Lately, I’ve been reading through St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians during my morning prayer. One of my reflections on 1 Corinthians 13, “When Love Clears the Mirror,” was published at the Denver Catholic this month which you can read by clicking here.
This weekend I’ve been in 2 Corinthians 2-4.
“Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing” (2 Cor 2:14-15).
The Ignatius Study Bible notes that the gospel is being disseminated like the fragrance of incense throughout the world (p 2051). Incense was used in the Old Testament during sacrifices offered to the Lord and I can imagine why the fragrant aroma of incense would be preferred to the stench of animal blood.
While we often still use incense in our Masses, St. Paul also tell us that we are to be living sacrifices to God to spread the gospel throughout the world: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, our spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1).
It is the witness of our prayer and our life that disseminates the gospel throughout the world. Yet I wonder how well we are doing that these days. I wonder how well I’m doing it—with consuming scroll content on the internet, keeping my head down at the store, or dragging my feet on social activities.
We can’t do it all, but we can do something. And the incense image reminded me of this story that I wrote in my book, Baby and Beyond: Overcoming Those Post-Childbirth Woes:
“In her diary, St. Faustina recounts her struggle, while on kitchen duty, to drain the pot of boiled potatoes. The pot was too heavy for her, and often the potatoes spilled out with the water. So she began to avoid the potatoes at all cost, and the sisters noticed. What they didn’t notice was that St. Faustina was willing and wanted to drain the potatoes but lacked the strength. She prayed to God about her weakness, and He told her He would give her the strength starting tomorrow. The next day, St. Faustina volunteered to drain the potatoes and accomplished it with ease. When she lifted the lid, she discovered the pot was filled with roses, and she heard a voice within her say, ‘I change such hard work of yours into bouquets of most beautiful flowers, and their perfume rises up to my throne.’
Motherhood offers us the same opportunity: to turn our scrubbing toilets and changing diapers into bouquets of flowers. I was reminded of this once when I was steam cleaning the floors and Timothy, a five-year-old at the time, saw the steam rising off the mop head. He told me that if I put prayers on the steam, they would rise to heaven like incense. How wonderful a thought—my prayers rising to heaven on steam while I clean the floor!” (p. 102).
Although I still wonder what the nuns ate for dinner since the potatoes turned to flowers (just doesn’t seem as appetizing), my encouragement is to take the opportunities family life offers, and give them to God as your spiritual worship.
We are the aroma of Christ. Our sacrifices matter, the way we love matters in sharing the good news with others. I cannot tell you what to do in each of your specific situations, but God can. He is waiting—longing—to talk to you, to spend time with you, to accept your spiritual worship if you are willing to give it.
We need holy, loving witnesses today who exude a sweet fragrance to those who are saved and to those who are perishing.
I think this idea ties in nicely with the above article in the Denver Catholic about reflecting love, and also with the Adoration article at Catholicom.com, linked below. I want to be an Adoration missionary. I want every person in the Church to make it a habit to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament when they can. So much transformation can take place in that space.
How much screen time should my kids have? What school should they go to? What curriculum should we use? What meal plan am I using this week? What vitamins should I take? How early should I wake up? What chores should my kids be doing? How much money should I be saving each month? Where can I cut expenses? How can I communicate better in my marriage?
If your brain is anything like mine, it’s brimming with questions I don’t know the answer to. I can make some guesses and pivot if I’m wrong, but there’s a tendency to feel overwhelmed with anxiety at all the answers I need but don’t have.
That is why you and I need more Adoration in our lives. We can only hear God’s voice when we attune to it by spending time with Him, and we can only discover His will for us when we learn to share our lives with Him. . .
Read the rest at Catholicmom.com
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