Sometimes, all we need is someone to talk to, whether that be a casual conversation with a friend or time spent with a professional counselor. For many people, though, finding that someone isn’t quite as easy as bumping into a friend at the store.

Enter Sister Mary Frances Seeley, OSF, and the Upper Room Crisis Hotline. The hotline, which is featured here, provides people with a listening ear in times of need. Sometimes callers are experiencing a mental health crisis, while others might just be lonely and need someone to talk with. No matter the reason for the call, however, the volunteers provide that listening ear we all need sometimes. In a world that can be challenging and sometimes lonely, a ministry such as this is a true blessing.

She’s talked to murderers, abusers, and even those wrestling with the occult. Sister Mary Frances Seeley and volunteers answer all calls with a message of God’s unconditional love and prayerful support. 

Sometimes life can be scary, lonely, and wild. Katarina Moberg, 36, of Sweden, knows that all too well. In the summer of 2022, her mother was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Moberg, a nurse, moved in to care for her mother, in effect becoming her private-duty nurse. When the stress of watching her mother die and being on call 24/7 became too much for her to bear, Moberg sought help. 

“I searched online, and for some reason the Upper Room Crisis Hotline (TURCH) came up. Sweden is a Protestant country, and my family was not religious, but I emailed the contact at the hotline and poured out my heart. They got in touch with me and said they were there to listen. I think for the first hour on the phone, I just cried,” says Moberg, who speaks excellent English as well as six other languages. Since then, a volunteer from the hotline has contacted her weekly, supporting her through her mother’s illness, death in March 2023, and accompanying grief. 

“I had never had anyone tell me that they were praying for me before,” says Moberg. “I was an agnostic, and religion was always laughed upon here. We only believe in science, but this experience—my mother’s passing and the unconditional love and support I’ve felt coming from the Upper Room Hotline—has convinced me that there’s something more, and I’ve begun to search for God. I’ve begun to wear my Finnish great-grandmother’s silver cross, and I’ve even made myself a rosary from yarn.” 

Moberg refers to her contact at TURCH and the staff as her “guardian angels.” “However, my family’s English is so-so,” she says, “and they don’t always translate things properly. I have a dedicated ringtone to alert me when my Upper Room contact is calling. When they hear that, my family exclaims, ‘It’s your saints in the wild.’” 

A First in Crisis Hotlines 

TURCH, whose tagline is “God’s love has a toll-free 800 number,” is a free, confidential, faith-based hotline in the Catholic tradition. The toll-free number is 1-888-808-8724. It was founded in Joliet, Illinois, by Sister Mary Frances Seeley, OSF, who has a PhD in law, policy, and society and an extensive background—50 years—in crisis hotlines. The nonprofit was incorporated in March 2007 and began taking calls on January 1, 2008. 

“I had started two public crisis hotlines back in the 1970s, and the Priests Council of Chicago knew of my work and asked me to set up a hotline for priests and religious,” says Sister Mary Frances. The clergy sexual abuse scandal had come to light, and the hotline was founded to help priests and religious who were also grappling with the scandal. “I believe this was the first faith-based hotline in the country, and somehow the laity found out about it, and we began getting calls from them. In 2013, the hotline was officially opened to anyone,” says Sister Mary Frances, who recently celebrated her 75th jubilee as a Franciscan and is writing a book about her experiences as a pioneer in crisis hotlines. 

In 2019, Sister Mary Frances “retired,” although she still serves as president of the hotline’s board of directors and as a special advisor. Terry Smith, PhD, who has over 40 years’ experience in special education and mental health, became TURCH’s executive director. 

“Our most recent monthly data shows that we took 625 calls, so when you multiply that by 12, we receive approximately 7,500 calls a year,” says Smith. During one month, nearly half of the calls that the hotline received (48 percent) were from people simply needing to talk with someone, 35 percent were asking for prayer, 27 percent were dealing with mental health issues, and 22 percent were suffering from isolation and loneliness. Fifty-eight percent of the callers were males, with 62 percent professing to be Catholic. In addition to the hotline, 140–150 emails were received and responded to by volunteers. 

“I describe the issues people call about as being a microcosm of life. They are dealing with anxiety, depression, diagnosed mental illness, and just the difficulty of coping with life,” says Smith. “Many people are simply suffering from isolation and loneliness. We also get lots of calls asking for prayers, and our counselors will pray with them; we have a list of prayers appropriate for the caller’s specific need.” 

TURCH’s mission is to “emulate Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit,” reflecting seven pillars of caring support, including spiritual support and prayer, focused and reflective listening, empathy, compassion, nonjudgment, affirmation, and patience. Callers lead the discussion, and the phone counselors serve as facilitators to respond to those needs. TURCH supports people of faith and no faith and refrains from proselytizing. “We do not try to convert anyone but to respect their religious traditions,” says Sister Mary Frances. “If the caller asks for information about the Catholic faith, we freely talk to them about it.” 

“Our volunteers are trained to provide focused and undivided attention through reflective listening, and spiritual support and prayer are offered when requested,” says Smith. Phone counselors also are trained to respond to callers at risk for suicide or other crisis situations to provide immediate support or intervention and referrals. 

Ongoing Support for Callers 

The hotline continues to expand and has received calls from all over the United States as well as 35 other countries. Most callers speak English, but several volunteers speak Spanish. 

Unlike other crisis hotlines, TURCH can provide continuing support. As part of the Extended Caller Support Program, a volunteer can call on a weekly basis for an extended period. Over the past four years, 10 callers—from across the United States, Sweden, and the Philippines—have received extended caller support. “We provide support and get to know our callers, developing a rapport. One benefit of this is that it eliminates the caller from having to repeat their problems anew each time they talk to a volunteer,” says Smith. 

In 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, TURCH “fortuitously” changed its phone system, Smith says. “Otherwise we would have had to shut down the hotline. That would have been catastrophic, as we saw feelings of isolation and loneliness increase as well as a rise in stress. Parents were trying to work while dealing with children being sent home to learn remotely. They were trying to cope and make adjustments. There was a lot of change in a short time. 

“Many also felt cut off from the faith as religious services were curtailed, and they had no access to the sacraments. Some callers felt that their faith was faltering. And obviously, the medical issues of dealing with COVID made people more fearful and anxious.” 

_{Sister Mary Frances Seeley, OSF, who has 50 years of experience in handling crisis calls, is the founder of the Upper Room Crisis Hotline.}

The volunteers who staff the hotline are highly trained. Prior to the change in phone systems, all training was done on site, and calls went through a central Upper Room line center. This limited the number of callers they could help. Now training is done remotely, and volunteers can receive calls on their cell phones, which has opened volunteer opportunities for more people. The hotline has approximately 70 volunteers, including staff, but about 45–50 active volunteer phone counselors. 

Training sessions are offered two to three times per year and run for eight weeks, with two sessions per week. “We get constant feedback from volunteers, and many have said it is like a graduate class,” says Smith. 

Sharing God’s Unconditional Love 

“Ella” (not her real name) has been counseling callers for two years. “I took a four-year Biblical Institute Course and kept in touch with my instructor. She emailed me about TURCH needing volunteers and suggested I look into it,” says Ella, who prayed extensively about it, wondering if it was something to which she was suited. “I don’t have a background in counseling or mental health, but I was involved in my parish, talking and helping people who were dealing with issues. As I was discerning if I wanted to volunteer, I felt I was almost compelled by the Holy Spirit to do it.” 

Although Ella felt very well-prepared when she began counseling, she was understandably nervous when she answered her first call. “Before I picked up that first call, I prayed to the Holy Spirit to guide me and give me the words to say. I have done that every time since. It works, and the Holy Spirit has not failed me.” 

“I have learned so much from my callers,” says Ella. “I listen to them and affirm them. No matter what issues they are dealing with, I invite them to pray with me and strive to bring them to a deeper relationship with the Lord. We have very good conversations and develop relationships. Since we are not seeing each other face-to-face, our words are the most important. We deal in words,” says Ella. She estimates that 97 percent of her callers are Catholic, but the hotline receives calls from Protestants, Jews, and to a lesser extent atheists and agnostics. “That’s what we do,” says Ella. “We help by offering support, compassion, and nonjudgment to each caller because the Lord’s love is in our hearts, and it is purely unconditional.” 

For anyone who feels they may be called to be a hotline volunteer, Ella encourages them to pray about it and take the training course, where further discernment will confirm whether it’s in God’s plan for them. “It’s a commitment, but there is a lot of support for the volunteers,” she says. “Sometimes we get very tough calls like those dealing with domestic violence, alcoholism, addiction, thoughts of suicide, but we are well-trained and have resources to assist them. I take the Lord’s words ‘Do not be afraid’ to heart.” 

The hotline is always seeking volunteers. “I conduct an initial interview of prospective volunteers, and I ask for a letter from their Church official attesting that they are a Catholic in good standing and have a heart for serving others,” says Smith. Volunteers also write a short autobiography and “we evaluate them throughout training, to see if this is a mutually beneficial situation,” says Smith. “We make sure our volunteers have a strong ethic, strong faith, and a heart to serve others.” 

Jean Haas, TURCH’s director of marketing, says most people find out about the hotline by searching the Internet or by referral. “Our website is our most important tool. We often have new videos on our website and Facebook page. Unfortunately, Facebook is not that favorable toward us, but search engines rank the website high,” says Haas. 

TURCH raises funds through online donations and Amazon’s affiliate program. “When you make a purchase through our link with Amazon, a portion of that purchase is donated to us,” says Haas, who points out that no one who calls the hotline is charged a penny. All donations go directly to pay the phone bills, office supplies, etc., and no one benefits financially from the hotline. Everyone is a volunteer, including the staff, Smith, Haas, and Sister Mary Frances. 

No Calls Go Unanswered

This support has allowed the Upper Room Crisis Hotline to expand. In addition to its Extended Caller Support Program, from which Moberg benefited, the hotline also operates the Sunshine Program for retired clergy with medical issues. “We do a daily wellness check on them, and currently we have one priest in Michigan participating in the program,” says Smith. 

The hotline receives many requests from callers asking for spiritual direction or guidance from a priest. Therefore, the hotline has instituted a Priest on Call Program, where callers can discuss struggles with their faith, questions about the faith, and receive help from a priestly perspective. All callers need to do is phone the hotline and ask to speak with a priest. The caller’s name and phone number are then taken, and a priest calls them back, generally within the same day. All of this is done under a cloak of anonymity. “Some callers have doctrinal questions, some have relationship difficulties, some are feeling they are being demonically influenced,” says Smith. “The priest can counsel but cannot do confession over the phone.” 

Prayer is an integral part of the hotline. In addition to the prayers offered by the volunteers, the Poor Clare Colettines, a group of cloistered nuns in Minooka, Illinois, offer prayers twice daily for TURCH and pray specifically for callers and their intentions when requested. 

For those who are struggling but reluctant to call, Sister Mary Frances says: “Do not hesitate. We are not shocked and are well-trained to help. I’ve talked to murderers, sons who have been sleeping with their mothers, abusers, and I’ve even dealt with the occult. One young man called the hotline terribly frightened, and he explained to me that he was scared because he had abandoned God and had invited Satan in. At first, things were going well for him, but now they were deteriorating. In the middle of the call, I heard an ugly voice say, ‘He’s mine. He’s mine. He’s mine.’ I asked the caller if he heard anything unusual on his end of the line, but he said no. So, I simply said, ‘Satan, go back to hell where you belong.’” 

Afterward, Sister Mary Frances contacted her bishop for guidance, and he had her undergo deliverance training. “I’m not an exorcist, but we can even help with those dealing with demonic influences.” 

Yes, life can be scary, lonely, and wild, but thankfully, there are “saints in the wild” at TURCH who can help those in need navigate this world. 

You can reach the Upper Room Crisis Hotline toll-free at: 1-888-808-8724. To learn more, how to become a volunteer, or donate, visit CatholicHotline.org, the Upper Room Crisis Hotline Facebook page, or send an email to CatholicHotline@gmail.com. 

The Bible provides a number of straightforward teachings about how a disciple of Jesus is to live, but there are less clear lessons too. Reading through the lens of the four senses of Scripture can help us better understand the Gospel and deepen our faith. 

When the risen Christ appeared to his disciples on the first Easter, he made a curious remark: “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Lk 24:46–47). 

The question that arises for attentive readers is “Where is that written in the Old Testament?” And this leads to a way of reading Scripture that was well known to the early Church and the Jewish culture from which it sprang but is often mysterious to modern readers. 

It is called the four senses of Scripture. 

St. Augustine sums up the four senses by saying that the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is only fully revealed in the New. 

The four senses are sketched by the Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraphs 115–119. They are the literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses, and understanding them can vastly enrich our appreciation of what the inspired authors are getting at in the rich tapestry of conversation across the Old and New Testaments. 

The Literal Sense

The literal sense of Scripture refers to what the human author is trying to say, the way he is trying to say it, and what is incidental to the assertion (i.e., the “plain sense” of Scripture). When Matthew tells us, “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod” (Mt 2:1), he means what he says: That’s where and when Jesus was born. 

It is tempting to conclude that there is not much to the literal sense, but this is not so, since getting at it can involve all sorts of literary analysis. For instance, one common mistake is confusing the literal sense with a flat-footed literalistic reading. To get at the distinction between the two, consider that when Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (Jn 15:5), he has a literal meaning, but it is not “I am a grape plant.” Rather, he uses a vivid metaphor to communicate something he really does mean to say: namely, that the Christian disciple completely depends upon him for his life, just as the branch depends for its life on the vine. Huge swaths of Scripture use imagery to get across the writer’s literal sense. 

One of the gravest dangers of reading for the literal sense is, as the following quote attributed to Josh Billings suggests: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into the trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” For instance, many people are sure that Genesis 1—2 is giving us bad science. But the reality is that Genesis is not giving us any sort of science; the authors have no interest in science. What they care about is the relationship of Israel to God and the way they see that relationship is in terms of temple liturgy. God is depicted as creating a sort of macrocosmic temple in the course of the creation week. The creatures mentioned in that narrative are not seen scientifically, but as rival gods to the God of Israel, all worshipped by Israel’s pagan neighbors. The point of the story is that these creatures—reptiles, fish, birds, the beasts of the fields—are good creatures of God, not gods themselves. And man and woman are made in the image and likeness of God. 

This is why commentaries are so vital for getting at the literal sense of the text of Scripture: because they help us to understand the mindset of the original authors, living in a radically different culture, speaking a language few know today, thinking in categories foreign to us. Commentaries can help us grasp the meaning of actions and words strange to us and place them in context. They can give us information on such things as the author (if known), the relationship of the text to the historical situation of the time, the relationship between the author and his audience, and the relationship of the text we are reading to other biblical texts, since much of the New Testament is a commentary on the meaning of the Old Testament. 

The key thing to understand about the literal sense of Scripture is that it is like the foundation of the house. If you don’t know, for instance, what the text in Exodus 12 says about the Passover sacrifice of the lamb in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, you cannot possibly understand what John the Baptist means when he declares Jesus to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). And that brings us to the next sense of Scripture. 

The Allegorical Sense 

Early Christians saw God speaking, not just through words, but through things, historic events, weather, and all manner of symbols and imagery. That is why John the Baptist could see in the Passover lamb an image of Jesus. It is why Jesus could see the manna that God gave Israel during their wandering in the wilderness as an image of the Eucharist (Jn 6). It’s why Paul saw the passage through the Red Sea as an image of Baptism (1 Cor 10). 

Again and again, the New Testament looks to the Old Testament, not for its literal sense, but for this allegorical sense. We read in Numbers 21 that when Israel rebelled against Moses in the wilderness, God permitted venomous snakes to invade the camp of Israel and inflict painful and deadly bites in punishment for that rebellion. We read that God instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and hoist it up on a pole so that all who looked at it would be healed of snakebites. 

The question that Israel would ponder for 13 centuries is not whether the story was true, but what it meant. What did the event signify? 

When the Son of God finally arrives in the fullness of time, he declares to Israel not the literal sense of the story (they already know and believe that), but the meaning of the story, the allegorical sense of it:  

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14–15). Jesus’ point is that the bronze serpent is a prophetic image of himself, lifted up first on the cross and then in the resurrection and ascension to heal us of the ultimate snakebite, given in the Garden of Eden by “the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan” (Rv 12:9). 

The allegorical sense is not something being foisted on the text, but something being read out of the text by people whose minds are steeped in the language and thought of the Old Testament. The New Testament writers, like any good writers immersed in a body of literature and marinated in its ideas and imagery, naturally draw from that rich pool of nutrients to nourish what they have to say. So, for instance, when Luke records Gabriel telling Mary that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk 1:35), he assumes that you, being a Jew or a gentile steeped in Jewish Scripture, will catch the allusion to the Shekinah Cloud of Glory that “overshadowed” the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament and simply get that Mary is the new ark with the Lord dwelling, no longer in a golden box, but in her womb. 

This is just a taste of this way of reading the Old Testament with apostolic eyes. 

The Moral Sense

Jesus is very clear that, in the words of James, “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (Jas 2:24). Jesus tells his disciples that merely having a correct theological view of who he is while still refusing to obey him is useless: 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then will I declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers’” (Mt 7:21–23). 

This being the case, we must learn from Scripture how to act as Jesus would have us act, not merely to believe things about Jesus. Jesus said we would be judged according to the way we acted, because what we do is the sign of what we truly believe. That is what the parable of the sheep and the goats (Mt 25:31–46) is all about. 

Of course, a lot of the moral sense of Scripture is plain and didactic. Things like the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount tell us an awful lot of straightforward teaching about how a disciple of Jesus is to live. And there are many models of various heroes and saints in both the Old and New Testaments. As Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). In a similar vein, Hebrews 11 throws out for our inspection a big list of Old Testament heroes from whom we can learn various qualities of virtue. 

But in addition to this, early Christians saw various images of the moral life hidden in Scripture. 

A classic example is the Temple. In its literal sense, of course, the Temple was a big stone building reserved for the worship of God. In its allegorical sense, Jesus made clear that it was a sign pointing to his body. That is why he said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). 

When Paul is writing moral instruction to the Corinthian Church, he has no problem telling those fornicating, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20). The temple is thus given a moral sense to which the Church will turn again and again for the next two millennia. 

And that brings us to the final sense. 

The Analogical Sense

This $3 word refers to our destiny in Christ. The entire goal of the Christian faith is that we share forever in the divine life of the Holy Trinity as risen and glorified human beings in the new heaven and the new earth. Paul tells us to “think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Col 3:2). Accordingly, the early Christians read (and wrote) their Scriptures to reflect their faith in the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. 

When Joseph is thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, and finally ends up in prison—only to be saved, raised to the King’s right hand, and exalted to such a degree that he becomes the source of life to the very family that betrayed and rejected him (Gn 37–50)—the embattled and persecuted early Church read this not only in the allegorical sense as referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus, but as a picture of our destiny. “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:3–4). 

Similarly, Jesus takes a real place—the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem—and gives it an anagogical sense to warn of the destiny of those who refuse to obey his Gospel. The place was seen as accursed and forsaken because it had been used for child sacrifice in the worship of Moloch centuries earlier. By the time of Christ, it was known by the Greek word Gehenna, which English translations of Scripture commonly render as “hell.” 

Likewise, when the authors of Hebrews and Revelation look at the city of Jerusalem, they see the image of our heavenly destiny. Hebrews 12:22 tells believers “you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” while Revelation climaxes with similar imagery as the seer speaks of “the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (Rv 21:10). 

All these are merely tastes of how the four senses have been used throughout Scripture. The Fathers of the Church continue this tradition in all its richness, as does the devotional tradition of the Church. From Augustine using the image of Jerusalem to write his City of God to Dante’s Divine Comedy to American abolitionists drawing on Exodus for their anti-slavery work to a host of other applications, the four senses inform the way we read the Bible constantly and make it vastly more abundant and fruitful. 

The next time you go to Mass, pay attention to the way the Old Testament reading often anticipates the Gospel reading or the Gospel comments on the Old Testament. When you read Scripture, follow the cross-references that point you somewhere else in the Bible. That’s no accident. It’s all part of the great conversation that is the biblical tradition. And we are part of it, even today. Join in!

Sitting, standing, and kneeling during Mass each have their own distinct role in helping us fully experience and appreciate the liturgy. 

Recently, a non-Catholic friend accompanied me to Mass. “I was so confused!” she exclaimed afterward. “How do you know when to sit or stand or kneel? And all those secret gestures!” 

For most Catholics, that knowledge has been developed by participation in many Masses over the years. It’s so ingrained that even if we’re not paying close attention, the movement of the assembly gives us a split-second clue. We automatically change positions as our muscle memory takes over—so much so that if someone seated close to us sits or stands at the wrong time, many of us automatically follow along! 

“But what does it all mean?” she continued. “Why not just sit, like we do at our church services?” 

What a great question. We Catholics pray with our hearts, minds, and bodies. During a typical Mass, we sit four times (five if you count sitting when we first come into the Church), stand six times, and kneel three times. The word liturgy means “work of the people.” It’s not just the priest who does all the work; we have responsibilities too. The motions and postures we use have meaning and subtly change our mindset throughout each part of the Mass. We know that “body language” can sometimes convey our feelings better than words. What are we saying with our postures at Mass? 

Sitting: A Time to Listen

As they continued their journey, he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary [who] sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:38–42). 

Sitting is the posture we use to listen and learn and the position we take when we come into the church for Mass. We get comfortable, quiet our thoughts, and prepare to absorb what we’ll hear. We give ourselves time to clear our heads of distractions, and like Martha’s sister, Mary, we put aside our schedules and to-do lists so we can listen to the Lord. 

Sitting is an informal posture, and when we say, “Let’s have a quick sit-down,” we mean to have an easygoing discussion. So, as we sit for the readings and the homily, we are attentive to what God wants to share. 

We also sit for the presentation and preparation of the gifts and briefly before the dismissal. In each case, we listen and reflect, like 12-year-old Jesus in the synagogue and students in any classroom. 

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers (Lk 2:46–47). 

Kneeling: A Time for Reverence

For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God” (Rom 14:11). 

Kneeling is a posture of devotion and adoration; imagine a young man proposing to his bride. It’s a posture of humility, as Jesus demonstrated when he knelt and washed the apostles’ feet. The knee is a symbol of power, so to bend it is to bend our strength in submission. Kneeling brings us down to a child’s level and makes us small and vulnerable. Even animals bend down low to defer to others, as in the case of a dog when it meets a new friend or a chimp that reduces its height to show submissiveness. 

As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and submitted to his father’s will, he knelt: After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed (Lk 22:41). That prayer in the garden was not only one of submission but one of worship. The same is true for us. As we kneel and submit to God’s will, we recognize his power and glory. We worship him. 

Considering all this, it’s clear that we kneel at Mass when Jesus is most profoundly present: during the Eucharistic prayer as the bread and wine become Christ’s body and blood, before we receive the Eucharist as we invite God to come into our hearts, and after Communion to thank him for the gift of the Eucharist we just received. 

Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9–11). 

Standing: A Time for Readiness

So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace (Eph 6:14–15). 

Standing is a posture of respect and readiness. We stand when someone we love enters the room. We stand to bestow honor as a dignitary arrives or a judge enters a courtroom. Soldiers stand at attention when an officer comes into their presence, alert and ready to follow commands. At the first Passover, the Israelites were told to eat their meal standing, with staff in hand, prepared for the coming of the Lord.

Similarly, our standing at the beginning of Mass is in honor of God’s presence and in anticipation of the events we know will follow. We stand during the Gospel out of respect for the words we hear about Jesus. We stand for most of the prayers the assembly recites aloud together: the creed, the prayer of the faithful, the Lord’s Prayer, and when we greet each other in the sign of peace. Finally, we stand at the dismissal to reflect our readiness and urgency as we head out into the world on the mission for which God has called us. 

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15:58). 

Give it a Try

Try this experiment to demonstrate. 

First, sit in a comfortable place with both feet flat on the floor, your back supported by the seat, and your shoulders relaxed. Concentrate for a few seconds on the sights and sounds around you. Do you notice anything new or unusual? This is a relaxed position for most of us, one we can maintain without much thought, making it easier to concentrate on our prayer. 

Now stand up. Balance your weight evenly on both feet. Your body knows something is happening—it is automatically alert and attentive. Your pupils dilate to see more. Your skin temperature increases slightly. Heart rate and breathing typically also increase. Do you feel the change? This is a position of strength, power, and preparation. Often when we stand, we are preparing to do something else, like reach for an object or move to another place. 

Finally, kneel down. You can keep your torso erect, rest your buttocks on your heels, or lower your head to the floor (the “child’s pose”). You are now small and vulnerable; it’s hard not to feel humble when you are low to the ground. This is a difficult posture as most people’s knees don’t allow them to stay in it for very long. It can be painful, and it takes physical and mental effort to stay kneeling. We must consciously choose to submit to the awkward and humble position. 

Private Prayer

So far, we’ve addressed postures at Mass. But what about private prayer? Does our posture matter when we are praying alone? 

Yes, it does. Just like at Mass, our prayer should involve our entire bodies, albeit at different times and for different reasons. Think about how you felt in the exercise above. Multiple studies have shown that position and posture affect our emotions and vice versa. How we position ourselves in prayer affects how we feel about God and ourselves. 

Sitting is appropriate for reading Scripture or writing in your prayer journal. These are times when we are learning and thinking. We sit comfortably so we are not distracted by our aches and pains. It’s a position of reflection as we open ourselves to God, and he shares himself with us. 

Standing is practically an automatic response when we find ourselves in awe of God’s majesty. Imagine the wonder of standing on a sunset-drenched beach, under a crystal-clear starry night sky, or at a mountain peak overlooking the valley below. Or consider how we jump to our feet when our team scores, jubilant with praise and enthusiasm. So it is with our standing prayer, as excitement and respect compel us to move. 

And when we throw ourselves at God’s mercy, beg him for some need, or are profoundly grateful, we kneel. We submit our will to God and admit our frailty and weakness before him. Try to remember the last time you knelt other than at church. Although some of us still kneel at the side of the bed before we sleep each night, for most of us, it’s not a position we choose very often. 

The Meaning Behind Our Gestures

“And what about all those other little gestures and actions?” my friend asked. Gestures are an essential part of our Catholic life. They have rich meanings. Here are a few of our common gestures and a reminder about what they represent. 

When we come into a church, we make the sign of the cross with the holy water we find near the entrance. The cross reminds us of the Trinity, and the water reminds us of our Baptism in Christ. Some churches use small wells attached next to the doors, but some use the baptismal font itself. 

As we reach our desired pew or row, we genuflect, kneeling briefly on one knee. This symbolism goes back to medieval days when commoners genuflected on their left knee in front of kings and nobles. Christians gradually absorbed the practice to honor our almighty King, using the right knee to distinguish it from secular action. 

Before the Gospel is read, we use one of our thumbs to make the sign of the cross on our forehead, lips, and heart. We are praying, “May the word of the Lord be on my mind, on my lips, and in my heart.” The priest pronounces similar words over the deacon as he sends him to proclaim the Gospel or to himself as he stands at the lectern about to read. 

We also place our hands in different ways at different times. We keep them folded or tented in prayer position for most of the Mass. We shake hands with our neighbors during the sign of peace to ask for their blessing and provide them with ours. During the Lord’s Prayer, many people use the orans position—hands open and extended with palms up, imitating Jesus’ hands on the cross. The position can represent begging—as in “Please, Lord, help us,” or openness to receive God’s love. 

We perform a profound bend-from-the-waist bow when we recite the words, “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man,” during the profession of faith. This bow honors the sacred mystery of the Incarnation, one of the basic tenets of the Christian faith. We perform this same deep bow when we pass the tabernacle or stand before the Eucharistic minister to receive holy Communion. We perform a smaller, simpler head bow when we say the name of Jesus. Many people also bow their heads when saying the names of the Trinity, Mary, or the saints. 

In his book God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) wrote: “Our religion, our prayer, demands bodily expression. Because the Lord, the risen one, gives himself in the body, we have to respond in soul and body . . . the spiritual possibilities of our body are necessarily included in celebrating the Eucharist: singing, speaking, keeping silence, sitting, standing, kneeling.” 

What an excellent answer to why we Catholics sit and kneel and stand at Mass. God came to us in the soul and body of Jesus Christ, so we come to God at Mass with our own bodies and souls. Too often, it’s something we do without thinking about it. This week, let’s pay attention to all those bodily movements and remember what we are saying to God with them. 

The subject of immigration is one that immediately elicits passionate responses from people. Often the issue is met with questions such as these: “Why can’t they just wait in line and come here legally like our ancestors did?” and “Why should we let them in? Most of them are drug dealers and criminals.” 

Most of the time, people who ask these questions aren’t really interested in a conversation. That’s much easier than having difficult conversations about how to fix a broken system, right? Because to do that would require working together to find answers. What a novel concept. 

It’s Not That Easy

The average American, I suspect, is not aware of the process for migrants to come to the United States. The reasons for legal entry are narrow—many of the reasons do not apply to those attempting to immigrate—and the process can take years. Many people point to their ancestors as the right way to be welcomed into our country. But I don’t know that I’d necessarily say that it was the right way. For most of them, there were no immigration laws when they immigrated. They just did it. 

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services: “Until the 1870s, the federal government did virtually nothing to restrict immigration to the United States. In most cases, immigrants who arrived to the United States in search of work or a new life simply settled in the country and became citizens after a period of time.” 

Over time, policy changes were enacted regarding the issue, but mostly they pertained to specific situations. Immigration was not significantly restricted until the 1920s, “by which time many of our immigrant ancestors had already arrived,” state the bishops. 

Filling a Void

The reality is that many migrants come to the United States for financial reasons. Money earned is often sent home to their families. In order to do so, many migrants willingly take on jobs that many of us would not be willing to do. Do you enjoy the fresh fruit at the grocery? Who do you think probably harvested much of it? Chances are, it was painstakingly harvested by someone hoping for a better life. They do so for a chance, just a chance, for the American dream that, honestly, so many of us take for granted. 

Instead, we treat them as a conglomeration of people that have been slapped with the all-encompassing label of illegal immigrants. We use them as pawns in a game. In order to prove a point, governors bus migrants to other states. Rather than have constructive discussions and come up with possible solutions, leaders use the issue as a political weapon. I would love to see people, including any member of Congress, live the reality of these immigrants for one day. I wonder if that might change their perspective or spur them into action. At least, I hope it would. 

The ultimate goal should be reasonable immigration policies that respect and assist all the parties involved—Americans and immigrants. In the current political world, though, if things continue as they have been, that seems unlikely. But it doesn’t have to be that way. To achieve that, however, we’re all going to have to take a long, hard look at where we stand on this issue and ask ourselves: What would we do if it were Mary and Joseph standing at the border, asking for help? 

Here are some of the best—and free—apps to explore, whether you’re a bookworm, film buff, music geek (like me), or someone with eclectic interests and tastes. Search for these wherever you download apps, as most major app stores carry them. 

Libby 

A member of Overdrive’s family of apps, Libby works with about 90 percent of the library systems in North America, according to Overdrive CEO Steve Potash. It can be downloaded as an app (compatible with Apple, Amazon, Google, and others) or accessed online at LibbyApp.com. 

Once you’ve downloaded the app or are visiting the web version, all that is required is your library card number (and PIN, depending on your library system), and you can enjoy browsing through thousands of titles available in a variety of media: digital editions of magazines, e-books, audiobooks, and read-along books for parents and children. 

Love Richard Rohr? Just search for him by name, and you’ll find a number of e-books of classics such as Breathing Under Water and the audiobook versions of favorites such as In the Footsteps of St. Paul. Some titles have a waitlist, but there is so much that is immediately available that it’s easy to stock up on other content while you wait. 

Kanopy 

Three years ago, Overdrive acquired Kanopy, a video streaming service that boasts a far-reaching catalog of foreign films, classics, documentaries, children’s movies, and new releases of more popular fare. Depending on your library system, you get a set amount of “tickets” each month, which you can use to “rent” (for free) movies and TV shows, which usually require one or two tickets each. You then have a set amount of time to watch your rental (typically, 72 hours). 

Kanopy includes curated collections of film and television, including the Criterion Collection and releases from the film company A24. Learn more at Kanopy.com. 

Hoopla—and More 

Can’t find what you’re looking for in Libby or Kanopy? There are lots of other free resources out there to explore. Hoopla makes it easy for users by including books, audiobooks, movies, and music all in one place. 

A quick search for Ronald Rolheiser, for example, brought up a sizeable list of audiobook titles from the celebrated author, such as the audiobook version of The Passion and the Cross. Also worth checking out is Freegal for streaming music and Creativebug, which provides tips and lessons for arts and crafts enthusiasts.