By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
This is the homily preached by Archbishop Thomas Wenski on July 24, during a Mass at the Napa Institute's annual conference in Napa, California.
The first reading from Exodus takes us back to the time of the Hebrew’s long journey towards the Promised Land. A dense cloud accompanied them in the desert – this cloud was indicative of the presence of God in their midst. The Lord accompanied his Chosen People as they made an “exodus” from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. Similarly in our liturgies we often use incense – and the smoke or the cloud of incense evokes the presence of God in our midst. We incense the altar and gifts on the altar for they represent Christ, we incense the Book of the Gospel for when the gospel is proclaimed Jesus speaks to us. The sweet fragrance of the incense which fills the church speaks of the nearness of God to each of us.
Of course, many people do not grasp the meaning of incense in our liturgies. When I visit parishes – and incense is used – I usually ask the altar serves the reason we use incense. And truth be told, many do not know. Some might say, it is to cover up the BO, the body odor of the congregation. And that is a practical – and perhaps not entirely incorrect explanation. Some even venture that we use it to make the old ladies cough. And that answer is understandable since many people are annoyed by the incense, but I doubt that any priest uses incense with the purpose of annoying people in his congregation.
And so, incense might be a bit like Jesus’ use of parables. Not everyone gets it. A parable is a cryptic saying that can reveal but at the same time hide what Jesus is saying. As Jesus tells his apostles, “they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.” Jesus said, “Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled in them, those with closed hearts will not understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Like Isaiah, Jesus calls all of God’s people to repent but many will not respond. But others hear – and more importantly – they listen and understand with an understanding born of faith. And so, Jesus says to his disciples, "But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear…”
A verse from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Eucharistic hymn,
Adoro te devote, says:
Seeing,
touching, tasting are in thee deceived:
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son has told me, take for truth I do;
Truth Himself speaks truly or there’s nothing true.
Blessed are we today to share in this -and every Eucharist -in Jesus’ gift of himself to the Father for us – and a gift offered once and for all time on Calvary. This sacrifice is re-presented anew in an unbloody way on this altar and on all the altars of the world.
And, after Mass this morning, we will take the Blessed Sacrament in procession. Guiding them by day with a cloud and by night with a pillar of fire, God led the Hebrew through the desert as they “passed over” from the slavery of Egypt to the freedom of the Promise Land, so too we pass over from sin to forgiveness, from death to life in our life’s journey through this “vale of tears” strengthen by the bread of angels, the Holy Eucharist, given to us as food for the journey.
The “bells and smells” of our liturgies stimulate our dull senses as Jesus’ parables stimulate our imaginations to remind us that we are not alone, that God in his Son Jesus leads us on. Blessed are we indeed.
We pray with the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas:
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas
Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore,
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at Thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.
