GUILT TRIP 5: When I Choose to be Suplado and Refuse to Hold Hands

I did not read Monday's papers so I did not know there was a small to-do on the issue about holding hands in Church while praying "Our Father".

I am among the few who refuse to hold hands and I hate it when I am made to feel like a leper for daring to break with "tradition". It is especially disconcerting when a manang looks at me askance, her hands outstretched and fully expecting me to hold hands in praising God. Then she gives me a dark look when I don’t take her hand.

While there is nothing wrong with the gesture, a priest in Cebu once told the congregation the symbolism is not appropriate for that part of the mass; it is only the priest who is supposed to raise his hands. Ever the pinoy uzi, one parishioner must have copied the gesture, grabbed someone else’s hand for a feeling of unity and voila! the handholding became vogue and standard practice. When I was younger, it was not done. Can't remember when people started doing it, though.

I am told there is in fact a "directive" from the Vatican saying such a gesture is not appropriate. That same priest in Happy Valley even mentioned the number of the supposed directive. And yet, priests and lay ministers at the altar are the first ones to hold hands. Everyone else follows. Except me. I clasp my hands, bow my head, and recite the prayer solemnly.

But I am being penalized for not following the others and holding hands. No one says a word, but I can feel the censure in their disapproving stares when I refuse to hold out my hands.

So be it.