Holy Smoke! The Gift of Incense

One of the most distinctive physical characteristics of Catholic worship is the burning of incense during Mass on Sundays, Holy Days, and within Eucharistic Adoration.  The rubrics encourage the use of incense at these celebrations, but it is still only an option (GIRM 276-7).  Many priests simply opt to use incense at Christmas and Easter.  Some never use it at all in sacred liturgy.  This can give the impression that the use of incense is only for the Traditional Latin Mass or just plain outdated.

Visitors to the Catholic communities of Centerville and Hilltop Lakes sometimes ask me why I use incense at almost every Sunday Mass.  The most important reason, for me, is that the burning of incense is Biblical.  In the OT, Moses built an altar of incense (Exodus 30) on which the sweetest spices and gums were burned.  The office of daily renewal was entrusted to a special branch of the Levitical tribe (1 Chronicles 9:29).  In the NT, the Christ Child receives the gift of frankincense from one of the Magi (Matthew 2:11) as an allusion to the divinity of Jesus.  One passage that indicates the early Church was familiar with incense is the vision of St. John the Evangelist of the heavenly liturgy: Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel (Revelation 8:3-4).

While the theological explanation for incense may be satisfactory to everyone, there is still another problem: Some complain that they are allergic to incense.  I use a brand called Gloria Incense which is produced by an Orthodox monastery in Johnstown, PA.  It is a non-allergenic resin-based formula.  Resin incense is generally regarded as superior to wood-based products that burn quickly (often with the aid of “Chemical Catalysts”) and produce chokingly harsh smoke.  This is what people are “allergic” to – not incense itself – and I always try to apply a moderate portion to the coals so as to not “smoke people out” of my little church.

Incense in Mass connects us to our Jewish roots and to the antiquity of our Catholic tradition, and it reflects the holy worship of Almighty God in heaven.  As sacred liturgy engages all our senses – our sight, hearing, taste, and touch – so incense engages our sense of smell.  When we adore Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament on Sundays, may our attitude and disposition reflect that of the psalmist:  Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening offering (Psalm 141:2).