Bishop Thomas John Paprocki | Diocese of Springfield

During the proclamation of the Creed, either the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed, congregants bow their heads during the portion that covers Jesus’ incarnation and birth. Dan from Troy asks why this bowing does not extend through Jesus' death and resurrection, given that these events are central to Christian faith.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) specifies that when the liturgical rubrics prescribe recitation of the Creed on Sundays and Solemnities, both clergy and laity should make a profound bow at the mention of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity (no. 18). During the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, this occurs at “… and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” In the Apostles’ Creed, it happens at “ … who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

This bow is intended to be "profound," meaning a bow from the waist (GIRM, no. 275b). Within Holy Mass, “a bow signifies reverence and honor shown to persons themselves or to signs that represent them” (GIRM, 275).

Father Daren Zehnle explains that while Jesus' death and resurrection are indeed central to Christian faith, His Paschal Mystery would not have occurred without His conception in Mary's virginal womb. The Church instructs believers to bow at His Incarnation because it represents God humbling Himself to take on human flesh. This act of humility is honored with a profound bow as a gesture of reverence.

Father Daren Zehnle serves as pastor at St. Augustine in Ashland and is also director for the Office of Divine Worship and Catechumenate for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.