Incense
The "sweet savour" of incense was used in Old Testament
liturgy as far back as the time of Moses as an offering to God:
Exodus 30:34-37
And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and
onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense,
all shall be of equal weight. And thou shalt make incense compounded
by the work of the perfumer, well tempered together, and pure,
and most worthy of sanctification. And when thou hast beaten
all into very small powder, thou shalt set of it before the tabernacle
of the testimony, in the place where I will appear to thee. Most
holy shall this incense be unto you. You shall not make such
a composition for your own uses, because it is holy to the Lord.
... and its continued use was predicted, along with the Eucharistic
offering, by Malachias:
Malachias 1:11
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name
is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice,
and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name
is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.
Frankincense, as a sign of His Divinity, and myrrh, to portend
His Passion and Death, were two of the three gifts the Magi brought
to Baby Jesus --
Matthew 2:11
And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his
mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures,
they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
-- and as portended, myrrh, with its analgesic properties, was
offered to Him on the Cross and was used, mixed with aloes, to
annoint Him after death:
Mark 15:22-23
And they bring him into the place called Golgotha, which being
interpreted is, The place of Calvary. And they gave him to drink
wine mingled with myrrh; but he took it not.
John 19:39-40
And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the first came to Jesus by
night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred
pound weight. They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound
it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews
is to bury.
Even the very angels in Heaven use incense, the smoke of which
comes with the prayers of the Saints.
Revelation 8:3-4
And another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden
censer: and there was given to him much incense, that he should
offer of the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which
is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of
the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand
of the angel.
The Catholic Church still uses incense, of course, in
accordance with prophecy of Malachias, the fragrant smoke
symbolizing our prayers rising to Heaven and purifying
what it touches. The incense is kept in a covered, often
boat-shaped liturgical vesselcalled, unsurprisingly, a "boat," which
symbolizes the barque of Peter. The boat, made of bronze
or brass and often silver or gold-plated, comes with a spoon
for scattering the incense in the bowl-shaped matching burner,
called a "thurible" or "censer." The
thurible holds burning charcoal (or wood) to ignite the incense
and hangs on chainsso that it
may be swung by the priest when censing things (or people)
and so it may be easily carried by the thurifer -- the "Altar
server" who assists the priest by carrying the incense.
Incense is used during the Mass to bless the Altar when
the priest first ascends to it, and, during the Offertory,
to bless the bread and wine, the Crucifix and Altar (again),
and the congregation.
Incense is also used during the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, during
processions, funeral rites and to bless things like relics, bells or the Gospel.
Other uses of incense are the 5 grains of incense, symbolizing the
5 wounds of Christ, inserted into the Paschal candle on
Easter, and the incense burned on the altar stone of a new Altar during its consecration.
Incense is also placed inside the cavity (the "sepulchre") of the Altar
along with a relic, to symbolize the prayers of the Saint to whom the relic belongs.
Also, frankincense is blessed on the Feast of the Ephiphany. The faithful may
take some of his home with them for use at their family altars.
Incense Use in the Home
Though stick and cone incense may be used during prayer
and lectio divina, the
classic way of using incense at your family altar is to
use resin incense (like the priests use), which comes in
large "grains," in a charcoal incense burner.
Simply place a piece of charcoal in the burner, light it
until it is glowing (it might spark at first), and place
about a 1/2 a teaspoon or so of incense on top (not so
much that the charcoal will be smothered). It is good to
have a supply of those bamboo sticks that are used in making
shishkabobs: they come in handy for lighting not only charcoal
inside the burner, but for lighting tall pillar candles
that've burned down deeply inside their glass holders.
Charcoal can smolder for a very long time, so don't leave
it unattended -- and remember that the incense holder will
be hot, so keep little hands, and your own, away.
You can find incense burner charcoal and a large variety
of resin incense here and
a large variety of incense burners here (links
will open in new browser window).
If you don't have or don't want to buy a regular incense
burner, you can use any fire-proof container -- bowls,
a seashell, even -- for the purpose. Place a little sand
for insulation at the bottom of your container if it sits
directly on your table.
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