The Smell of the Spirit
I thought it very interesting how this class and one particular article for my thesis paper collided. In senior sem, my thesis regards the naturalized assumptions of the Christian body. When I was researching articles for the literature review for my thesis I came across an article titled, Bodies Matter to Christians. The author, who only goes by Kristin, refers to the body as a means of communicating with the divine. She shows this in a prayer that is said two evenings a month in the Christ Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The prayer that is quoted during these services is a version of a poem by D. Pochin Moulds called Irish Saints. The prayer goes into detail about how God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are upon the body in a very physical way. The part of the prayer that grabbed my attention was "May the smelling of the Holy Spirit be in our noses." I thought it quite interesting how in our Lewis class that we were just talking about the symbolism of smell in Till We Have Faces. In the book by Lewis, the holy is a smell. Orual senses the holy with her olfactory system -- not by sight or touch or noise or even taste. This is very interesting that the divine is experienced this way. Catholics use incense during mass. Though, I've never been to a Catholic mass, my reality of it is defined by what others have related to me and of course the infamous media. So I suppose -- on a side note -- catholic mass is a myth in my reality in the true sense of the word "myth." So, anyway, Orual notices the holy through the smell of blood, singed hair, wine, death (burnt offerings, fat, and slaughter), oils, and old age. It is interesting that the sense of smell, out of the five senses, is actually most connected memory. That can't be a coincidence.
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