Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I think we have to wake up. Wake up. Stop, kneel down, adore your Lord. It is logical. When the angels in heaven in the Apocalypse prostrate in front of the lamp, but we have the lamp of God in the host, they prostrate themselves; we do not. Why not? When the angels prostrate themselves in front of the Lord, then the three wise men, the Magi, came to Bethlehem, and it is written in the Holy Scripture, they made a proskynesis. This is an expression in Greek of a special gesture of adoration, to kneel down and bow with the head to the earth. And so the three Magi adored the body of Christ in this manner.
Fr. Mitch Pacwa: As a matter of fact, very frequently, the Greek word proskineto simply means worship.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, and why do we not? And then the three women on the morning of the resurrection of our Lord, when they met the risen Lord, what did they do spontaneously? They fell down, kissed their feet, and bowed down. They adored Him, it is also written, with the gesture of proskinesis in this case, and so did our fathers, our grandparents. This form of receiving and honoring our Lord during Holy Communion was kneeling in the Latin rite and receiving on the tongue for more than 1000 years. Such a precious tradition of more than 1000 years makes no sense to abolish, because when the honor of the Lord is at stake, we have to try to find the maximum of adoration, caution, protection, and defense of Him, not the minimum. We kneel down. At least it was so for more than 1000 years. At least kneel down. This is a form, our Latin form of proskinesis, of metanoia. Proskinesis is adoration, and bowing and kneeling have to be, and this is true in the Eastern rite also.