“The devil has no knees,” once declared the Desert Father Abba Apollo. Truly, the devil has no humility, and no body either. His assault on Holy Communion is nothing new. Since the time of Christ, he has tried to efface belief in the Real Presence. As St. John recorded, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (Jn. 6:60). Many disciples walked away because they could not accept that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist.
Today, the war against Holy Communion continues. Across dioceses in the United States and abroad, some bishops and cardinals have forbidden altar rails or demanded Communion only standing and in the hand. In the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, portable kneelers used for communicants at the Cathedral of St. Patrick were recently removed, and the altar rail at Charlotte Catholic High School banned. In Argentenia, the Archbishop Jorge Eduardo Lozano of San Juan de Cuyo wrote: “In the celebrations of the Sacraments of Christian Initiation, catechumens (of any age) will receive Holy Communion only standing and in hand,” as reported in LifeSiteNews and InfoVaticana.
Tragic enough were the churches of the 1970s that tore out altar rails; those that remain are now under attack again. Instead of noble rails, many sanctuaries are cordoned off with ropes. The altar rail marks the threshold between the sanctuary and the nave, representing the holiness of the sanctuary. The altar rails are not mere architecture. They also safeguard reverence, protect the Eucharist from falling, and allow the faithful to kneel in humility. Kneeling to receive on the tongue greatly reduces the risk of dropping the Sacred Host. Christ fell three times on the way to Calvary—why should we allow countless falls of His Eucharistic Body through careless reception? Holy Communion is not a Halloween candy; it is the most intimate encounter with the God of the universe.
I often wonder how Our Lady received Jesus at Mass in the days of the early Church (see image). Mystics recount that when St. Joseph first held the Christ Child, he knelt in adoration. He did not receive Jesus sacramentally, yet he displayed the humility that should inspire us all. Of course, not everyone is physically able to kneel, but if you can, you should.
Kneeling also carries spiritual power. An exorcist Fr. Benedict (alias name) I interviewed for my co-authored book The Most Powerful Saints in Exorcisms: What Exorcists Want You To Know recalled an extraordinary case:
Fr. Benedict once described an exorcism that occurred in Central America involving a teenage boy who tried to commit a murder. The boy had come in contact with a Satanic cult in the United States over the internet. One of the instructions from the Satanic cult was to commit a specific kind of murder. The merciful judge said he would release the boy to his parents under one condition: that he would be brought to Fr. Benedict for an exorcism. Fr. Benedict brought the family into his adoration chapel and had the family pray the Rosary with him. Fr. Benedict then began to bless every family member with oil. Each of the family members knelt down, but the devil would not allow the teenage boy to kneel. Fr. Benedict added that the “devil will not kneel, and those he possesses cannot kneel either. He won’t let them.”
I often think back to my own First Holy Communion. Though the greatest day of my life, it felt ordinary at the time. I was taught to make a “throne” with my hands and received without much reverence until college. Years later, I watched my son receive his First Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling, and I was filled with joy. That simple act of humility healed much of the regret I carried for receiving Our Lord so casually.
Sadly, I have also seen priests hostile to Communion on the tongue. One once forced the Sacred Host roughly onto my tongue, pressing his thumb down my throat. My mouth hurt for days. That same priest also broke the Sacred Host while distributing to my aunt, cutting her lip. Such irreverence wounds souls and drives them away. During COVID, many priests feared germs more than sin, refusing Communion on the tongue—another factor in today’s widespread disbelief in the Real Presence. Reverence draws us back to God; irreverence drives us away.
Some argue that the Holy Eucharist should not be “weaponized” against pro-abortion politicians. Yet the devil has already weaponized it—by sowing disbelief in the Real Presence and promoting irreverence in its reception. The martyrs did not die for a symbol. They died for Jesus Christ—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
Kneeling is one of the most profound acts of humility and reverence. Kneeling proclaims with St. Paul: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2:10). The devil recoils at the sight of those who receive Our Lord with the greatest humility and piety, for the devil has no knees.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
