Holding Hands during the Our Father

Donna P · #1 May 8, '12, 6:55 am

Does this bother anyone else? I mostly just let it go but when a Priest tells the congregation to hold hands during the Our Father it really just peeves me. This happened at a funeral at another church. Not only did the Priest tell everyone to hold hands, he finished the Our Father with ..and thine is the kingdom and the ...etc.

YoungCatholic86 · #2 May 8, '12, 7:05 am

I think it gives a false sense of unity so yes it bothers me. The Eucharist is what unites us into the one body of Christ, not holding hands. Though I REALLY like my priest and enjoy how my parish runs in terms of it being fairly traditional, all still hold hands and finish with that add-on.

roadsend · #3 May 8, '12, 8:01 am

It is not in the rubrics and the Church has disapproved of it.
That is good enough for me If a padre directs this, he is out of line and I will ignore him.

TheRealJuliane · #4 May 8, '12, 8:07 am

It is the norm in so many parishes. I never knew we weren't supposed to do it. I NEVER do it in the weekday Masses and no one else does either. But we do say "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever" just like good Protestants...

Sometimes I just say "Amen" quietly where it belongs and I don't say the rest.

CB Catholic · #5 May 8, '12, 7:00 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealJuliane

It is the norm in so many parishes. I never knew we weren't supposed to do it. I NEVER do it in the weekday Masses and no one else does either. But we do say "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever" just like good Protestants...

Sometimes I just say "Amen" quietly where it belongs and I don't say the rest.

The doxology is not Protestant. It is very Catholic. We were the first to use it, and now we are taking it back.

It is a very nice doxology and gives glory to God.

It is found in the Didache. You don't have to like saying it, but don't call it Protestant.

Stylites · #6 May 8, '12, 7:41 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealJuliane

It is the norm in so many parishes. I never knew we weren't supposed to do it. I NEVER do it in the weekday Masses and no one else does either. But we do say "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever" just like good Protestants...

Sometimes I just say "Amen" quietly where it belongs and I don't say the rest.

Actually, the Final Doxology well predates Protestantism. They use it even though it isn't in the Bible. Where did they get it from? From the Mass. We ought not cut off our nose to spite our face.

TrueLight · #7 May 8, '12, 8:01 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stylites

Actually, the Final Doxology well predates Protestantism. They use it even though it isn't in the Bible. Where did they get it from? From the Mass. We ought not cut off our nose to spite our face.

It's actually in the King James and other Protestant Bibles I've seen. It is my understanding that some manuscripts have it and some don't.

Stylites · #8 May 8, '12, 8:36 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrueLight

It's actually in the King James and other Protestant Bibles I've seen. It is my understanding that some manuscripts have it and some don't.

Yet the source of the words is the Missal, not from earlier copies of the scriptures. Picking and choosing which parts of the Catholic liturgy are "worthy" of our observance seems imprudent.

Oneofthewomen · #9 May 8, '12, 8:10 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadsend

It is not in the rubrics and the Church has disapproved of it.
That is good enough for me If a padre directs this, he is out of line and I will ignore him.

I know it is not in the rubrics, but I have never heard the the Church has "disapproved" of the practice.
Would you kindly site your source, please?

victorbuhagiar · #10 May 8, '12, 8:16 am

Even in far away Malta, Europe, I've seen people holding hands during the Our Father, but very few. Personally I don't like it much. Never do it. But then it is no big deal, is it?

God bless.

Victor

Stylites · #11 May 8, '12, 7:34 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by victorbuhagiar

Even in far away Malta, Europe, I've seen people holding hands during the Our Father, but very few. Personally I don't like it much. Never do it. But then it is no big deal, is it?

God bless.

Victor

Really not, Victor.

Irishgal49 · #12 May 9, '12, 6:05 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by victorbuhagiar

Even in far away Malta, Europe, I've seen people holding hands during the Our Father, but very few. Personally I don't like it much. Never do it. But then it is no big deal, is it?

God bless.

Victor

I agree that in the big scheme of things it's not a big deal but someone could be led to believe that it's required and that would be incorrect. I use my Magnificat Magazine. I just hold it firmly in both hands and close my eyes. That way no one tries to hold hands. I don't like it and find it distracting. Especially when some insist on raising their hands at the end. I am not a hand raiser and feel this is forced on me.

What bothers me more than that is when the Lord's prayer is concluded the priest continues with a prayer about the peace of the Lord---most people ignore this and think the prayer is complete, drop hands, and ignore the rest of that prayer that is so beautiful and powerful to me:

"Lord Jesus Christ you said to your Apostles: peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign forever and ever. Amen."

Most people totally ignore that THIS is also a prayer so I remind myself to stop worrying about others, keep my eyes closed, and pray that prayer in its entirety. If the "hand holders" were paying attention, they would hold hands until this portion is complete as well. I see it is listed as a seperate prayer but I just clutch my book and people will not try to hold hands with me and I try to focus on the prayer and not on what others are doing. We have hand raisers too who like to raise their hands at the end of the Lord's Prayer as some sort of expression or gesture that I don't undersatnd so the important thing to me is to keep my eyes closed and really pray and not worry about everyone else.

Lorrie

SonCatcher · #13 May 8, '12, 8:22 am

Is there currently a moratorium on discussing the topic of holding hands? (if not, let's make sure this thread doesn't cause a new one)

Regarding the Lord's Prayer doxology ("for Thine is the kingdom etc."), we do say that at every Mass. Usually it is separated from the prayer itself by another brief prayer said by the priest. This is to emphasize that the doxology is not part of the prayer, itself. Someone will have to dig into the rubrics to determine whether the intermediate prayer is required when reciting the doxology. For my part, I can't imagine a reason why this would be.

**Joe 5859** · #14 May 8, '12, 8:27 am

"For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever" is in the Missal. Why wouldn't it be said?

There used to be a moratorium on hand-holding-during-the-Our-Father threads. Has that been lifted?

SonCatcher · #15 May 8, '12, 8:43 am

Here is a blog post regarding the doxology. The author (a Catholic) suggests that the doxology should be recited even if the embolism is not. By extension, he seems to mean we should recite the doxology with the Lord's prayer when saying the rosary and other times we recite it outside of Mass.

Is there a liturgical doctor in the house?