Raising of Hands During the Recitation of 'Our Father' during mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Questioner28
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I don’t know how or when it started,
and it is something that really doesn’t matter to me.

On a personal note, I will share an awareness I had a few years ago.

It was a time when I was really struggling with my faith.
Prayer was impossible, I felt totally unworthy of God’s love,
and I was going through some very traumatic personal experiences.

I was talking to a priest friend one day and he said to me "Ya know, you need to let go of these feelings, give them to God."

I thought to myself, “Ya, if it was only that easy!”:rolleyes:

Later that night, while I was struggling in prayer, my hands tightly clasped, just like I was taught,
asking God to take some of my burdens, this overwhelming feeling came over me,
and I heard God say to me "And I want to, my child, but you need to let go first."

At that point, all I felt was exasperation and I unclenched my hands, opened them up to God and said *“Fine, here you go then!!” *:mad:

Well, all of a sudden, all the hurt, anger, frustration, etc… I was feeling melted away and for the first time in my adult life,
I truly felt that intimate personal connection with the God whom I thought had abandonded me.
It was truly a moving and life-changing experience for me.:getholy:

So now, whenever I pray, it is with “open hands”. Prayer is a giving and receiving relationship, and I cannot do that with closed hands.
 
I’ve noticed that in every parish I’ve been in, that people seem to prefer sitting in a pew or seat like it was their territory. So, I often break that patter by sitting wherever I want, often sitting in the first pew. That permits me to usually avoid any of the hand-holding, etc.

In the first pew, I can see better, hear better, and eliminate a lot of distractions.
 
DaveBj said:
No, the ancient Israelites started it…

…and the apostles continued it:
Click to expand...
To be more specific, then: who REintroduced it?
It restarted somewhere: where?
The Charismatics are “the usual suspects”! 😃

Sorry, Melchior! 🙂
 
“So now, whenever I pray, it is with “open hands”. Prayer is a giving and receiving relationship, and I cannot do that with closed hands.”

You most probably mean private prayer. In fact, you wrote “I pray,” which implies that you alone is in conversation with God.
It is a different story when we pray with others that is commonly referred to as public prayer. There are formula and actions that we have to observe because there are more than one of us talking with God. When we speak, we must do in unison or our conversation with God can be chaotic. In public prayers, there usually is a leader or one is presiding. What would you think will happen if somebody habitually imitates the actions of one who presides over a public prayer?
The Mass is a public prayer. Some actions are proper to the celebrant, e.g., the orans posture, and some parts are for the laity, e.g., “May the Lord accept the sacrifice in your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and good of all the church.”
 
I have always been very uncomfortable praying the Our Father with open hands, I feel terrible when people around me look for my hand (it happens sometimes not all the time) to hold it up during this prayer. Sometime ago I decided to eductate myself and I read from different sources including this site, and I settled with the decision that for the matter of uniformity, which is one of the beauties of our Catholic Church, I will do what most of the others are doing (open my hands). But God knows how I would love to clasp my hands together. Joining my hands together helps to recollect my soul before God in public prayer. In private prayer I do all sort of things when only God is looking and I believe it is okay. Thanks everyone for your enlightening posts.👍
 
When I used to visit other churches and saw the lifting and **joining **of hands I wanted to gag. All the churches that did that had one thing in common…a bunch of busy body females up on the altar and lectern. Why this was their opportunity to practice choreography of course, look what I did!..notice me daddy! :eek:

Our traditional nuns taught us how to hold our hands when praying…just look at any altar boy and don’t make it any harder than it is.
 
My wife and I do not raise our hands or hold the hands of others during the Our Father. If you wish to avoid doing so also, simply clasp your hands in a prayerful manner, bow your head and close your eyes and you can direct your prayer to God and avoid the interaction with others adjacent to you.

Since in many Catholic churches, we have the sign of peace where folks usually shake hands and/or acknowledge each other, it seems somewhat redundant and not a traditional practice to also hold or raise or hold hands during the prayers.

It appears to have become even more common to see folks holding hands and then raising them together at the end of the prayer. The process just seem to deviate more and more from a traditonal format.
 
Fink said:
To be more specific, then: who REintroduced it?
It restarted somewhere: where?
The Charismatics are “the usual suspects”! 😃

Sorry, Melchior! 🙂
Click to expand...
To Melchior; The Ancient Israelite? They also practice animal sacrifice do you want to turn our Altars into a slaughter house? Besides this IS the new covenant,
 
roads152 said:
“So now, whenever I pray, it is with “open hands”. Prayer is a giving and receiving relationship, and I cannot do that with closed hands.”
You most probably mean private prayer. In fact, you wrote “I pray,” which implies that you alone is in conversation with God.
.
Click to expand...
No, I meant what I said-👍

’whenever I pray it is with open hands’

If I am at Mass, when I am standing I have my hands positioned palms up, one hand in the other
(almost like one would receive communion, but not as “tight”, I’m not quite sure how to explain it) at about waist level and touching my body.
If I am sitting, my hands are in my lap the same way.

Kneeling can be a challenge to pray with “open hands”,
it all depends on the configuration at the particular parish I’m at.
So, maybe not ALWAYS! 😊

When I pray the Our Father, my hands are open and in front of me,with just the tips of my longest fingers touching I do elevate them slightly at the doxology,
but nothing that is obtrusive to anyone around me.

Some people have questioned it, not because they thought it was wrong,
but wanted to know why I didn’t pray with my hands together.
When given my reasons, every single person
has said to me what a beautiful and meaningful gesture it is,
and that it made them think more about how they pray.:getholy:

I work for the Church, and most of the priests, and my Bishop,
have also commented on how such a simple gesture could mean so much,
and that if it helps me to remember that it is God who is ultimately in control
then there is no reason for me to stop the practice.

And FWIW-
this is just an "in general comment,
not specifically addressed to the post quoted above, and something I have wanted to say for a long time!! 😛

The argument about blurrring the lines between priests/laity when the laity use the orans position-
I’m sorry, but this is just complete hogwash!!! :dts::tsktsk:

I am a 40-something, “pleasantly plump” woman who wears carpris, a nice top & Birkenstocks to Mass.
If anyone mistakes me for a priest I would think that they need to have more than just their eyes examined!! :whacky:
Click to expand...
 
I hold the missal in my hands during Mass and noticed that this practice helps discourage anyone from reaching out to hold my hand during the Our Father.
 
Questioner28 said:
I have usually always lifted up my hands during the mass when it comes to the recitation of the ‘Our Father’ sometimes joining them with other people in the church. I have seen it becoming less common and I was surprised when so little in the congregation lifted their hands when I was having my first communion.
What is happening with this tradition ?:confused::confused:
I grew up always doing it
Click to expand...
Ahhh that’s so encouraging to hear. I hope it is eradicated all together. This is a Protestant tradition, and I hope the other protestant traditions that have snuck their way into the Catholic Church will sneak back out to whence they came from.

God bless.
 
I fold my hands like the Alter Servers do during the prayer of the Our Father. I discourage the holding hands for sure! Get away from that bad bad bad bad bad habit.
 
Zacdecat said:
I and many of the congregation were staggered when a newbie (obviously non Catholic) called out “Amen” to a sermon at a recent Mass. This was at a Tridentine Mass…I doubt I would have been so shocked if he had started waving his arms in the air at the Pater Noster
Click to expand...
:mad:zacdecat,referring to a fellow christian especially one new to the doctrine as a ‘‘newbie’’ is somewhat degrading and i believe that some times,especially during a spirit filled sermorn,an ‘Amen’ is not out of order,though not loud enough to distract other worshippers. while i love the traditional aspect of catholism,which i proudly practice(it"s the only way i know)i do not think we should concentrate on the manner one says ‘the our Father’ but on if by so doing,it gives the prayer a deeper meaning to him.👍
 
nguemo said:
)i do not think we should concentrate on the manner one says ‘the our Father’ but on if by so doing,it gives the prayer a deeper meaning to him.
Click to expand...
So if, during the ‘Our Father’, I scratch the top of my head with my left hand, and scratch my right armpit with my right hand, while hopping back and forth from one foot to the other, because it gives the prayer a deeper meaning to me, you’d be ok with that?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top