Q: I totally agree with you about using incense throughout the funeral Mass  https://paulturner.org/incense-at-burial-masses/.  It always seemed anomalous to me that at the funeral Mass now we would incense only the departed member of the Body of Christ and ignore the breathing members of the Body of Christ.  As you know, GIRM #276 states, “Incense may be used optionally in any form of Mass.”  In reviewing my 1971 funeral ritual, I noticed that rubric #43 (page 54) states, “In the United States, if incense is used, the priest, after incensing the gifts and the altar, may incense the body.  The deacon or another minister then incenses the priest and people.”  The current ritual moved the incensing of the body from the Offertory to the very end of the funeral Mass and omits incensing anyone else present.  I think that this minimizes the teaching of the Communion of Saints:  those in heaven, those on earth, and those (hopefully) in Purgatory.  One Body, One Communion of Saints not divided by death.  Hence, everyone deserves the dignity and respect of incensation.  Lex orandi, lex credendi.  (Just sayin’.)

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A: Thanks for this observation. I don’t know how that rubric from the first English translation got removed from the second. Did the bishops have a change of heart? Did the Vatican not approve the request a second time? I’m not sure how to know.

The unique part of that local rubric is incensing the body during the preparation of the gifts. Incensing the gifts, priest and people is always allowed. Incensing the body at the end of the service is optional (OCF 147 and 173), even though the minister holding the incense is supposed to be standing next to the priest (OCF 170).

The use of incense can mean different things. You may not agree with me, but I think the incensation at the preparation of the gifts is more than showing “dignity and respect,” as you say. I think it unites gifts to be offered (bread, wine, priest and people) to the self-offering of Christ, which the altar and cross recall. I think the incensation at the end symbolizes the commendation of the soul into the hands of God, or, as OCF 147 says, “the incensation signifies respect for the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit.” Personally, I think incensing the deceased is more appropriate at the commendation than during the preparation of the gifts.

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