Posted on 05/15/2014 8:58:50 PM PDT by Salvation
I sneeze whenever people start this prayer.
Hands in the prayer position and I bow my head. Going up to Holy Communion my hands are in the prayer position. I receive the host on the tongue and immediately make the sign of the cross. Receiving the precious blood the steps are repeated.
LOL!
Likewise, although I will sometimes grasp the end of a pew for balance.
You are very welcome. The kicker is when the preacher found out he promptly kicked out the man, who was a deacon by the way, but kept and counseled the Sunday school teacher and her husband.
I asked why did you not kick her out also, he said women are the weaker vessel. I told him that he had not met my mother or ex-wives, obviously.
Yes, I have been to Masses throughout my life. My Dad was Catholic.
“Never liked holding hands with drunks and druggies, you never know where they have been. If the last remark is unChristian I plead guilty”.
If you read the entire title thread you will see that holding hands indeed started in AA meetings, then moved on charismatic churches. No Catholic should hold hands during the Our Father. It’s something that was picked up from evangelical churches. I never hold anyone’s hands during the Our Father and have had the person beside me give me a dirty look and not shake my hand when greetings are extended.
Are you a baptized Catholic then?
I am a convert, and as I was beginning to explore the Church I was surprised and annoyed by the hand holding. It just seemed so casual and modern to me, and I had been hoping to connect with the “old” Church of the Church Fathers in a more concrete way. It seemed my old Episcopalian church had more formality to it and that made me sad.
There is also a sense of collectivism to it that bothers me to no end, as if we all sink or swim to Heaven together as in Obama’s “collective salvation” claptrap. I suppose it is meant to express our unity as the body of Christ but it just never came across that way to me.
The last thing about both postures, the orans and the hand holding, is that it has a sort of show-offy evangelical “look how caught up in the spirit I am” feel to it. I prefer my relationship to the Lord to be very private, not that I don’t express my gratitude or give Him praise, but that I know it’s what is in my heart that matters to Him. But then again maybe that’s the Episcopalian thing in me still, they’re not exactly known for emotionalism, LOL.
Anyway I usually sit in a wide open pew and only hold hands with my children since that at least feels reasonably normal and sincere to me. I would like to teach them not to do it but it is taught at our parish school where they attend, what to do!!
I will never participate in a Roman mass myself, but I can sympathize with your desire for reverence. However, when do all the rules become “commandments of men.” As I read this piece all I could think of was the first portion of Matthew 15 regarding traditions and commandments of men.
1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”a 6he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the wordb of God. 7You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
No, I’m a baptized Pentecostal.
**I prefer my relationship to the Lord to be very private, not that I don’t express my gratitude or give Him praise, but that I know it’s what is in my heart that matters to Him. But then again maybe that’s the Episcopalian thing in me still, they’re not exactly known for emotionalism, LOL**
I’m the same way. I judge that this prayer is between me and “Our Father in Heaven”. I understand the unity thing, but I also feel a part of the whole congregation even when I don’t hold hands.
Another thing I don’t like is always singing the Our Father. I usually just say it quietly to myself. It’s really not to be sung at every Mass.
I’m surprised that with a Catholic father you were not baptized as an infant.
To those of us who agree, the intricate arguments are highly meaningful.
However, it would be helpful to place information in a position in the article, in a position that attracts greater attention, information about what the laity ARE supposed to do.
(I think I already know: hands folded upward, like a traditional altar boy.)
I’m not able to detect the word “folded” in the article.
God does not care about comportment. The lifting of hands to praise God is what the first Christians did when the Holy Spirit came upon them: “Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” (1 Timothy 2:8)
God cares about what’s in the heart.
Welcome Home!
That said, I highly recommend the Traditional (Extraordinary Form) of mass. It seems that you would be at peace there since the casual and modern practices found in the novus ordo are not to found/suffered through.
“I never hold anyone’s hands during the Our Father and have had the person beside me give me a dirty look and not shake my hand when greetings are extended.”
Shaking hands is another protestant accretion I find irritating.
I’m trying to focus on my relationship with the Holy Trinity, and sometimes contemplating the saints, but they have to jerk me up and make me shake hands with all sorts of people I don’t know.
Same, and that's what I teach my kids to do. I frankly despise the spectacle of the "hand raising" -- as if it's some sort of cheesy televangelist program.
^^THIS!!^^
Blech!
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