Are we supposed to hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer and why do Catholics “leave off” the ending?

The first part of the question brings back a memory of mine from the age of five. It was the 50th wedding anniversary of my grandparents on the Reisenauer side. During the Our Father within the anniversary Mass I noticed some folks holding hands. This perplexed me. I had never seen this happen attending my home parish at Sts. Peter and Paul in New Hradec a few miles north of Dickinson. Our family would sit way up front on the left side of the church. Of course, being up front we were not allowed to turn around at all the funny looking faces behind us. Or rather, I should say that Dad and Mom didn’t want us making funny looking faces at them.

Nevertheless, as a five-year-old I could turn around enough times to notice that everyone was either folding their hands during the Lord’s Prayer, holding a missalette, or resting their hands on the pew. Thus, when I attended the parish of my grandparents I immediately noticed the difference.

As I left home and traveled many places, I’ve noticed that there are a number of folks at parishes throughout the U.S. and around the world who hold hands during this prayer. I’ve seen other postures too, one of which when I was in Vietnam a couple of years ago. I saw the whole community pray the Our Father with arms crossed. For the Vietnamese crossing one’s arms is traditionally a sign of respect to someone greater.

Now to answer the question, are we supposed to hold hands during the Our Father? Presently the Church universally and locally has not prescribed what people are supposed to do with their hands during the Lord’s Prayer. I guess in the future the bishops could give some guidelines, but presently have not done so. There are a lot of bigger fish to fry, as the saying goes.
Regarding the priests, however, there are some guidelines. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal and the rubrics within the Roman Missal (the book which the priest uses at Mass) prescribe the priest to extend his hands as we most commonly see in our diocese. Thus, the priest is not to hold hands with anyone else. There is no mention of what the people are supposed to do in these same rubrics.  

Since there is nothing prescribed for the people, I would like to give a couple of thoughts on the matter. As a sign of unity in prayer a nuclear family could hold hands, nevertheless, I wouldn’t recommend holding hands beyond one’s family. I’ve been to churches where, when the Our Father began, some random person grabbed my hand and wanted to hold it. For us introverts this gets pretty close to creepy, especially if the person’s hand is sweaty on top of it, and you have to hold hands for the next minute. I know many of you can relate as some of you are probably smiling right now.

Father Edward McNamara gives more advice on the topic in his article titled A Zenit Daily Dispatch: Holding Hands at the Our Father? dated Nov. 18, 2003. You could google it.
Now to the second part of the question, why do Catholics “leave off” the ending?

The line we are talking about here is “For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever” or another form of the same words. The oldest manuscripts of Matthew’s gospel do not include this line in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. But shortly thereafter, as seen in the Didache written about the year 100, the early Christians attached these words to make it clear that the kingdom, the power, the glory were God’s, not the Roman Emperor nor any king or governor.

Over time, two Catholic traditions developed. The Roman Rite, which most of us are part of, did not include these words keeping only what Jesus taught. Others such as the Chaldean Rite and other eastern Catholic Rites added them to make it clear who our true Lord is. Some Protestants have also decided to include these words.

In conclusion, both ways of praying the Our Father, with or without the last line, are Catholic as is confirmed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2855.

Fr. Evinger is parochial vicar at St. Joseph in Williston. If you have a question you were afraid to ask, now is the time to ask it! Simply email your question to [email protected] with the “Question Afraid to Ask” in the subject line.