January 26, 2007

Letters to the Editor

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Reader: Yes, some Catholics prefer to kneel when praying

In response to Jack’s Fink’s column, “Does kneeling during prayers really matter?”, in the Jan. 19 issue of The Criterion, I’d respond many feel it does.

Many people feel that being on one’s knees is more “devout” than sitting or standing. Apparently, Jesus felt so, too.

During one of the most important prayers of Jesus’ human existence during the Agony in the Garden, “after withdrawing about a stone’s throw away from them and kneeling, he prayed” (Lk 22:41).

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus “falls” to the ground. In the Gospel of Matthew, he “fell prostrate in prayer,” the same position that candidates to the priesthood and diaconate take before making their vows.

I feel that during the most “important” parts of the Mass, the consecration and confessing of my sins, I am not worthy to receive Jesus.

Yes, Mr. Fink, it really does matter. It mattered to Jesus, it matters to the Church when entering the religious life, it mattered to Ezra in last week’s first reading and it matters to millions of Catholics who prefer to kneel.

- Tim Harte, Martinsville

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