Orans gesture at the Our Father

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C.Ray said:
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babochka:
It is common in Middle-Eastern cultures, regardless of Rite. I’ve seen it in Melkite, Chaldean and Maronite, but it is uncommon in Slavic churches. It is done pretty much universally in the Maronite Church, I think.
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This kind of gets around to an answer, I suspect. If the Maronites do it universally, and have for centuries (that is, it isn’t a modern novelty), then maybe the pick-up of the gesture in the latin rite is an example of ecumenism in action.
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While it isn’t a novelty, I seriously doubt that the Latin Rite in the US picked it up from the Maronites. There really isn’t a widespread Maronite presence in many areas of the country where it seems to be the norm.

I attended to think that it is either above spontaneously Or was picked up from charismatic Protestants. But why during that prayer in particular? Probably Because the priest is standing like that. And have any idea that it was a replacement for hand-holding seems to have merit.

Either way, I don’t particularly care as long as it doesn’t become a mandated, unofficially or otherwise. It is an ancient posture of prayer.

I went to Mass (as opposed to Divine Liturgy) for the first time in ages last week. Most parishes that I have attended in the past have only had a few, if any, pray in the Orans posture. This parish was in a different diocese and in a different state. I would say 1/3 to 1/2 of the people prayed the Our Father in this manner. It was good. It wasn’t so universal that those who chose not to felt awkward. Very much an individual choice.
 
I’ve seen it back much further than 10-15 yrs. I believe it was more prevalent 20-30 yrs ago. Today, the preponderance of the action varies from church to church. I have seen as much as 85% in some churches, to nearly 0% in others.
 
Irishmom2 said:
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phil19034:
So I think it’s natural that some people back in the 1970s thought they should do exactly what the priest was doing.
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I never saw anyone doing that in the 70s. It is something I only started seeing about 10-15 years ago.

I have often wanted to ask people exactly why they think they should be doing that. But I don’t.
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I didn’t mean the 1970s is when it became popular. I meant I believe the 1970s is when the idea was first created.

It took a while to spread.
 
The orans thing has been going on for over forty years now, more in some places than others, but it started with the charismatic movement in the 1970s, and spread.
 
Irishmom2 said:
I never saw anyone doing that in the 70s. It is something I only started seeing about 10-15 years ago.
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Same here. I never saw it in the 1970s, unless maybe it was a charismatic prayer group and people were doing all kinds of free-form arm gestures. It was not seen at normal everyday OF Mass. I continued to not see it at Mass up to the late 1990s when I mostly quit going to Mass for some years.

When I returned to semi-regular Mass-going in about 2014 is when I started seeing it, and it was definitely more prevalent in some dioceses than in others. I have noticed that Latinos tend to add even more to the gesture so I had wondered if the practice had originated with them.
 
IME, as a 55 year old born in 1964 in the Midwest region of the US, the orans posture and hand holding during the Our Father did not occur until the 1990’s. When I was going to mass as a childl iving at home until 1982 I never saw it. I spent some years away from the Church and when I returned in the late 1990’s, it was prevalent. I don’t like it so I don’t do it. I close my eyes and hold my hands 5:5 as I was taught as a child and don’t really care what everyone else does.

I find myself closing my eyes during parts of the Mass these days lest I get all judgy about others doing thinks I may think are improper.
 
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Off topic trivia:
How many “orans-holding hands” threads do you think have happened here since CAF inception?
My guess is 112.
 
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Probably about half as many as we get about communion on the tongue versus communion in the hand.
 
Heaven forbid these unnecessary pious disciplines! Next thing you know, they’ll be praying Rosaries during the Mass. 😉
 
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And just to provide counter-balance, lest anybody think that this is a settled matter and all the experts agree:

www.ewtn.com

Holding Hands at the Our Father? | EWTN

EWTN is a global, Catholic Television, Catholic Radio, and Catholic News Network that provides catholic programming and news coverage from around the world.
www.ewtn.com www.ewtn.com
A different case is the practice in which some people adopt the “orantes” posture during the Our Father, praying like the priest, with hands extended.

In some countries, Italy, for example, the Holy See has granted the bishops’ request to allow anyone who wishes to adopt this posture during the Our Father. Usually about a third to one-half of the assembled faithful choose to do so.

Despite appearances, this gesture is not, strictly speaking, a case of the laity trying to usurp priestly functions.

The Our Father is the prayer of the entire assembly and not a priestly or presidential prayer. In fact, it is perhaps the only case when the rubrics direct the priest to pray with arms extended in a prayer that he does not say alone or only with other priests. Therefore, in the case of the Our Father, the orantes posture expresses the prayer directed to God by his children.
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http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-wor...ing-the-eucharistic-prayer-and-our-father.cfm

Some people hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer, while others hold their hands out like the priest. Is there a prescribed posture for the Our Father?​

No position is prescribed in the Roman Missal for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer.
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I guess I find myself more and more bewildered these days. Father at my old parish told everyone “no! don’t use the orans posture, its for the priest!” like the Catholic365 article says.

The USCCB says “it’s fine, the GIRM doesnt say anything one way or the other: do what thou wilt.”

Confusing.
 
C.Ray said:
So in eastern liturgies, the people make the orans gesture at the our Father?
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Not byzantines, no. Just the priest.

But the prayer itself is, and I presume always has been, by all.

And it looks like @babochka has a more thorough answer on this . . .
 
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