If we are going to follow the official rule for the Our Father in the Mass the hands of the people must be clasped, closed in prayer while the hands of the priest are the ones raised because he is the minister of Christ interceding for the people.
In the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite or the Latin Mass in fact, only the priest recites the Our Father and the people only recites the last line: "Sed libera nos a malo" [And deliver us from evil.]
The practice of the people raising their hands in Our Father came from the Protestant heretics. It was imitated by some priests and lay leaders and soon it became popularized. Because the lay are eager to imitate the actions of priests so they want as much as possible to do what they are doing during the Mass. This is very unfortunate. We have lost the special liturgical actions actually done by the Blessed Mother and the early lay Catholics who used to clasp their hands and bow their heads when praying the Our Father. Instead, nowadays people prefer the manner of praying of the Pharisees. Proudly looking at the heavens, with hands raised.
In the original Latin liturgy, the priest is looking at the Cross as a remembrance of the Humility and Sacrifice of Christ and his hands are set apart, raised but only shoulder-length in order not to imitate the proud bearing of the Pharisees.
The habit of holding hands during the Our Father of the Mass, I believe, started during the days prior or during the EDSA Revolution wherein our people need more practical signs of unity due to the political and social darkness overshadowing the nation: Marcos Dictatorship, the shadows of martial law, uncertainty of the political situations, social unrest, etc. However, now that the extraordinary time has passed we have to return to the regular manner of worship.
So, please close your hands during the Our Father.
Reference: thesplendorofthechurch.blogspot.com
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