The Dean of one of the Church’s seminaries used to tell his liturgics class, “There are only two odors mentioned in Scriptures - brimstone and incense; so we had better get used to one or the other.” Even taken humorously as the statement was intended, it does have Scriptural grounds.
Incense was used in the Jewish temple as a sign of worship offered to the praise of God; and St. Luke reminds us that incense was brought to our Lord by one of the Magi (a symbol of His divinity).
The Catholic religion is unashamedly sacramental. We believe God made everything and He saw that everything He made was good. We believe that “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us”, sharing our humanity in our very material world. A Christ redeemed all mankind, so all of creation shares in God’s redemption and is to be used to express the worship of God. (“O let the Earth bless the Lord: yea, let it praise him and magnify him for ever.” - Benedicite, omnia opera Domini)
Because we are not pure spirits, but body-soul beings, we worship God both in our spirit and with our body. There is nothing strange about that; it is the way we were made. So the Church has always used “sacramentals” in its worship - the cross, a ring at a wedding, and candles on the altar - material things which symbolize spiritual realities - that Christ died for us, marriage is a spiritual union between husband and wife, and that Christ is the Light of the world. So with incense: it is a symbol of prayer, of the intercession of our Great High Priest, and of the prayers of the saints. The Psalmist prays, “Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense”; and St. John describing the worship of heaven seen in his vision, writes, “Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
If the seminary dean was right - and I believe he is - incense is preferable to brimstone!
Holy Scripture offers us strong evidence throughout the ages of the importance of incense in the worship of God.
Exodus 30 tells us God’s instructions to the Jews for the building of an Altar of Incense.
Leviticus 2 shows us the Jewish people using incense in their grain offering to God.
Psalm 141 is where the Psalmist’s prayer “…prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense” appears. This is used as one of the opening sentences of Evening Prayer in our 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
Matthew 2 tells of The Magi’s (or Three Wise Men) giving of incense (frankincense) as one of their gifts to Our Lord after his birth and it is usually taken as signifying His Godship.
Revelation 8 we read of St. Johns vision of the Holy Angels’ use of incense as they offer their prayers.
Incense is used on Christmas Midnight Mass, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Corpus Christi, Michael Mass and All Saints. It is also proper for use at confirmations, Ordinations and Requiem Masses.
Incense
