The "Our Father" What DO I do with my hands?

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rcn:
The theology of the Our Father and of the Mass itself are contained in the GIRM. Anything you do of your own initiative, within reason, is your own business. I would not presume to say whether hand-holding is “appropriate” or “pleasing”. I do know that it’s not in the GIRM, so therefore it is not required. Some would say that therefore it’s forbidden, but this is not as certain.
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You’re wrong.

We are not allowed to add to the Mass.
 
Nota Bene:
You’re wrong.

We are not allowed to add to the Mass.
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You sure are quick with an answer, aren’t you.

I am not wrong.

That said… I am not a hand-holder. It makes me uncomfortable. Like you, I used to be quick to snipe that “we aren’t allowed”. But I always make the sign of the cross after receiving communion, and that’s not in the GIRM either. And I plan to continue to do so.

Here’s a thread you may remember. It has a statement on the hand-holding issue from Abp. Chaput (Denver). I notice you didn’t respond to it then, perhaps you’d like to try now?

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=222629
Article by Archbishop Chaput on the liturgy series .

The celebrant invites us to pray the words of Jesus in the “Our Father.” This is the prayer Jesus Himself taught us, and because of that, it’s the model prayer for the Church. How should we pray it?

A lot has been said in popular writing about our gestures at this point of the Mass. Do we fold our hands, or hold them outstretched, or hold hands with those around us? Some people have surprisingly strong feelings about this issue. Our answer to this question needs to come from the Church’s understanding of this moment in the Mass.

The priest stands with his arms outstretched as the prayer begins. The assembly should also stand. There are no options for gestures listed in the General Instruction for this part of the Mass. For many persons, folding their hands during the “Our Father” is the best way to express their prayer. For others, they may hold their hands outstretched. Still others hold hands.

None of these gestures is mandated or forbidden by the Church.** So our guiding principles should be respect for the dignity of the Mass, and respect for the freedom of our fellow worshipers. **

Some people feel that holding hands during the “Our Father” enhances a sense of community. This is perfectly appropriate — so long as it can be done with dignity and without the unseemly acrobatics that sometimes ensue.

For other people, holding hands is a kind of intimacy they reserve for family members. It makes them uncomfortable to hold hands during Mass, and they prefer not to do it. This is also perfectly appropriate. A parish may have several ways of praying the “Our Father,” depending on the people who take part in a specific Mass. No one should feel coerced, and the beauty of the liturgy should always be observed.

We have seen before that the Mass is rich with symbols and signs. The beauty and centrality of the Eucharist, which our Lord entrusted to the Church for all times and all peoples, should always be evident in every celebration of the Mass. **Thus, those involved in liturgical education should take special care not to allow their private preferences to influence their work. **
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Nota Bene:
You’re wrong.

We are not allowed to add to the Mass.
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I agree with rcn–your’e pretty quick with the YOU’RE WRONG, when it is actually you who are wrong (although I would have never been that agressive)

From the USCCB
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No position is prescribed in the present Sacramentary for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer.

I know some of you do not like the fact that the Pope has given some authority to the USCCB, and their interpretation—you pridefully prefer your own interpretation, or that of some ultra conservative writer. Maybe not even a Priest, but hey—you like what he says, so he has the final word.

No position is prescribed, but you decide that it must be hands folded, or eyes lowered or whatever you decide, rather than what is suggested by your Bishop or Priest.

Perfect.*
 
Island Oak:
Our family with 3 young children holds hands and I relish the practice. What better more appropriate time to feel our communion with each other and God? However, I have no interest in holding hands with the stranger next to me–finding it particularly awkward to be holding hands with a man other than my husband in the middle of mass. Yes, we are a community–but physical contact is hardly a requisite part of that type of relationship.
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You have articulated why holding of hands should not be done. The sign of communion is the Holy Euchrist. The Church has very carefully thought out each action in the Mass. Each action has meaning. We shouldn’t be injecting our out style of worship.
 
I fold my hands and close my eyes

For some reason way back, I remember actually kneeling during the Lord’s Prayer but that practice seems to be long gone.

In my opinion, since at the point in Mass where we say the Our Father, the consecration has already occurred and we are now in the presence of Our Lord, I feel that until we get up to recieve Him, we should be on our knees.

But when in Rome…
 
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OhioBob:
Yup, our bishop (Columbus, OH) implemented the orans as part of his implementation of Redemtionis Sacramentum (don’t ask me where he got that instruction from RS though…). Sooooooooooo, even though I hate it, I do it out of obedience to our bishop and our priest (who asked that we do it).

I close my eyes so I don’t have to look at myself, and I try to make the most minimal orans I can so that I don’t feel too silly.
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Refresh my memory–What is Redemtionis Sacramentum? Does it state that we should hold our palms-up while praying the Our Father? Could you provide a link?
 
Let your prayer to Our Father answer that Question.

Wither your hands are folded together, open to the side, raised high in the air or holding someones hand, the prayer is to Our Father.

My preference is to hold hands with my wife and kids and the person next to me during the Our Father as a sign that we are Family that prays together, with Love as one.

I feel the unity with the community, the praise of the Lords prayer to our Heavenly Father. The Joy & Peace that fills my soul during the prayer is more that words can describe. Awe-inspiring!
 
I repeat
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Mysty101:
to Nota Bene–I agree with rcn–your’e pretty quick with the YOU’RE WRONG, when it is actually you who are wrong (although I would have never been that agressive)

From the USCCB
*
No position is prescribed in the present Sacramentary for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer.
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I know some of you do not like the fact that the Pope has given some authority to the USCCB, and their interpretation—you pridefully prefer your own interpretation, or that of some ultra conservative writer. Maybe not even a Priest, but hey—you like what he says, so he has the final word.

No position is prescribed, but you decide that it must be hands folded, or eyes lowered or whatever you decide, rather than what is suggested by your Bishop or Priest.

Perfect.
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tmitchell2:
Refresh my memory–What is Redemtionis Sacramentum? Does it state that we should hold our palms-up while praying the Our Father? Could you provide a link?
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Most of the Liturgical documents are found here
usccb.org/liturgy/

The path is USCCB, click departments, click liturgy

Click documents for RS

There is nothing about the posture for the Lord’s Prayer.

From the GIRM
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The Lord’s Prayer
  1. In the Lord’s Prayer a petition is made for daily food, which for Christians means preeminently the eucharistic bread, and also for purification from sin, so that what is holy may, in fact, be given to those who are holy. The priest says the invitation to the prayer, and all the faithful say it with him; the priest alone adds the embolism, which the people conclude with a doxology. The embolism, enlarging upon the last petition of the Lord’s Prayer itself, begs deliverance from the power of evil for the entire community of the faithful.
The invitation, the Prayer itself, the embolism, and the doxology by which the people conclude these things are sung or said aloud.

Nothing about posture at this particular time. Don’t you think that if it were important, something would be said?
Girm
*
Movements and Posture
  1. The gestures and posture of the priest, the deacon, and the ministers, as well as those of the people, ought to contribute to making the entire celebration resplendent with beauty and noble simplicity, so that the true and full meaning of the different parts of the celebration is evident and that the participation of all is fostered.52 Therefore, attention should be paid to what is determined by this General Instruction and the traditional practice of the Roman Rite and to what serves the common spiritual good of the People of God, rather than private inclination or arbitrary choice.
A common posture, to be observed by all participants, is a sign of the unity of the members of the Christian community gathered for the Sacred Liturgy: it both expresses and fosters the intention and spiritual attitude of the participants.

43…With a view to a uniformity in gestures and postures during one and the same celebration, the faithful should follow the directions which the deacon, lay minister, or priest gives according to whatever is indicated in the Missal.
*
 
I guess the person who gets both hands blown off in war is disregarding the “common posture” and thumbing their nose at the bishop.

I guess someone who is paralyzed from the neck down and is unable to reach out with their hands is disregarding the “common posture” and thumbing their nose at the bishop.

Interesting dynamic at work on this board…

Grungy attire at Mass: Irrelevant! It’s what’s in your heart that matters!

Hand holding during the Our Father: A MUST! It doesn’t matter what’s in your heart. An external sign is the priority here.

:hmmm: I’ll have to ponder this conundrum further.
 
Thank you for posting the Archbishop Chaput commentary, very helpful, and I couldn’t agree more. I hope future revisions of the GIRM don’t become a set of stage directions where the individual worshipper is expected to know and follow “the custom of the parish,” and that there will be an expectation that all kinds of new directives are added and “in obedience” received. The bow before communion was a major change that already feels stagey and is not being integrated very well, and the last thing we need IMHO is more minute instructions for what to do with every appendage during prayer.
 
Dr. Bombay:
I guess the person who gets both hands blown off in war is disregarding the “common posture” and thumbing their nose at the bishop.

I guess someone who is paralyzed from the neck down and is unable to reach out with their hands is disregarding the “common posture” and thumbing their nose at the bishop.

Interesting dynamic at work on this board…

Grungy attire at Mass: Irrelevant! It’s what’s in your heart that matters!

Hand holding during the Our Father: A MUST! It doesn’t matter what’s in your heart. An external sign is the priority here.

:hmmm: I’ll have to ponder this conundrum further.
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cheater! no logic allowed!
 
I agree. It seems that there is a slight slackening of the “raised hands” position in our diocese in the last year. I have just read several articles by doctors and on medical web sites about “the spread of flu and cold viruses and bacteria” through the hands. The prevalence of “shaking hands” during Mass is certainly a contributing factor to the possible pandemic of flu in this country. Specifically, those who shake hands and then receive Holy Communion in their hands are definitely at risk of passing the disease to themselves. (Jesus in the Eucharist will never cause illness, but unwashed hands touching the mouth certainly can).
 
So do people here think that it really matters how you hold your hands?
I keep my folded but hey, we’re all in the same place saying the same prayer to the same God.

It not like anyone is advocating lighting up or putting their feet up during prayer or changing the words

Hopefully we have other things on our minds than what the guy in the next pew is doing.

This seems like a forest for the trees issue
 
Steve Andersen:
Hopefully we have other things on our minds than what the guy in the next pew is doing.
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But let’s be honest - yes, we do notice what others are doing. And this influences our thoughts, whether it “should” or not.

I do not hold hands. I did not grow up with the practice, and the Church hasn’t said that I have to. So I don’t. But, it has been common in my area for at least 20 years - an entire generation of Catholics have grown up with it. And so far, the Church hasn’t told them *not *to do it. What do they think when I don’t join the human chain? Probably something that I wish they wouldn’t. I realize that but I can’t control it. And I’m not going to rant that they should not - as I said earlier I used to do this but I was wrong to do so.

There are many other individual practices that get people riled up. I don’t need to make a list - just look at the threads in this forum and you’ll see them. Almost without exception, they are petty arguments about individual behaviors that the Church has not mandated one way or the other. So it is entirely pointless to argue about whether it is better “to do” or “not to do” these things.

I have read that Americans seem to desire “uniformity” much more than Europeans do. Therefore, church law is never going to fully legislate our postures at Mass. “Sit,” “stand” and “kneel” is about all we will ever see. Nothing about hand postures, dress codes, etc. As much as we might like to see more hard-and-fast “rules”, this is just not the Church’s way.
 
I agree with Tantum ergo (below) and I add to that.
Tantum ergo:
The orans posture itself is certainly not bad, it’s a prayerful gesture that goes back many centuries. . .but OTOH, just because a gesture is OLD, or even HOLY, doesn’t mean that it belongs IN THE MASS.
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And also, such a posture is not necessarily correct for the laity.
 
What I do is:

I put my missalette down on my pew as I begin to stand.

I close my eyes and hold my own hands.

Then, after the word, “Amen.”, I open my eyes, and put my hands at my sides.

Then, at the Sign of Peace, I shake hands with those around me.
 
i just start coughing and wiping my nose on my hands, pick my nose a little. that usually discourages them.
 
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Fortiterinre:
I have found that firmly closing my eyes and praying the Our Father as deeply as I can is a good antidote to anything that would distract me, e.g. hand-holders, broad orans gestures, etc. I keep my hands folded together, and no one has yet pried them apart while my eyes were closed!
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Yes, that is what I do. I bow my head, close my eyes and fold my hands in prayer! There is no confusion with the people next to you when you are already in that position when people look at you before they reach for your hand.
 
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