What are the Rules On Genuflecting?
Question: The lack of solemn genuflection when entering the church is bothering me. Folk don’t know to double genuflect (that is, to go down on both knees) when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed. I’ve seen children “genuflect” with their backs to the altar, and some priests approaching the altar with a nod. What is the Church’s teaching on genuflection?
Answer: The act of genuflecting — bending the right knee to the ground, not just a dip of the knee — is a sign of adoration to honour the Blessed Sacrament. Therefore, upon arriving in church, if there is a tabernacle containing the consecrated hosts, one should genuflect towards it. If there is a physical impediment to doing so, a person should nevertheless make a gesture of profound reverence. If the Eucharist is reserved in a side chapel, however, it would be proper to simply bow towards the altar.
The Church teaches that one is supposed to make the appropriate sign of reverence whenever one passes in front of the altar or tabernacle. But we are also counselled not to make a big public show of our reverence.
When we see children reverencing incorrectly, we may alert the catechism coordinator or parish priest. They might be unaware that catechetical instruction on proper gesture of reverence appears to be necessary.
The ancient custom of double genuflection towards the exposed Sacrament is a commendable gesture, but it is not required by Church law.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal notes that the priest genuflects when he arrives at the altar and departs from it, and three times during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. “Otherwise all who pass before the most Blessed Sacrament genuflect, unless they are moving in procession” (274). Ministers carrying the processional cross, candles, cruets, the Book of the Gospels and so on may bow their heads instead of genuflecting, though neither gesture is mandated.
As a general rule, we bow to the altar, and we genuflect to our Lord in the Tabernacle or when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar.
Asked and answered in the January 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
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