Perfume Quote of the Day by Anonymous Priest:
"There are 2 smells in the afterlife: incense and sulfur. Get used to one of them!"
Quoted by Fr. Jay Toborowsky on his blog Young Fogeys as having been said by a priest in his diocese. You can read his funny post about the so-called Nose Police during mass.
Ain't THAT the truth !
Just love that...
Loved that too....chuckles. But what about paradise, how is that supposed to smell?
Ah, Marie-Helene !
In paradise, it will smell to each of us, of our hearts' desire...
To Zz, the perfect rose concrete; to Anya, of tropical peace and harmony; to Luccia, of the most magnificent violet; to Dawn, the amber of her dreams...
For you and I, I haven't a clue...!
To pursue this theological debate....will perfumers be allowed to create perfumes in paradise or is only God allowed to create perfumes in the afterlife?
I have trouble envisioning such a petty deity...
Surely there is room in the afterlife for creativity... we ARE supposed to be created in the image, whatever that may be...
The consummate compliment.
Chaya,
That's an interesting thought...that we are like small creators and that we would continue to be so in the afterlife. My point of departure was different, something to do with the idea that when you enter the order of the divine, then you have to relinquish the order of the human or that's what I am assuming at least. Aren't we creating, especially through the means of perfume, to get closer to the divine and to imagine and experience paradise? So when we would get there, there wouldn't be anymore meaning attached to that activity. Creation is based in part on insatisfaction. The reality of paradise being complete and fully satisfying it would become meaningless, unnatural to do so.
well, I hope that there will be some lovely floral scents added to that incense in Heaven, but I`m sure that priest did not mean to be literal.
I do believe that if there is Heaven, it smells "heavenly" to each inhabitant according to her/his own nose.
When I was much younger, I used to go to 6 a.m. Mass in the parish church in my home town. They didn`t use incense at these "everyday" masses. My olfactory memory of those times is different: every time I went to early Mass, I passed a bakery emiting a truly heavenly smell of fresh bread. I used to say that this is surely the way it smellsin heaven - but only in early mornings! Otherwise it would get boring.
So, for me, Heaven is surely a place full of different delicious scents.
Great quote!
Thanks Benvenuta! Yes, I think the priest forgot to mention the olfactory delights of heaven:)