Does disliking the incense make me a bad Catholic?

Question

I can't take it anymore - when is it over ? As much as I pretend it doesn't bother me, my eyes water, I sneeze, my head hurts and I have trouble breathing. My kids have a hard time as well. I put up a good front, but need to know how to answer, "when is this smoke going to stop happening at Church?"

Answer 1

No, you are not a bad Catholic.

Some people are just more sensitive to strong odors.

Incense is used frequently during the Easter season which ended last week. It is only used for special occasions during Ordinary Time.

Incense has been used to accompany and symbolize prayer in Judaism and Christianity for thousands of years.

In the Old Testament, God mandates the use of incense in Jewish worship:

"For burning incense you shall make an altar of acacia wood, ... "On it Aaron shall burn fragrant incense. Morning after morning, when he prepares the lamps, and again in the evening twilight, when he lights the lamps, he shall burn incense. Throughout your generations this shall be the established incense offering before the LORD. (Exodus 30:1-9)

Aaron makes an offering of incense:

"Thus shall Aaron offer up the bullock, his sin offering, to atone for himself and for his family. When he has slaughtered it, he shall take a censer full of glowing embers from the altar before the LORD, as well as a double handful of finely ground fragrant incense, and bringing them inside the veil, 3 there before the LORD he shall put incense on the fire, so that a cloud of incense may cover the propitiatory over the commandments; else he will die. (Leviticus 16:12-13)

See also Numbers 7:13-17.

And in the New Testament, the Magi bring frankincense, a type of incense, as an offering to Christ himself:

Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)

John the Baptist's father, Zechariah makes an offering of incense in the Temple sanctuary:

Once when he was serving as priest in his division's turn before God, according to the practice of the priestly service, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense. Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside at the hour of the incense offering, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right of the altar of incense. (Luke 1:8-12)

John describes an angel with a golden censer offering large amounts of incense before the throne of God:

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)

In modern use, incensing is a symbol of purification and sanctification.

Incense may be used during the Mass during:
+ The entrance procession
+ The beginning of Mass, to incense the altar
+ The procession and proclamation of the Gospel
+ The offertory, to incense the offerings, altar, priest and people
+ The elevation of the Sacred Host and chalice of Precious Blood after the consecration

During funeral Masses, the priest may incense the coffin as a sign
+ Of honor to the body of the deceased which became the temple of the Holy Spirit at Baptism
+ Of the faithful’s prayers for the deceased rising to God

"Let my prayer come like incense before you." (Psalm 141)

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

No,but it is easier to find Catholic Churches that rarely if ever use incense(except at funerals,maybe) than to find those which do. Eastern Rite churches and High Church Anglican ones never seem to be without incense. Have you mentioned your problem to your priest?
If the Mass you go to is the "High Mass" that uses incense weekly then pick another Mass time that does not have incense. If there is none(which I would marvel at) then try another parish.
I actually have to hunt for parishes that use incense since i love it. Smell releases so many memories for me and different "flavors" of incense bring up different happy or spiritual memories. There are different brands and types of incense and some are non chocking and hypoallergenic!
Incense is all over the OT and is commanded to be used(frankincense) in the Torah. Incense is used in Heaven in the imagery of the NT Book of Revelation. Incense is a symbol of uprising prayer in Psalms andLuke and Revelation.

Answer 3

Ok first off after reading some answers. Jesus did not form the Catholic Church. Nor did he form a church at all. True he did teach the word of God but did not form the Church. The Catholic Church formed after Constantine changed the religion of the Rome Empire to Christianity in which conflict in what the belief system actually believed the Empire was split after Constantine move the Capitol city out of Rome. In which you have the Byzantine Empire which had their own Christian views and in Rome as you can guess the Roman Catholic. Ok that being said if really comes down to Saints and the Virgin Mary and other things of that nature. Most other Christian find it hard to believe that Catholic Christians will pray to Mary or the Saints and have statues of them since according to the Christian Bible you are not supposed to worship false idols in which they believe you are doing. Most other Christians know that the Pope is just the head of the Catholic Church.

Answer 4

Hi,
I was brought up Catholic, along with my six brothers and sisters. When we went to Mass as children, my one brother would sneeze, cough, and his eyes would water.
That went on for several months. The Priests answer to my parents was that he was "faking it" to get out of going to mass.
Then one day he collapsed and was taken by emergency ambulance to the hospital.
His face was swollen and when his clothes were removed, he had hives that the doctors described as "dinner plate hives", noting the size of them. The doctors said that he must have been suffering horribly each week, because he had an extremely harsh allergy to the incense. Each week, as he was exposed to it again and again, finally his little body couldn't fight it anymore, and shut down. That was the last time my little brother ever had to go to mass, and the rest of us just suffered thru
the mass as it was uncomfortable for almost everyone.
Today, 45 years later, I am non-denominational Christian, and a student/teacher of the manuscripts. Scripture is clear: God does not want those burnt animals, nor does he want that smoke that rises up from a mass where people profess him with their mouths and yet their hearts are far from him. He wants your love, and He wants the congregation to be taught the truths of His Word, not a mass where people recite pre-written words. I can see where God would find the entire sideshow an insult rather than a dedication to Him. Three times for emphasis, Christ said "feed my sheep"; He did not say "hold a mass, burn incense and recite copied text". They need to put that incense away and start feeding the sheep, quite frankly.

Answer 5

Funny enough I have found that it does my sinuses the world of good, no seriously it really does, I was sitting beside a lady at Mass this morning and she must have used a litre of perfume and that was a lot worse than incense.

Answer 6

Speak to your priest. Many in my parish had this problem with our new priest. He lightened up considerably. This is a health issue not a faith issue.

Answer 7

sit near the back....lol

i used to be an acolyte and had to stand close to the thurible and it drove me nuts too and im asthmatic

its not going to stop btw

Answer 8

Maybe sit as far away from it as possible- smells bother me, but not that bad:(

Answer 9

No but Nag Champra is the best...especially after some 'sticky' bud

Answer 10

The catholic church supports priests diddling little boys..
The catholic church supports illegal immigration...
The catholic church tells the poor not to use condoms...
The catholic church leaders live in splendor in Rome...

And you are worried about INCENSE??

To quote your own bible, "None are so blind as they who refuse to see."