Saturday, August 25, 2018

Bulletin article for this week and next


Beloved in Christ,

A very interesting question keeps coming up. During the course of RCIA earlier this year, someone asked about the proper way to hold hands during the Our Father at Mass. It led to a very lively discussion. Then at WOW’s “Ask Padre” someone also asked about holding hands during the Our Father. More recently, at a question-and-answer session with the Knights of Columbus, one of those gentlemen also asked about it. This past week, at the men’s Welcome (formerly Christ Renews His Parish) meeting, it was also asked. So, there is evidently a desire for clarification among the faithful. Below I will attempt to give as comprehensive an answer as possible. I will lay out my understanding of the meaning of the liturgical posture during the Our Father at Mass and allow adults to make their own informed decision about their posture and the posture of their children during Mass.

If we were in a classroom setting, I would ask the question: “In what ways do we show our unity at Mass?” and write all the answers on the board. People might answer with things like: our common posture such as sitting and standing and kneeling. Others might answer: responding together, singing together, maybe the sign of peace. Some might even mention the most awesome and ultimate way we show our unity: And it’s not holding hands at the Our Father, it’s receiving Holy Communion.

What do we do with our hands in prayer? Obviously, some people hold hands. Everyone is familiar with the very ancient and common: palms together with fingers pointing to the sky. Another ancient posture is the orans position, which means hands out to the side with palms up. This orans position is perfectly legitimate for personal prayer, but at liturgy, it usually indicates a position of leadership, presiding or gathering the prayers of others.

At the Our Father, the priest gives the introduction of it with his hands closed and then he opens his hands in the orans position as he says the words: “Our Father…” This is one of those times the priest is collecting the prayers of all the faithful into one as the words of Christ are presented to the Father in Heaven.

So we might ask: What are the people to do? We already covered the priest: he has to hold his hands out in the orans position because he is collecting the prayers of all in his role of leadership. We can explore this question more deeply by noticing what the deacon is doing. We notice that at the Lord’s Prayer, the deacon will have his hands closed in prayer the whole time. He is not permitted to open his hands in the orans position during the Lord’s Prayer, because it is the priest who is “collecting” them to the Father. So, we might ask: If a deacon, who is an ordained minister, serving at the altar during Mass, in an official capacity, prays the Lord’s Prayer with his hands closed, why would the lay faithful open their hands like the priest does? It would be more appropriate for the faithful to imitate the deacon, rather than the priest.

On a side note, a parishioner at a previous parish, who grew up in the New England area, said that as a child her class was instructed never to open their hands like the priest at Mass because that might seem like they were mocking him.

What about the other question: Should the faithful be holding hands during the Our Father? Catch the exciting conclusion of this column in next week’s Pearl of York bulletin.

Thanks for your prayers. Be assured of my daily prayers for you.

In Christ,
Fr. Bedel


Beloved in Christ,

Let’s pick up where we left off last week. Should the faithful be holding hands during the Our Father? I would answer with another question: Why just during the Our Father? Why did we not hold hands during the opening hymn, the Collect, during the readings, during the Gospel, during the Eucharistic Prayer? So, my answer would be, it would only make sense liturgically if we were holding hands during the whole Mass. And I think we would all agree that would be strange.

As I mentioned previously, we do many things at Mass that show our unity, and our ultimate sign of unity is the act of receiving Holy Communion, hence the name “Communion.” It is a unity that is made real by the power of Christ, not human beings. Since we have a real and intimate communion with him that he establishes by his divine power, we are, by association, united to each other in real communion. Holding hands at the Our Father, or any other time, may look like a sign of unity, but it is made by human power, not God’s.

Some people have wondered how holding hands came into the liturgy over the past few decades. I heard one person guess that people were imitating the priest in the orans position and then they started to bump their hands into each other and then they just decided to grab each other’s hands. My theory is that some families hold hands during grace before meals and they have tried to introduce it into the sacred liturgy.

And then, after the Our Father, why do some people raise their hands really high when we say: “For the Kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for ever.”? I have no idea where that comes from, but we can learn something from concelebrating priests. That’s when there is more than one priest offering Mass at the same time. All priests celebrating or concelebrating Mass are acting in the Person of Christ and are therefore collecting the prayers of the people to the Father as we say the words of Christ himself, in his prayer, so all priests pray in the orans position. After we say: “Deliver us from evil,” the concelebrating priests have to close their hands. Only the one main celebrant can keep his hands open showing his role of leadership in the Church’s prayer. Mass continues with: “Deliver us Lord, we pray…” These prayers were devised by the Church, not directly by God, as is the case with the Our Father. Therefore, the main celebrant assumes his role of leadership by maintaining hands in the orans position while all concelebrating priests close their hands.

Several years ago, Bishop Foys across the river had all his parishes in the Diocese of Covington do catechesis on why is would not be proper to hold hands during the Our Father at Mass. He actually asked the faithful of his diocese not to do it. As I said above, I’m not making a rule today, but will allow adults of the parish to make an informed decision for themselves and their children. I am trying to unpack what is proper and improper at Holy Mass and why we are doing what we are doing. The most I am considering is asking the altar servers to follow the example of the deacon because they are assisting at the liturgy in an official capacity.

I have always wondered: how prayerful can it be to hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer? Am I thinking about the words of the prayer or am I distracted by the other person’s hand, which may be sweaty, cold, hot, etc.? When I was teaching high school, I would see students use it as an opportunity to mess with each other. I remember two seniors rubbing each other’s fingers trying to get the other one to giggle.

It really comes down to this: How can I, or how can our family, celebrate these mysteries with greater devotion? How can we understand more and more why we do what we do as a Church? How is the Lord drawing me into His presence?

Thanks for your prayers. Be assured of my daily prayers for you.

In Christ,
Fr. Bedel


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