Where does it say in the bible that we should pray with our hands placed together?
Like in the photo below.
http://catholicsistas.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/praying-hands-and-rosary-posters.jpg
It shows in the Bible that people pray placing their faces over the ground. Kinda like the Muslims do it. Matthew 26:39, Exodus 4:31, Chronicles 20:18.
So what’s up? Can someone give me a clue?
-MontChevalier
This actually comes into Catholicism from the East, probably from Judaism itself. There are two positions that are very common in the East, the open arms extended upward to signify that our prayer rises to God and the other is praying hands, which in the East is a sign of reverence for God and monarch. You will find it among Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews from the East.
In Europe, religious communities discouraged it until Vatican II. Hands were not to be seen, except when kneeling. If you were standing, you kept your arms crossed inside your sleeves. It was a little more difficult to do when kneeling in a pew. You gently rested your folded hands in front of you.
As you can see, the use of the hands in prayer has taken many forms and many gestures. None of them are doctrinal. They are cultural. The essential attitude remains unchanged. In the presence of the divine, one assumes a posture of reverence, be it with folded hands; outstretch arms or arms crossed inside the sleeves where the hands are out of sight.
When I was a boy, a rabbi once told me that the hands could be a source of distraction in prayer and so our ancestors engaged the hands as well as the mind and heart. I don’t know if that is a historical fact, but the idea of the hands being a distraction is certainly believable. Try watching a public speaker who does not know what to do with his or her hands. Even if it does not distract the speaker, it distracts the audience and those around him.
I taught for 35 years. Even when I was not writing, if my hands were not on the podium or in my sleeves, I held a chalk or later a marker, when white boards came in. You needed to do something with the hands to avoid distraction.
I guess that’s why Easterners folded their hands when bowing before God and king. If you have ever watched videos of Mother Teresa, she always folded her hands as in prayer and bowed to say hello and goodbye. Among Hindus, this is a sign of reverence and respect for a person who is in a cast above you. Mother used it with all peoples, placing herself in the lowest cast.
Over the centuries, these cultural behaviors worked their way into many religious practices, including Christianity. They are quite beautiful. If we greet another human being with special gestures, how much more attentive should we be when speaking to God. Obviously, we can’t use the gestures of the angels, because we’ve never seen them. Therefore, we use the best ones we have in our human repertoire.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
