We Handle Debts

Praying with clasped or folded hands is quite common among Christians. Is there a meaning to this prayer gesture? Yes there is. Apparently, such a prayer posture is a symbol of obedience, sincerity, submission and repentance. Some raise their folded hands when they make a plea to God to answer their prayers.

This gesture, however, is not only common to Christians but to Jews as well. In the book entitled “Book of Jewish Knowledge” by Nathan Ausubel, he said: “It has also been commonly assumed that folding the hands in prayer is exclusively a Christian custom. This is not the historical fact at all. As early as the post-Exilic period, when Jews prayed, they folded their hands, and they observed this custom for several centuries even after it had been adopted by Christians.”

Jesus, being a Jew, also prayed with clasped hands. You must have seen pictures or images of Him in the garden of Gethsemani in this prayer gesture. In other art works, you can also see the Virgin Mary and angels with their hands clasped as well.

In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, this prayer gesture is a sign of veneration and respect as well as a greeting. Termed the “anjali mudra”, this is done by the drawing together of one’s palms at the heart. In Sanskrit, anjali means an offering and mudra means seal. In India particularly, this gesture goes hand in hand with the word “Namaste” which is something like a sacred Hello and translated as “I bow to the divinity within you from the divinity within me.”

Pope Benedict XVI in his book “Spirit of the Liturgy” said that the body is an integral part of the act of worship and I quote: “The body has a place within the divine worship of the Word made flesh, and it is expressed liturgically in a certain discipline of the body, in gestures that have developed out of the liturgy’s inner demands…” So the body certainly has a place, along with the heart, mind and soul, in prayer.

In the same book, the Pope recalled that during the time when feudalism was prevalent, those who were under a Lord would place their joined hands into the hands of their Lord to symbolize faithfulness and loyalty. Similarly, when we clasp our hands in prayer, we are doing the same - pledging to God our faithfulness and loyalty and placing our hands in His hands.

Does using the praying hands gesture help our ability to pray or meditate? Practitioners of yoga believe that doing this gesture brings the left and right hemispheres of one’s brain together and quiet the mind.

I find that I am able to focus more on God and concentrate better when I pray using the praying hands gesture. It’s as if folding or clasping or drawing my hands together sends a signal to my mind to calm down. It is much the same when I kneel to pray. I see it as a time when I am in God’s presence so I do it to show my reverence to my Creator.