The Aroma of Christ

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15).

There is a long tradition in Catholic Worker circles of regarding guests who come for hospitality as Christ.  As Dorothy Day wrote, “The mystery of the poor is this:  That they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do for Him.”  One of the particular wonders of the incarnation, of Jesus as the Son of God become human, is that Jesus like all human beings had an aroma.  In plain language, Jesus could either smell nice or stink, just like you or me.  Dorothy Day also wrote that “If everyone were holy and handsome, with ‘alter Christus’ shining in neon lighting from them, it would be easy to see Christ in everyone.” 

As I reflected this morning on this scripture passage and Dorothy Day’s writings, I was led to consider how hospitality at Manna House presents a plentitude of powerful aromas.  In arriving at Manna House, there is the bracing smell of the morning air, slightly damp, yet inviting with promise of the day to come. This is quickly followed by the inspiring perfume of percolating coffee, and in serving the coffee its smell stays in the air all morning.  I particularly relish the fairground’s smell of the whipped sugar of cotton candy when I open a new twenty-five pound bag of sugar to put into the “sugar bucket” from which sugar containers are filled.  

There is also the acrid incense of cigarette smoke from guests gathered in the yard.  (No smoking is allowed in the house or on the front porch).  Sometimes I catch the faint whiff of alcohol on a guest’s breath.  In the house, some guests carry the smell of dried sweat, which becomes especially pungent as the weather warms. 

From time to time, when doing the laundry, there is the stench of human excrement and urine on the clothes.  The lack of access to bathrooms is made odiferously concrete.  Sorting clothes from the laundry bucket there is often the smell of earth and leaves and twigs from the pants and sweatshirts that have been lived in and slept in on the ground.  Countering those smells is the fragrance of laundry soap and bleach. 

From the shower room there are the fresh scents of soap and shampoo and clean water.  Just outside the shower room there is also the faint trace of body and foot powder and deodorant as guests emerge from taking their showers.  Some guests also add a dash of aftershave or cologne to complete their transformation.

When a guest exchanges their old shoes for a used but slightly newer pair, the stink of old shoes and sweaty feet gives way to the welcome relief of a somewhat cleaner smell from the new shoes. 

Back in the sorting room, as we go through donations, there is the musty smell of clothes that have been in closets or drawers too long.  Or sometimes there is a mysterious whiff that summons the question, “What’s that smell?”

At the end of the day, when bathrooms, and showers, and the kitchen need to be cleaned, the scents of Scrubbing Bubbles, vinegar water, Lysol, toilet cleaner and dish soap all announce their presence.

            Although there are a variety of smells in a morning of offering hospitality, I return finally to Paul’s emphasis which was on the “pleasing aroma of Christ.”  That “pleasing aroma” can certainly be detected in the specific scents of delicious coffee and clean guests coming out of the shower room.  But it is most fully savored in the hospitality offered all morning as our guests share with us the aroma of Christ they bring.