What is the purpose of the censor/insense used at Catholic Funeral mass?

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.

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

What is the purpose of the censor/insense used at Catholic Funeral mass?

Recently attended a funeral mass, not knowing what to expect.

It was all very bewildering to me. Please explain what is going on with a funeral mass. And why do they celebrate the communion? That should only be for the first day of the week, not for someone's funeral.

What Is A Censer