Genuflecting to the Blessed Sacrament

By Trinna Leong

Opus Dei. | Photo courtesy of The AP.

The chapel was dimly lit as female believers started walking in, each pausing to kneel on one knee before moving into the pew. One of them, a pregnant woman in her late twenties carefully bent down with her right hand holding onto the bench and her eyes looking straight ahead to the tabernacle.

Genuflection, an act of devotion by touching one knee to the ground is symbolized in the Catholic Church as a mark of respect in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. These days, however, it is uncommon to find most practitioners genuflecting in churches. At most, churchgoers cross themselves upon entry into their place of worship.

In Opus Dei’s New York headquarters at 139 East 34 Street, all the believers who came for a spiritual retreat in the center genuflect.

“Every time I enter the church, I see the Blessed Sacrament as the person I look up to,” said Isabel Munarriz, 29, an attorney based in the city.

“It’s not a piece of bread, it’s a person who is there,” she added.

Though seven months pregnant, Munarriz does not skip the act. Before each mass during the three-day retreat, she helped set up the altar for prayer and cleared it when the service was over. She would walk up to the front of the altar, bend down before walking into the room in the corner of the chapel to take the ciborium, a metal cup to hold the bread and chalice, a goblet to hold wine to be used during the Holy Communion. After she placed the items on the altar, she genuflects again before heading back to her seat.

This simple act of bending one’s knee is done at least ten times throughout the day during the young professional women’s retreat organized by Opus Dei in its Midtown East center. From its meditation sessions to daily mass, each practitioner never failed to genuflect.

“There was a time I curtsied instead of properly genuflecting then my mom told me, ‘Isabel, you need to do it on one knee, it’s respect!’” Manurriz said with laughter.

The earliest historical record of the practice of genuflecting goes back to the Persians who used it to pay their respect to their king. Over time, the Western world caught up with the act and its usage spread in churches during the Middle Ages. Christians however first bowed low to bishops before the ritual of genuflection to the Blessed Sacrament was introduced and gained prominence as an obligatory act in the fifteenth century.

Members of Opus Dei still view simple ritual acts in Christianity as important and strictly adhere to its practices. Genuflecting is no exception.

“It’s an encounter with Jesus. A sign of respect,” said Manurriz expressing her views on why she genuflects in churches.

“It’s like a greeting and a goodbye. Genuflect is a different way of communicating. I try to do it with my heart,” added Manurriz.

For each believer, the lighted candles by the tabernacle marked the presence of Jesus Christ in the chapel and it is the first thing they look for upon stepping foot into the room.

“If you enter the church and see the candles are lighted, you know the Blessed Sacrament is there so you greet him by genuflecting,” said Rose Marie Cosio, 40, a banker who has been with Opus Dei for 15 years.

“When I’m in front of the altar, I’m in front of the king of kings. That’s the most important part,” Cosio added.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 at 5:44 am. It is filed under News, Trinna Leong, View From NYC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.