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Kneel at the Agnus Dei

Question:

After praying the Our Father during Mass, when is the proper time to kneel?

Answer:

After reciting or singing the Angus Dei (“Lamb of God”).

In the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) 43, the Church prescribes:

In the dioceses of the United States of America, they should kneel beginning after the singing or recitation of the Sanctus until after the Amen of the Eucharistic Prayer, except when prevented on occasion by reasons of health, lack of space, the large number of people present, or some other good reason. Those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration. The faithful kneel after the Agnus Dei unless the diocesan bishop determines otherwise (43).

Thus, after the Lord’s Prayer, the faithful exchange a sign of peace. After that is the Fraction Rite, in which the priest breaks the consecrated host “and puts a piece of the host into the chalice to signify the unity of the body and blood of the Lord in the work of salvation, namely, of the living and glorious body of Jesus Christ” (GIRM 83). Then the “Lamb of God” is, as a rule, sung, or at least recited aloud. When the Agnus Dei is completed, the faithful kneel “unless their diocesan bishop determines otherwise.”

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