Body language at Mass

 

The Eucharist has been described as the great leveller.  This is one of the reasons I would prefer, if given the choice, to received the Sacrament kneeling.  I say this as someone brought up in the Western Christian tradition.  I started to received holy communion long before post-Vatican 2 adaptions set in.

It seems to me that when communicants kneel in a row this is a powerful statement of equality, humility and submission before Jesus Christ true God and true man giving himself under the forms or appearances of bread and wine. Sadly, the practice of kneeling when receiving has almost disappeared in the Roman Catholic church at least in parts of the world I am familiar with. This happened gradually in the course of the 1980s long after the initial liturgical innovations of Vatican 2 had taken their  effect. 

Typically, Anglicans and to the best of my knowledge some Methodists adhere to the traditional pre-reformation tradition of body posture at the time of reception. In the Eastern Orthodox churches people always stand as a sign of the resurrection and receive communion from the priest as they cross their hands and recline their head slightly backwards while the minister administers a fragment of the consecrated Bread (the Lamb) dipped in consecrated Wine (the Blood) and while a deacon holds a special cloth (serving more or less the same purpose as the paten held by the altar server in former times in the Roman Catholic church). It is a beautiful sight to behold and if you have never seen it check it out here.

Speaking of the Eastern churches I am reminded of the 8^th Century Irish Ardagh chalice and spoon which you can see on your next visit to the National Museum in Dublin. Presumably, the spoon was used for communion in ways that resembled Eastern practice today?   Surely, it must represent a strong influence of some Eastern or first century liturgical influence in this part of Europe?  The Ardagh chalice suggests that communion practices were much closer to Eastern communal chalices than the later narrow chalice reserved for priestly communion only.

Be that as it is I do not for a moment advocate that anyone seeks to make a statement or a nuisance of oneself by departing from local custom.  Drawing attention to yourself is not the point of mass. Inner disposition and openness to the wonderful gift we are to receive is the most important point.