HOLY SMOKE!

For this Sunday’s Pastor’s Page, Fr. Rutler offered this:

The Magi gave the Holy Child presents of gold and myrrh and the essence of Boswellia serrata, which is the resin known as frankincense. The incense used in church may be pure frankincense or a combination of it with other aromatics, but its base comes from the sap of an arboreal bark, which recent science has discovered has properties that relieve anxiety and depression by activating ion channels in the brain. More importantly, one study at the Jena Friedrich Schiller University in Germany claims that frankincense contains anti-inflammatory substances produced by Boswellic acid, principally the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase, which can alleviate the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Whether its anti-inflammatory properties can thwart the Covid-19 Wuhan Coronavirus is not yet established, mindful of the cautions of the Food and Drug Administration. But burning frankincense reduces airborne bacterial counts by 68%. More important is the office of incense as an earthly hint of worship in heaven, where there are “harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Revelation 5:8).

Speaking of Holy Smoke, be sure to listen to Damian Thompson’s latest about perhaps there being a need to “go underground” as Catholics, in view of the restrictions placed by the government on worship.  HERE

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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9 Comments

  1. WVC says:

    The problem with “going underground” is that I’m not sure there are any bishops who would support such things. Many if not most seem eager to follow the letter of the mandates, or, at the very least, seem extremely timid at the very idea of not doing every single thing the government demands of them. Many priests, at least around here, are the same. Few are the parishes that are willing to offer the Mass without masks in my diocese – I’m thankful mine is one (if not the only one) of them.

    And, frankly, COVID is done. My 98 year old frail grandmother, with severe respiratory problems (she gets pneumonia about twice a year and uses a nebulizer daily) got it and recovered without a hitch (no hospitalization, no special drugs, no ventilator). Another friend’s father, who is 96, had it, and at most had a mild fever for a few days before being completely recovered. The death rate and hospitalization rates have bottomed out and are just skimming along at the bottom, even while the number of cases goes through the roof, partly due to bogus testing. Whatever COVID was, what it has deteriorated to now is practically nothing. But all the officials in my area are adamant that we will be under lock down with restrictions and masks WELL through 2021 and maybe into 2022. Even the vaccine is no guarantee that life will return to “normal” according to them.

    I’m not even going to be surprised if masks are here to stay. Especially if Trump wins reelection. So the idea of an underground Church is something very interesting – I just don’t see how one goes about it with the many milquetoast bishops with which we are saddled. St. John Fisher, pray for us.

  2. MitisVis says:

    Every good priest should be preparing, but many including the laity don’t really know what’s going on with all the conflicting news and media we are constantly hammered with. Here is a short clip from California which might clarify some of the confusion and why we should all Pray, Vote and Prepare.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WijKpSJlPV8
    Even though where I live isn’t as bad, we are still under restricted church services even though less than 6 people have been admitted to the hospital for Wuhan the last 2 weeks IN the entire state.

  3. JakeMC says:

    WVC, I’m totally with you. My 70-year-old brother has cancer, because of which he has no immune system left. He came down with the virus and also recovered without a hitch. He says it was no worse than any other flu.
    Another brother recently told me about a Chinese scientist who, after having worked in the lab in Wuhan, defected to the US. She says that yes, it was indeed deliberately developed as a weapon, and was planned to be released into the world, but she does not know if the way it happened was actually the way it was planned. It may have “escaped” prematurely. Whatever the case, the elements of this engineered virus that made it different from other coronaviruses are starting to break down; by next flu season, it will just be another coronavirus with nothing unique about it.
    .
    As for the Holy Smoke…I knew there was a reason I always found something comforting about the smell of incense, even when I was very little and the psychological associations weren’t there yet. (Yes, I can remember that far back! ;D)

  4. DeGaulle says:

    The above thoughts seem to correspond with those of Luc Montagnier, who discovered HIV and said that there was a HIV component on the COVID virus, that could only have arise by being artificially attached. He said that it would eventually be rejected by nature.

  5. Grant M says:

    It’s a pity that when watching Masses or Divine Liturgies online, we can see and hear but not smell. Technology has given us video and audio but not olfacio (yet).

  6. gaudiumcumpace says:

    You must be a listener and fan of Dr Chinda Brandolino, the Argentinian Doctor? She is the clarion voice of Latin America and Spain on this Plandemic.

  7. poohbear says:

    I have always been prone to respiratory infections since childhood. Several years ago I had an especially bad case of bronchitis and the only time I could breathe easily and not cough for an extended period was when I was at Holy Hour. I always thought it was due to the incense, now I know it was. Thanks for posting this info.

  8. Semper Gumby says:

    Excellent. Fr. Rutler, toiling away in the Scriptorium by candlelight, has unearthed a valuable parchment on incense from the land of St. Boniface.

    I haven’t listened to the Holy Smoke podcast out of opressed London yet, but going underground here in the Republic seems hasty. There is action: in San Francisco Abp. Cordileone and “Free the Mass” Eucharistic Processions; the “Let Us Worship” protests on the West Coast (WashDC Oct. 25); in New York two priests and three rabbis sued, if I recall, both Gov. Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio; in Florida things seem to be going well since Gov. DeSantis decreed religious services essential. To the catacombs? Nay. “Draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power.”

    Meanwhile, across the Pond yesterday in the land of the Holy Smoke podcast (do not be fooled by HolySmokePodcastdotcom, which is “powered by cannabis”), there was a “We Do Not Consent” rally in London.

    “Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable.” – Ronald Reagan, Address to the British Parliament, 1982

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