Why clasp hands in prayer

In Heaven or our original home we were missioned to fulfill a specific purpose on Earth as was expected of Jesus Christ - so the prayer states rephrased slightly let me be on Earth as it was planned for me in Heaven. So - the praying hands are the reminder that we are to live every day on Earth right hand as our purpose was planned in Heaven left hand. The bible doesn't mention anything on hands clasped.

We can pray kneeling or standing while our hands are raised and spread toward heaven as the scriptures say:. There are other scriptures that explain the same. All this other non sense of where it came from should be null and void if it is not in the scriptures. Hands clasped is a tradition of men not of GOD. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What is the origin of praying hands folded? Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 2 months ago. Active 4 years, 8 months ago. Viewed 91k times. How did folding hands come to be a common practice? Is there some reasoning behind it? Improve this question. Community Bot 1. StackExchange saddens dancek StackExchange saddens dancek I'd think it's a rather "natural" not specifically christian, nor modern gesture for praying.

At least, I've seen the "variation" of hands together, palm-to-palm, in japanese non christian people. BTW, a trivial curiosity I noticed once: some people fold hands with right thumb up, others left thumb up; but each person I think uses always the same position.

I wonder if that's correlated with left-right handness, or any other factor. Just something to add: Scripture talks about kneeling to pray Daniel or standing to pray Mark , but it never mentions folding of hands. I thought it was just taught to children to stop them fidgeting! To us, the polyester undergarment was like Mary's veil, but also like the Bionic Woman's blonde locks, which we didn't have.

Either way, it felt glorious to wear that slip like a wig. Tucking the elastic of the waistband behind my ears and pressing my two palms together in the middle of my chest in prayer, I would ask, "Do I look like Mary? Wisely, my mother never adjudicated. Later, I remember the strict instructions of an elderly Salesian nun who prepped my second-grade class for Communion.

She put her hands together near the clunky silver cross on her chest, showing us how we would walk up the aisle. The praying hands were part of the show, the physical proof that we were holy and perfect, good enough to welcome the Lord, and definitely not what we would become one day, that is, hormonal and prone to lying like everyone else.

Praying hands are everywhere. In yoga classes and in most religions, but maybe — and yes, I am biased here — maybe especially in Catholicism. Think of all those pleading hands in centuries-old paintings and statues and the way we all still kneel after Communion, heads down and hands clasped, reckoning with our faulty selves. Are we just mimicking each other?

In our Catholic milieu, are praying hands just a habit picked up after so many years of going to Mass? A learned gesture, after seeing so many holy cards and visions of saintliness, especially of the supplicant Marian variety? Or is it something deeper, something that Christians inherited from their pagan forbearers, something universally human?

I can still see the colorful images of St. Catherine of Siena in the thin paperback glossary of saints book they gave us in religion class. Her hands are clasped. The effigy lies in peace, hands together on her chest.

A goddess in repose. In Italian, the word pregare means to pray, but also "to beg. As if to say: "Now please, won't you believe me? Yes, praying hands are begging hands, they are conciliatory. And they are nonviolent because they prove your inability to fight back. Some historians believe that early Christians adapted this custom from their Jewish heritage. But another common belief is that the hands-folded posture was derived from a Roman practice symbolizing submission. This type of joining hands to profess loyalty is still evident in the liturgy of ordination.

Another aspect of the folding of hands includes crossing the thumbs, which many have been instructed to do in the form of a cross. All of this results in a gesture that represents loyalty to God, pointing our prayers to heaven and being reminded of the cross of Christ. While Christians are not bound to pray with hands folded, it is a meaningful option, with ancient roots and profound symbolism.

Make sure to visit the slideshow below to discover the meaning of hand gestures in icons. A common belief is that the hands-folded posture was derived from a Roman practice symbolizing submission. Launch the slideshow. Tags: Devotions and Feasts Liturgy Prayer. Support Aleteia! Here are some numbers: 20 million users around the world read Aleteia.