Pavlov's Catholic: Genuflecting

I was at a movie theater looking for a seat. I eyed some open chairs past a row of people.

As I approached the row of chairs, I felt this overwhelming urge to drop down to one knee and make the sign of the cross. Luckily, I stopped before embarrassing myself too much.

But it made me think.

It's understandable to naturally do something that I've been doing my entire natural life. But have I become so conditioned as to do it without reflecting as to why I'm doing it?

Ivan Pavlov, who won the Nobel Prize in physiology in 1904, is probably most famous today for his experiments concerning conditional reflex. Basically, that with proper conditioning he could get a dog to begin salivating by using only familiar sounds (which the dog associated with food) without ever giving it actual food.

From that, the phrase "Pavlov's dog" has emerged to describe somebody who has been conditioned to respond to certain stimuli without really using their reason or critical thinking in the situation.

To many of us Catholics this sounds a bit too familiar. Hence, we approach a row of chairs or a pew and we automatically genuflect.

But what are we genuflecting to?

No, not the back (or front) of the Church. No, not the altar or a crucifix either. And hopefully not to a movie screen!

We genuflect to the Eucharist - to God made present body, blood, soul and divinity.

Most of us and our parents grew up in churches where the Eucharist was still kept in a tabernacle behind the altar. So we rightfully genuflect (towards the Eucharist) as we enter and leave the pew.

Now-a-days, many churches have removed the tabernacle from behind the altar to another part of the church. But Pavlov's Catholics just keeps right on genuflecting. Why though?

It's actually very sad that in our Catholic culture we have become so conditioned that we have no idea why we are doing what we are doing. And, in my experience, I see it in 99% of the people at every parish I've visited that has removed the tabernacle from behind the altar.

Catholics mindlessly genuflecting...to what? It appears that they really don't know.

Next time you go to a parish, don't mindlessly genuflect to nothing. A bow towards the altar is appropriate if the tabernacle has been moved elsewhere. And then when you are walking past the tabernacle, wherever it may be in your church building, genuflect there if appropriate. For you are in the presence of God in the flesh.

But most of all, remember to reflect when you genuflect.