Does our bodily posture affect the way we pray? Should we stand, sit, or kneel while we pray? This is a question few of us ponder, but is one of the most important aspects of prayer. It may not appear to be much of an issue, but that is only because we have believed the fallacy that we are only “spiritual beings” and what we do with our bodies does not affect our soul.
[featured-image single_newwindow=”false”]Jesus praying to God the Father in Gethsemane, Heinrich Hofmann, 1890.[/featured-image]
In truth, what we do with our body does have a direct impact upon our soul. This unity of body and soul allows all of our senses to be engaged in prayer (sight, hearing, taste, sound, touch) and assists our soul in being raised up to God.
The Catechism reinforces this fundamental truth and teaches us that prayer involves our whole being:
“Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays” (2562).
On account of this unity, the Church’s public forms of worship contain numerous elements that are visible and engage our bodily senses. The Catechsim further explains:
“In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God” (1146, emphasis added).
As we can see, the Catholic Church does not have “empty rituals.” Each and every exterior act has a specific meaning and purpose that is designed to lead us to the worship of our Creator. The Church has “full rituals” that fill a person’s soul to the brim. We need these signs, symbols and gestures to help us pray; it corresponds to the core of our being.
Thomas Aquinas solidifies this idea when he writes that a man performs such works as “prostrations, genuflections, vocal ejaculations, and hymns...so that our attention may be directed to God by these sensible deeds and that our love may be aroused” (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles III, ch. 119.).
Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) further solidifies this reality and proclaims:
“[O]ur religion, our prayer, demands bodily expression. Because the Lord, the Risen One, gives himself in the Body, we have to respond in soul and body….all the spiritual possibilities of our body are necessarily included in celebrating the Eucharist: singing, speaking, keeping silence, sitting, standing, kneeling” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life
, 91).
So then how should we pray? Stand? Kneel? Sit?
First of all, it is noteworthy to say that church pews were invented after the Protestant Reformation! With the entire focus on the sermon, the people needed to sit-down for a long period of time. That means churches were without pews for roughly 1,500 years!
How did Christians pray for most of Christian history?
As you might have guessed, Christians prayed kneeling, standing and sometimes in prostration on the floor. Even today you can witness this sight at an Orthodox or Byzantine Divine Liturgy, where they still do not have pews. Where did they receive these ways of praying? From Sacred Scripture.
Cardinal Ratzinger explains that, “Kneeling does not come from any culture–it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God‘ (The Spirit of the Liturgy
“[On the Mount of Olives] According to St. Matthew (22:39) and St. Mark (14:35), Jesus throws himself to the ground [prostration]; indeed, he falls to the earth (according to Matthew). However, St. Luke, who is in his whole work (both the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles) is in a special way the theologian of kneeling prayer, tells us that Jesus prayed on his knees” (The Spirit of the Liturgy
Throwing ourselves on the ground in prostration is a way to recognize the mystery of God, like how Joshua threw himself down before presence of God. Kneeling, on the other hand, is often seen in the Gospels as a way to express supplication and adoration. Often in the New Testament kneeling is preceded by an act of faith, “I do believe, Lord,” and completed by an act of adoration at the majesty of God (cf. John 9:35-38). Elsewhere, like in many of the healing narratives, the person is kneeling in supplication, asking to be healed. In the Old Testament, we see Solomon kneeling at the dedication of the Temple (cf 2 Chron 6:13). Ratzinger explains that, “When a man kneels, he lowers himself, but his eyes still look forward and upward, as when he stands, toward the One who faces him” (The Spirit of the Liturgy
Standing is also a very common way to pray, found both in the Old and New Testament. It is seen as the posture of the “victor,” standing over one’s enemies, and is also the expression of “readiness.” At the Passover, they were told to eat their meal standing, with “staff in hand,” ready for the coming of the Lord. Many mosaics of early Christians show them standing in prayer, ready and waiting for Christ’s Second Coming.
Sitting is more of a recent invention and is typically done during the recitation of readings at Mass and during the homily. In this context, sitting, is a posture of recollection and meditation. It is a posture of listening to God’s word.
Let me summarize these various ways of praying:
- Prostration is often done in humility, recognizing the great mystery of God.
- Kneeling is focused on supplication and adoration.
- Standing is a posture of readiness and victory.
- Sitting is a way to foster recollection, meditation, and listening.
Let us remember these many and varied ways of praying and consider using them to reflect the type of prayer that we want to express. We should not only pray with our soul, but pray united with our body in a marvelous symphony.