As we walk into the church, men remove their hats but women
can keep their hats on. Men remove their hats for respect just like entering a
courtroom as a sign of respect. It has always been good manners for men to
remove their hats as they enter buildings especially important buildings like
the church. Women, on the other hand, can keep their hats and veils on in
Church. We veil things that are important. The Holy of Holies in the Temple was
veiled. The tabernacle, the Holy of Holies of the New Covenant, is veiled. A
bride veils herself before she gets married.
As we walk into church, the first thing we find is the holy
water font. We dip our right hand into the holy water to bless ourselves. The
holy water reminds us of our baptism. This is important because it is in
baptism that we received new life in Christ. We were creatures of God, but in Baptism, we became sons and daughters of God.
With the holy water, we make the sign of the Cross with our
right hand. Of course, if someone does not have a functioning right hand, the
left hand could be used. The Sign of the Cross is super important because the
Cross is the tool Jesus used to bring us out of eternal death and into eternal
life. He transformed the Roman instrument of torture and death into the
ultimate instrument of new life. Sometimes we get lazy and make the sign of the
circle, or the sign of the triangle.
When we make the sign of the Cross, we usually say the
prayer: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We
are saying that everything we do, we are doing by God’s authority. How dare we
pray at all, but because God loves us, we can dare to pray in His name.
Next, we walk to a pew, of course as close to the front as
we can get. As we are walking, we spy out the tabernacle. We should also notice
the sanctuary lamp. This is usually a red candle that indicates that the
Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved there
so that Holy Communion can be taken to the sick at some other time. If the
tabernacle is at center axis, behind the altar, we genuflect to Jesus, who is
present in the tabernacle. What does that mean? Back in the olden days, people
used to genuflect to kings. Jesus Christ is King of the universe, so people
started genuflecting to the King of Kings who is present in the tabernacle. When
we genuflect to Jesus, we put our right knee to the floor. When we do gesture,
we are speaking body language that says “Jesus is king of the universe. He is
my king. I want him to be the king of my heart.”
This gesture is also body language that says: I believe
Jesus when he said at the Last Supper, “This is my Body.” And since Jesus
Christ is not divided, that has to be the whole Christ: Body, Blood, Soul and
Divinity.
Of course, if someone is unable to genuflect, he or she can
do a profound bow to show reverence to the Lord. Or, if the tabernacle is not
in the church but in some separate adoration chapel, we would make a profound
bow to the sacred altar because it is a symbol of Christ.
Then we walk into our pew, kneel, and begin our preparation
prayers. The posture of kneeling is a sign of humility. So, kneeling in
humility, we are saying to the Lord: You are God and I’m not. Kneeling is also
a sign of adoration. It shows the Lord that we believe He is the Awesome God
and we love Him. The posture of kneeling can also be a posture of petition or
supplication, which means asking the Lord for His blessings.
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