Incensing Statues

[disneyfan1206]

Hello Everyone!

I was reading in the bible that Our Lord commanded that the Israelites shouldn’t offer incense to idols. Now i know at mass sometimes the priest will incense statues. Are we breaking this rule? Or is the incense a sign of reverence and not a sacrificial offering. I just wanted clarity of this

Thanks!

 

[zz912]

Hello Everyone!

I was reading in the bible that Our Lord commanded that the Israelites shouldn’t offer incense to idols. Now i know at mass sometimes the priest will incense statues. Are we breaking this rule? Or is the incense a sign of reverence and not a sacrificial offering. I just wanted clarity of this

Thanks!

We don’t worship the statues. That is the fundamental difference that can’t be overlooked. They are only objects used to lift our mind to God, and help us focus our thoughts and prayers. The incense is a sign of reverence, not adoration. It is also a physical representation of the actions we read about in the Book of Revelation, where the saints offer up our prayers to God, in the form of bowls of incense.

 

[JerryZ]

Hello Everyone!

I was reading in the bible that Our Lord commanded that the Israelites shouldn’t offer incense to idols. Now i know at mass sometimes the priest will incense statues. Are we breaking this rule? Or is the incense a sign of reverence and not a sacrificial offering. I just wanted clarity of this

Thanks!

My my, So how did you arrive to the conclusion that the statues in the Catholic churches are “idols”?

An “idol” is a FALSE GOD, like the greek zeus or the roman Jupiter or perhaps the egiptian horus, they made statues of these “gods” and people worshipped and offered sacrifices to them.

The statues and or icons in the catholic churches are representations of our fallen heroes that have gone to Heaven and we hope to join them and we certainly do not worship them nor offer sacrifices TO them.
We pray (Which means “ASK”) to the Saint that is in Heaven to intercede for us with the Allmighty much in the same way I could pray to you to also “pray” for me.
So I am asking for YOUR intercession as St. Paul said.
And by the way the priest incenses the altar, the church and the faithfull, he is representing the prayers and worship of the Church and sending the smoke to GOD just like it is shown in revelation.
Hope this clears any confusion

 

[R_C]

Hello Everyone!

I was reading in the bible that Our Lord commanded that the Israelites shouldn’t offer incense to idols. Now i know at mass sometimes the priest will incense statues. Are we breaking this rule? Or is the incense a sign of reverence and not a sacrificial offering. I just wanted clarity of this

Thanks!

Ok, a typical situation in which the first thing we should recall is: the Catholic Church does not err in matters of faith.

Obviously not all like to keep that fact in mind. So let’s read Scripture a bit more.

God also commanded other things. For instance: Hebrews 9:3-4 states:

Behind the second curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

When the High Priest incensed an ark of gold and wood depicting angels, containing a jar with manna, a staff, and stone tablets, was he offending God and committing an act of idolatry?

Learn more about incense and the practice of incensing during Mass.