In this clip, Chris Check talks with apologist Tom Nash about the proper posture during the Lord’s Prayer in Catholic Mass. Tom clarifies that while some congregations hold hands, the Roman Missal does not prescribe a specific gesture, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Church’s guidelines as outlined in the document “Ecclesiae de Mysterio”.
Transcript:
Chris: Are we supposed to raise our hands or hold hands during the Our Father at Mass?
Tom: Well, a number of people do the so-called Orans position.
That’s where I’m holding my hands. My palms are facing outwards.
And we need to distinguish, I would say, between private prayer and the liturgy. Now it makes clear in the instruction, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which guides the celebration of the Mass along with the Roman Missal itself, the order of the Mass. It says after the Eucharistic prayer is concluded, the priest with hands joined says the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer with hands extended. He then says this prayer with the people. So the priest is directed to do that.
Now on the US Bishop’s website, they say some people hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer while others hold their hands out like the priest. Is there a prescribed posture for the Our Father? And it says no. No position is prescribed in the Roman Missal for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer.
Chris: So the answer is no.
Tom: I would say no. Now some people say there’s no position. Oh, so we have latitude. But this is an important document which I think is too well known.
Chris: All right, say again the name of the document you’re referring to.
Tom: Ecclesiae de Mysterio.
Chris: And who’s the author of this?
Tom: It is an interdicasterial document from 1997 from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the dicastery, Congregation of Bishops, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. There was like eight or nine of them.
Chris: So this is a document from the Holy See. It’s not from the United States.
Tom: Precisely.
Chris: And that was therefore a prescription for the universal Roman Rite.
Tom: Precisely. And therefore having more weight. And so for someone who might say, oh, no position is prescribed. Well, certain things are excluded. When we see in fact that it says neither may deacons. This is in Article 6, Section 2, it says neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant. So that would mean not supposed to do that. That’s very clear.
People say, well, what’s the big deal? It’s like, well, our Lord has founded his church on the apostles. He has given them authority, you know, as I have, as the Father sent me, so I send you. He says in John 20, in giving them the power to forgive sins. But we know how has the Father sent him. All authority has been given on earth to me. Matthew 28:18. Therefore go make disciples of all the nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
So they have divinely ordained authority to regulate, to adjudicate, to bind and loose, as we see in Matthew 16 and also Matthew 18. Priests do, priests do, and specifically bishops. And here we have from the Holy See, which comes of course from the successor of St. Peter who rules over the college of bishops in terms of primacy of authority, that it’s clear that you are not supposed to do that. So I would tell people not to do the Orans position.
Chris: And now the hand holding has become very common in the last several decades. Some people might say, well, it’s become a custom or it’s becoming a custom and according to canon law, it’s no big deal or it becomes legislation after a while. And I would say, well, we are not to be introducing things on our own. I think that’s become.
Tom: I would say there’s bigger things to worry about. If people see this, observe this, I would say follow the directive of your bishop. But I would just say, hey, you know what, we’re going to be holding hands briefly in the exchange of peace. So why not pray together normally and without holding hands? I would suggest that given that it’s not directed otherwise in the normal hands. The normal way of praying is hands together for the laity.
Chris: All right, I’m going to summarize and then you tell me if I’ve got this right. First of all, I want you to go back and read slowly the particular passage that you shared where it says that.
Tom: Those who are not the priest, including deacons, are not to make. I’m forgetting now what the particular noun is, but go ahead.
Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful, of course laity, use gestures.
Chris: Gestures?
Tom: Yeah, gestures is the key word or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant. And it goes on to say, because we’ve seen some things in past decades, haven’t we Chris? It is a grave abuse for any member of the non-ordained faithful to quasi-preside at the Mass while leaving only that minimal participation of the priest, which is necessary to secure validity.
Chris: Well that’s. I’m glad you added that part. So is this a kind of quasi-presiding? Perhaps in some ways I think that would be the Orans gesture.
Tom: I would say the other one would go more to the people who have. Where you see non-ordained faithful giving the liturgy or people standing up with the priest and extending their hands for the Eucharist, I mean, as if they were themselves ordained. So I wouldn’t say that so much, but it is, at the very least, it’s violating the distinction between the laity and the priesthood, which the Church has made clear. It’s not so as to avoid confusion. Because if we can do what otherwise we can do, if nothing is ruled out, then some people say, well, I’m free to do what I want.
Chris: All right, I’m going to summarize this document, the name of which is again Ecclesia de Mysterio.
Tom: So Ecclesia E, C, C, L, E, S, I, A de, D, E, and Mysterio like mystery, but IO at the end instead of Y.
Chris: All right. Easily located on the Vatican website. And this document, it seems to me, makes explicit that this gesture, the Orans position, is nowhere called for in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. And it is a gesture that is reserved to the priest.
Tom: Yes, it is. And then this is how we understand the General Instruction of the Roman Missal by precisely these duplicates. For example, if people say, you can’t receive, I’m not going to give you communion on the tongue, or I’m not going to give you communion while kneeling. And the Holy See, Cardinal Lorenzo, going back to 2003, 2004, said, you can’t do that.
Chris: Yes, yes.
So these documents that go beyond the General Instruction guide the proper understanding of it.
Then, with respect to the. So that one seems actually very clear to me.
Tom: I think so, yes.
Chris: So with respect to the hand holding, the answer is the hand holding during the Our Father. The answer is, nowhere is this called for in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
Tom: That is correct.
Chris: Where in fact, there are other gestures or actions that are called for by the laity.
Tom: Precisely. Which is the hand? The expression of peace or kiss of peace? Sure, the handshake.
Chris: Very good. Now you said something. And is this your opinion, or is this also written somewhere that we’re not to neither add nor detract from the laity, that is, or the priest, for that matter, from the liturgy as prescribed?
Tom: No, clearly, in the General Instruction. Excuse me, going back to Lumen Gentium. Excuse me, Sacrosanctum Concilium. The Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican II makes very clear, number 22, article 22, that the only person who has authority over the liturgy is the Holy See and then the local bishop as given direction.
So it’s true that custom may develop, but I think it’s better to wait. When we start looking at the Church as a civil rights movement, Chris, where we’re going to agitate for change and kind of bring the Holy See up to what Christ would really want, I think we run afoul and realize that it’s Christ who has given the Holy See the authority. Not that priests and bishops always act the way they’re supposed to. But this isn’t the case where you should be violating. It’s a clear violation. No one’s being offended. There are no mortal sins being committed by someone not being able to do the Orans position, for example.
Chris: I have also heard a. How can we say a theological argument or a religious argument, I think would be a better way to describe this, that the action, the gesture of holding hands during the Our Father.
Reorients the imagination of the laity or the person praying from the vertical to the horizontal.
Tom: One could argue that.
Chris: Am I making sense there?
Tom: Yes, exactly. Because our focus is on Christ at that point, Our Father, we’re united together, but we’re united toward praying to the Father. And where one would say, if you’re holding hands, then your mindset might be, because our mind follows our posture.
That if you’re hand holding that it could distract you from that. And to me, I remember this back in my old school, St. Mary Redford, Detroit and…