Praying with Clasped Hands
Praying hands (or the clasped hands) is a common prayer gesture or posture among Christians. The clasped hands are usually held before the heart as a symbol of submission, sincerity, repentance and obedience. Some raise their prayer hands as if pleading to God to grant 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.
The Hindus and Buddhists draw their palms together at the heart as a sign of veneration and respect. It is also a form of greeting. This is known as the “anjali mudra” which means offering (anjali) and seal (mudra). The people of India when doing this gesture would say the word “Namaste” which is some kind of a sacred hello. “Namaste” means “I bow to the divinity within you from the divinity within me.” How beautiful the meaning of that word is!
So what’s the big deal about praying with clasped or folded hands or palms drawn together? Pope Benedict XVI said in his book “Spirit of the Liturgy has this to say: “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…” From this statement, the Pope is saying that the body certainly has a place in worship, in the Liturgy.
The Pope further went on to say that during the feudal times, those who swore their allegiance to a ruling lord would place their joined hands into the hands of their lord as a sign of their fidelity and obedience. In a similar vein, we place our hands in the hands of our Lord when we pray with our joined hands and pledge our fidelity and obedience to Him.
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.
If you ask me, I am able to pray better with my hands clasped or folded because I can focus on God more. My concentration is much better and I am sure many people would agree with me. When I kneel, I do it out of reverence to God and it is the same when I pray with my hands drawn together. God is certainly pleased with praying hands and praying hearts.
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