Father's Notebook - September 4, 2019

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ!

One of my favorite aspects of Catholicism is just how incarnational we are. The God we worship, is not only “up there” and we somehow need to escape the “down here” to get to him. Instead, we believe in a God who condescended, who came down, and became fully human. Thus God desires to not only engage us spiritually, but also bodily, through his incarnation. Thus in every Mass, there is this engagement of not only our spirits but our bodies as well: the music, the stained glass, the incense, the bells, the bowing and kneeling, even the reception of the Eucharist on the tongue or hand.

Now, people have asked, “Father, why do you use so much incense?” as well as, “Father, I love all the incense as Mass.” And so I wanted to share my own thoughts, as well as, the Church's thoughts with you.

Incense may be “new” to some of us, but it's actually something both ancient and eternal. In fact, incense is mentioned 170 times in the Bible. It is a deeply Jewish element, which means it is also a deeply Catholic one as well. 

“Let my prayer be incense before you; my uplifted hands an evening offering.” – Psalm 141:2

Incense is a sign of reverence and prayer. Incense allows us to see our prayers rising up to God in the liturgy.

“Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer (thurible).He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones on the gold altar which 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

Get this... Incense is not only a reality here on earth, but it is how the angels are praising God, right now in Heaven! This is a foretaste of what Heaven smells like.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;” – 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

Lastly, the fragrance of incense engages our minds and also is a sign of our call to be the aroma of Christ in the world. What a beautiful and rich way in which the Lord has called us to worship Him! 

That is, if one doesn’t have any allergies and respiratory problems. So, I have looked around a bit, and found that there is a brand of incense (Monastery Incense) that claims to be “hypoallergenic". I am experimenting with it, and at the same time trying to lessen the amount of incense I scoop onto the coals. Also, I will work with our Hospitality Ministers to use the day chapel as an enclosed room for those who need to have some separation from the incense.

As you have noticed, I have been using incense only at the Sunday 8am Mass in Spanish and the 10am Mass. I am considering these as our two “High Masses” while the Saturday 5pm is our Low Mass. Lastly, the Sunday evening 6:30pm Mass is our Contemporary Mass. On Christmas and Easter, at the high points of our liturgical year, I plan to use incense at all the Masses.

To be honest, I am reluctant to get rid of incense precisely because it is such a deeply Catholic element, and it is something that is unique to our worship that one won’t find in many other non-Catholic worship. It is also deeply biblical element. I firmly believe, that if we are to evangelize and keep the youth and young adult in the Church today, we need to present them with the entire richness and beauty of our Catholic faith and our Catholic liturgy.

As always, you are in my prayers and I will celebrate a Mass for you.

Pax Christi,
Fr. Khoi