we can say with Saint Paul,

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. - St Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 3:14-21

With Saint Mary Magdalene let us tell all the world, "I have seen the Lord" (St John 20:18).