Reader Question: Praying the Our Father at Mass

A reader writes:

What does "it" say (if anything) the faithful should do during the Lord’s Prayer at Mass? I looked briefly in the GIRM [General Instructions of the Roman Missal] and in the Sunday missal, and I could not find anything. Do you know if this may change in the future?

Few things cause more discomfort for Catholics than going to Mass and finding things to be other than the way they expect. Advocates of the Traditional Latin Mass often point to this as one reason to prefer the old liturgy: Not only is it always celebrated in Latin, no matter where you might be in the world, but the actual celebration will be identical as well.

With the Novus Ordo (the current Mass), however, it is not uncommon for each parish's practice to differ from neighboring parishes, let alone parishes in other areas. What the congregation does during the Lord's Prayer is one such difference. Do they simply stand, as at other times in the Mass? Do they raise their hands, as the priest does? Do they hold hands?

The reader is correct that neither the missal (the order of the Mass that the priest follows) nor the GIRM states what, if anything, the congregation should do during the Lord's Prayer (beyond standing).

A good rule to follow in cases where changes have been made to the liturgy is to assume that the practice remains the same unless it has been explicitly changed. In the Traditional Latin Mass, the priest, representing both Christ and the congregation, recites the Our Father, but the congregation does not join in. The new missal explicitly notes that the congregation should join the priest in reciting the Lord's Prayer, but it simply says that the congregation should stand while doing so (as they did when the priest recited the Lord's Prayer in the Traditional Latin Mass).

In other words, only one change was made. Any additional change in posture has been added by individual priests or parishes. That may make some of the faithful uncomfortable, and the best advice I can offer to them is simply to do as the missal instructs and not feel compelled to hold hands or to raise their hands in prayer. They should probably not make a show of not joining in, but neither should their fellow worshipers try to compel them to embrace a practice that goes beyond what the order of the Mass requires.

As to whether explicit instructions on what to do during the Lord's Prayer will be issued in the future, I cannot say, but I have my doubts. While Pope Benedict XVI is clearly concerned with increasing the uniformity of the celebration of the Mass, the practice of raising hands or holding hands is largely an American one. Any clarification on what the faithful should do at this point in the Mass is likely to come either from an action of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops or through a request for a ruling from the Holy See.

If you have a question that you would like to have featured in our Friday "Reader Questions" series, send me an e-mail at catholicism.guide@about.com. Be sure to put "QUESTION" in the subject line, and please note whether you'd like me to address it privately or on the Catholicism blog.