We were taught to genuflect before each of the 14 Stations of the Cross.

We were taught that prayers are best offered on bended knees.

Kneeling is an act of venerating the Cross, not the material image but what and who it represents.

It is a delight to still find parishioners, amid secularization of society, who still drop to their knees in prayer in "Via Crucis" or Way of the Cross. These parishioners are that of San Vicente Ferrer in Biri, Northern Samar. 

According to Catholic News Agency, in kneeling before the crucifix we are paying the highest honor to our Lord's cross as the instrument of our salvation; and because the Cross is inseparable from His sacrifice, in showing reverence to His Cross we, in effect, adore Christ. 

Kneeling is associated with modesty and reverence. In kneeling, a person is presumed to present a seeking heart.

In Biblical perspective, kneeling encompasses a spirit of submission, reverence, and humility. These are virtues that God is due. 

Pope Benedict XVI, or Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, in 2000 explained sublimely the theology of kneeling in his journal "The Spirit of the Liturgy" published by Ignatitus Press and reprinted in 2002. 

An excerpt from a chapter entitled “The Body and the Liturgy,” Pope Benedict accentuated that "kneeling to pray does not come from any culture, it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God."

He penned that the central importance of kneeling in the Bible can be seen in a very concrete way. There are three closely related forms of posture in the Bible - "prostratio” or lying with one’s face to the ground before the overwhelming power of God; there is falling to one’s knees; and there is kneeling. 

"Bending the knee before the presence of the Living God is something that the faithful cannot abandon," the pope exhorted.

He also pointed out that the Hebrews regarded the knee as a symbol of strength. 

"To bend the knee, is therefore, to bend our strength," Pope Benedict said.

In a recent post of the San Vicente Ferrer parishioners in Biri, Northern Samar they showed how alive till today that religious custom to come on bended knees. 

The parishioners have come to live up to the appropriate attitude in moments of veneration.

Pope Benedict underscored that kneeling is not only a Christian gesture, but one that is Christ-like. Even Jesus knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane in the earnestness of his prayers.