Devotion to "The Powerful Hand" or "La Mano Poderosa"

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Hey everyone. I found a Catholic prayer candle at a grocery store where they sell some Mexican goods and it was one that I had never seen before but I thought it was interesting so I buoght it. On the front it says “The Powerful Hand” and in Spanish below it says “La Mano Poderosa”. On the back it has one prayer in Spanish and one in English. Here is the English prayer:

Lord Jesus, you have extended your powerful hand to the blind and the deaf, to the crippled and to lepers, and those who were considered to be sinners. I call on you to extend your hand to me and to all those for whom I pray. Streams of blood flowed from the wound in your hand to wash away the sins of human kind. May your merciful hand forgive my sins and guide me as I journey in faith. May your powerful hand lead me to the Glory of God.

So, does anyone have any information about this devotion? I am really confused. I’ve never heard of it before.
 
You have to be careful with low-rent grocery stores that sell so-called “Catholic devotion” candles, because sometimes these are pure superstition and sometimes they are actually spells and curses of Santeria instead. I have found this spell on a Santeria page and it is also called superstition by other pages. Obviously it is not a Catholic saint. It does not have a feast day or an approved cult in the Church. I recommend throwing it away immediately.
 
Elizium23 said:
You have to be careful with low-rent grocery stores that sell so-called “Catholic devotion” candles, because sometimes these are pure superstition and sometimes they are actually spells and curses of Santeria instead. I have found this spell on a Santeria page and it is also called superstition by other pages. Obviously it is not a Catholic saint. It does not have a feast day or an approved cult in the Church. I recommend throwing it away immediately.
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??? There is no mention of any saint in the prayer posted by the OP, simply because it is a prayer directky to Jesus and there is nothing wrong with that. And if you actually read the words of the prayer there is nothing in it which could in any way offend faithful Catholics. 🤷

No, there isn’t a feast day attached to this particular devotion. So? There isn’t one attached to the Crown of Thorns either, but people can certainly say prayers that me tion the Crown of Thorns can’t they?
 
Thanks everyone. I’d like to hear some more opinions about this. I hope its not a superstition or some kind of spell.
 
I think it has occultic influence. I would stay away. I dont know, I will wait for more folks to chime in…
 
Well, I did a little research online and everything I read about it says that it is Occultic in nature. I am definitely going to be throwing it away.
 
Holly3278 said:
Well, I did a little research online and everything I read about it says that it is Occultic in nature. I am definitely going to be throwing it away.
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This devotion is popular in my family. We recognize it as a devotion to the Holy Family + Saints Anne and Joachim. I love this devotion.
 
LilyM said:
There is no mention of any saint in the prayer posted by the OP, simply because it is a prayer directky to Jesus and there is nothing wrong with that. And if you actually read the words of the prayer there is nothing in it which could in any way offend faithful Catholics. 🤷
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Yes, and inoffensive things are exactly the type of thing that Satan will whisper in your ear in order to lull you into a false sense of security. Just because the prayer seems inoffensive does not mean that the cult is approved and right for veneration by the faithful. I would appreciate it if you could offer some proof of a cult by the writings of saints or Church fathers. Certainly since they have written about the Crown of Thorns they would write about other devotions that are good and worthy of belief.
 
Holly3278 said:
Lord Jesus, you have extended your powerful hand to the blind and the deaf, to the crippled and to lepers, and those who were considered to be sinners. I call on you to extend your hand to me and to all those for whom I pray. Streams of blood flowed from the wound in your hand to wash away the sins of human kind. May your merciful hand forgive my sins and guide me as I journey in faith. May your powerful hand lead me to the Glory of God.

So, does anyone have any information about this devotion? I am really confused. I’ve never heard of it before.
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I dont understand how this prayer can be scary. This devotion once helped navigate me through a dark “valley” I was in.
 
mymamamary said:
forum.chnetwork.org/index.php?topic=9187.0
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Your article makes my point very well.

It discusses how the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is co-opted by drug traffickers. By your logic we should avoid having a devotion to the Guadalupana as well as the Mano Poderosa.

What they hey, gang members wear rosaries too - can’t have anything to do with the Rosary either then. And I’m sure at least some of them wear crucifixes, so nix those as well.

Point being - if you truly want nothing to do with aspects of our faith that have been co-oped by the occult or criminals there will literally be nothing left. The Eucharist? Black Masses. Baptism? Rumour goes that in the Balkans in WWII Orthodox priests used to forcibly baptize Muslims and Catholics before they were massacred.

The devil can and does co-opt everything about our faith. Doesn’t mean it can not all ( Santa Muerte maybe the only exception) be practiced in good conscience by the faithful
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. I found a Catholic prayer candle at a grocery store where they sell some Mexican goods and it was one that I had never seen before but I thought it was interesting so I buoght it. On the front it says “The Powerful Hand” and in Spanish below it says “La Mano Poderosa”. On the back it has one prayer in Spanish and one in English. Here is the English prayer:

Lord Jesus, you have extended your powerful hand to the blind and the deaf, to the crippled and to lepers, and those who were considered to be sinners. I call on you to extend your hand to me and to all those for whom I pray. Streams of blood flowed from the wound in your hand to wash away the sins of human kind. May your merciful hand forgive my sins and guide me as I journey in faith. May your powerful hand lead me to the Glory of God.

So, does anyone have any information about this devotion? I am really confused. I’ve never heard of it before.
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AFAIK it’s a Mexican folk devotion to, well, the Hand of God. And of quite some vintage: I’ve seen retablo from I believe the 19th century of the image (hand with stigmata, Holy Family). A bit odd as it may sound to many of us, I don’t think that it’s too different from the veneration of, say, the Sacred Heart or the Holy Face or any other of Jesus’ body parts or items like the Crown of Thorns or the Cross (as someone had pointed out).

Yes, the image is used often in folk magic or occultic stuff, but as Lily had said, just because something sacred is co-opted for questionable purposes does not necessarily make it evil. Santeria and Vodou identify Christian icons with African deities in a syncretistic sort of way, but that doesn’t mean we should stop using images or venerating the saints. Are we to reject Mary just because Our Lady of Czestochowa is identified with Erzulie Dantor? Seriously, this is just the same old ‘pagans used X, therefore X is evil’ argument (a staple of anti-Catholic rhetoric) in a different set of clothes. I don’t see why we couldn’t ‘reclaim’ this image in true Catholic fashion. 🤷

P.S. I actually have a small picture of it in my room. Not really a devotee of this particular devotion per se, but I like the image’s symbolism. 😉
 
patrick457 said:
AFAIK it’s a Mexican folk devotion to, well, the Hand of God. And of quite some vintage: I’ve seen retablo from I believe the 19th century of the image (hand with stigmata, Holy Family). A bit odd as it may sound to many of us, I don’t think that it’s too different from the veneration of, say, the Sacred Heart or the Holy Face or any other of Jesus’ body parts or items like the Crown of Thorns or the Cross (as someone had pointed out).

Yes, the image is used often in folk magic or occultic stuff, but as Lily had said, just because something sacred is co-opted for questionable purposes does not necessarily make it evil. Santeria and Vodou identify Christian icons with African deities in a syncretistic sort of way, but that doesn’t mean we should stop using images or venerating the saints. Are we to reject Mary just because Our Lady of Czestochowa is identified with Erzulie Dantor? Seriously, this is just the same old ‘pagans used X, therefore X is evil’ argument (a staple of anti-Catholic rhetoric) in a different set of clothes. I don’t see why we couldn’t ‘reclaim’ this image in true Catholic fashion. 🤷

P.S. I actually have a small picture of it in my room. Not really a devotee of this particular devotion per se, but I like the image’s symbolism. 😉
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Great response:thumbsup:
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I found a message from Jesus to St. Faustina that reminded me of the symbolism of this devotion:

In 1933, God gave Sister Faustina a striking vision of His Mercy, Sister tells us:

“I saw a great light, with God the Father in the midst of it. Between this light and the earth I saw Jesus nailed to the Cross and in such a way that God, wanting to look upon the earth, had to look through Our Lord’s wounds and I understood that God blessed the earth for the sake of Jesus.”

I don’t know how to post images in here, but if you perform an image search for “Powerful Hand Devotion Catholic” you will see the image. I think the clouds could represent God the Father and their position above Christs’ Hand seems to parallel St. Faustina’s message.

Here is a link to an image I found of it: likeshooting.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/2652161.jpg

Maybe one of the more technological saavy members can post it. Thanks for reading.
 
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