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

[Lormar]

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

Now that is interesting because on Easter Sunday, a man yelled out “Amen” during the consecration of both the Body and Blood. I was horrified at first, and then thought to myself that it was probably some protestant relative of someone there who didn’t know any better. At least I hope that’s what it was, and not a new abuse in the making.

 

[DaveBj]

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’m not a hand-raiser or a hand-holder, but honestly, if seeing other people holding their hands out during prayer or holding hands with others during the Our Father is the biggest problem during the Mass you attend, you are living in a blest world. I don’t care about stuff like that; there are bigger fish to fry in my world.

 

[Little_One0307]

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?

LOL as long as I am not there to see it.

God bless.

 

[roads152]

My recollection of facts tells me that the orans posture started to be imitated by the laity at Mass when the Charismatic movement came in. It may not be wrong to do it, but the Holy Father enjoined us to observe the rubrics of the Mass. The orans posture for the laity is not prescribed in the rubrics. It seems to me that this issue pertains more to obedience to the Holy Father. I personally prefer to obey.

 

[Carebear26]

I don’t know why they didn’t just go back to the traditional folding of the hands:shrug:

I also prefer to just keep my hands to myself. I do not raise my hands when praying as this to me personally feels very Protestant and not holy at all. Instead I prefer to just fold my hands in front of me.

 

[nguemo]

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?

very funny will s,but u know better.

 

[Patchunky]

Now that is interesting because on Easter Sunday, a man yelled out “Amen” during the consecration of both the Body and Blood. I was horrified at first, and then thought to myself that it was probably some protestant relative of someone there who didn’t know any better. At least I hope that’s what it was, and not a new abuse in the making.

Actually, singing or speaking AMEN after the words of consecration of both the Body and Blood are part of Liturgies of the Eastern Church.

Someone may have been visiting who is Eastern and could not attend the Divine Lliturgy of their Rite.:byzsoc:

 

[Morgan_Hiver]

“a new abuse in the making” haha it may very well be. I’m sure Catholics who first witnessed the orans position and holding of the hands were baffled and shrugged it off as “THEY MUST BE VISITING FROM SOME PROTESTANT CONGREGATION” and little did they know it was an abuse soon to humidify the church with all the sweaty palms embracing each other.

This past Easter there was a family that I have never seen at the EF (the EF crowd is small enough to easily recognize new visitors) and they all held hands during the Our Father. Also, the mother was wearing a tank top and one of those trendy fedoras (the hats that bookies used tobwear and were re-popularized by aston kutcher and Jennifer lopez). Perhaps they were trying something new for Easter by going to the EF or maybe they walked in there by accident thinking it was the normal mass. Their kids texted the time.

 

[Little_One0307]

…and little did they know it was an abuse soon to humidify the church with all the sweaty palms embracing each other.

Uggh gross. I never hold anyone’s hands at all or shake their hands, I don’t know where they have been. This just strengthens my resolve to not shake hands. I find a little bow is polite and germ free.

God bless.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

The other one that makes me laugh is when the priest says “The Lord be with you” and people open up their arms to him and say “And also with you”. I wonder when that started?

Hopefully, when we start answering “And with your spirit” some of this will end!

 

[BrandonRH]

The other one that makes me laugh is when the priest says “The Lord be with you” and people open up their arms to him and say “And also with you”. I wonder when that started?

Hopefully, when we start answering “And with your spirit” some of this will end!

Is raising our hands with this response illicit or just discouraged? I was born in the 1980s, and I was raised with this as a normal part of Mass. What about the part of the Mass where we respond to “Lift up your hearts” with “We lift them up to the Lord” during the Liturgy of the Eucharist?

There is plenty of ignorance about the Mass out there due to mixed messages or things just not being taught well enough or often enough in the homes and churches. Holding hands during the Our Father was a normal part of Mass in my experience until very recently, and it still would be if I did not go to sites like this.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Is raising our hands with this response illicit or just discouraged? I was born in the 1980s, and I was raised with this as a normal part of Mass. What about the part of the Mass where we respond to “Lift up your hearts” with “We lift them up to the Lord” during the Liturgy of the Eucharist?

There is plenty of ignorance about the Mass out there due to mixed messages or things just not being taught well enough or often enough in the homes and churches. Holding hands during the Our Father was a normal part of Mass in my experience until very recently, and it still would be if I did not go to sites like this.

You know, I doubt if anything is truly “incorrect”. I do think a lot of these gestures from the congregation did rise out of the charismatic movements in the 70’s. All of these are acceptable, or our priest would actually make a point of telling us it is wrong.

It IS wrong for people to sing along with the priest’s part, (luckily, only once in a while, some flakey person will do that), and be severely glared at by others!

 

[Elizium23]

The Church prescribes nothing about what the laity does with our hands. The reason that it tends to bother people is that it imitates the priest in an unnecessary way, and/or it mandates a behavior that not everyone wants to do (holding hands). Also, holding hands has a sign value of fellowship that’s supposed to be shown in the Sign of Peace instead.

If people want to wave their hands around, fold them in front of them, put them in their pockets, or pick their noses, there’s really nothing from the Church telling them they can’t do that.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

The Church prescribes nothing about what the laity does with our hands. The reason that it tends to bother people is that it imitates the priest in an unnecessary way, and/or it mandates a behavior that not everyone wants to do (holding hands). Also, holding hands has a sign value of fellowship that’s supposed to be shown in the Sign of Peace instead.

If people want to wave their hands around, fold them in front of them, put them in their pockets, or pick their noses, there’s really nothing from the Church telling them they can’t do that.

You are so right.

 

[Roman_Catechism]

I’ve always tried to hold my hands together kind of like this: and ignore those to my left and right who look like they want to hold hands. That did always seem unnatural to me anyway.

So I guess from now on I should press my hands together like ? Would that be the most licit, natural, and proper thing to do?

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I’ve always tried to hold my hands together kind of like this: and ignore those to my left and right who look like they want to hold hands. That did always seem unnatural to me anyway.

So I guess from now on I should press my hands together like ?

Just don’t open your arms like this:shrug:
Really, you can do whatever

 

[Little_One0307]

The Church prescribes nothing about what the laity does with our hands. The reason that it tends to bother people is that it imitates the priest in an unnecessary way, and/or it mandates a behavior that not everyone wants to do (holding hands). Also, holding hands has a sign value of fellowship that’s supposed to be shown in the Sign of Peace instead.

If people want to wave their hands around, fold them in front of them, put them in their pockets, or pick their noses, there’s really nothing from the Church telling them they can’t do that.

Man they SURE the heck are NOT holding my hands after picking their noses. Disgusting.

 

[A_New_Augustine]

At the risk of making my first forum post my most unpopular , I have to say I’ve read through all of the responses to this thread and found many to be surprising. I am a newly converted Catholic myself (a Neophyte if you prefer) and, of course, I haven’t read every piece of information on this subject; but I find the references to Psalm 63:5 (NAB) and 1 Timothy 2:8 to be noteworthy. And I hold my hands up during the Lord’s Prayer in Mass.

As others have mentioned, I do not remember ever doing this in my Methodist church as a youth. However, it seems to be a fairly strong tradition in the parishes I’ve been to, whatever its origin, and one that I personally find appealing. After all, is not the “Our Father” a series of petitions by all of the faithful? And to paraphrase Peter Kreeft (Catholic Christianity): ‘One cannot receive a gift with closed hands.’ To learn more about this, I have read dozens of pages in the CCC, Matthew 6: 5-8 in the NAB and The How-To Book of the Mass and haven’t found any reference to what is right or wrong with regards to ones hands during prayer or praying the OF. (fyi)

As for the holding of hands, this appears to differ from priest-to-priest and parish-to-parish. In my own Church, everyone who is comfortable with it holds hands and those who aren’t hold their own hands up alone or hold them palms together. Visiting a parish in Florida, my wife and I were surprised to find the entire congregation stretching across the walkways between pews to all hold hands during the prayer; but we weren’t offended by it - quite the opposite really. Maybe I’m just a ‘newbie’ but just knowing that someone would like to hold my hand during a prayer is more of a real sense of the ‘one body of Christ’ than just saying those words alone.

A final thought - to the mention that holding hands is a ‘sign of fellowship’ that should be reserved for the Sign of Peace, I wonder how people would react if the Church went back to the original tradition of exchanging an actual kiss during that part of the Mass (St. Justin Martyr’s letter to Antonius Pius, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, Romans 16:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:26). Considering all I’ve read, that would be quite a shock to many!

John 6:44-71

 

[RosalieM]

So where is everyone who folds their hands during mass, especially at the Our Father?
I have my hands clasped most of the time and then during the Our Father, the palms together, right thumb over left thumb for both clasping and raised fingers, pressed palms. I’m glad the raising of the arms is fading away along with the orans by anyone other than the priest.
I do wish people would feel comfortable folding and clasping their hands in prayer. I see arms folded, hands clasped behind backs, grasping of pews, but very few hands folded in prayer.

 

[asia53]

This fad of raising the hands or holding hands developed in the 90’s and is thankfully dying out. Our prayer posture as Catholics has always been with palms touching and fingers extended pointing toward heaven. Mimicking the priests posture is not to be done, per our pontiff.

Exactly what Father M, our priest, told us—“Palms together, fingers pointing to heaven.”