I don't burn incense but I light candles for the Aurora.

Is this a common thing for Catholics to do? (Other than at Mass, I mean)I always thought of it being some kind of  Buddhist or other Eastern religious habit. I've wondered if it is okay to use scented candles during prayer. (Will a priest bless a scented candle?) I have asthma anyway, so it won't be happening here.

Check the Bible, incense has been used in worship and prayer from the earliest times.

From the Ecclesiastical dictionary dated 1900

"Incense is the most appropriate symbol of prayer.
In fact, it would be impossible to select any symbol better calculated to signify to us what our prayers should be.
The Incense cannot ascend on high unless it be first enkindled; so our prayers which are in reality the desires of the heart, cannot mount before the throne of heaven, unless that heart be glowing with the fire of God's holy love.
Nothing arises of the incense but what is of a grateful odor; we should therefore, ask of God, that He would prepare our hearts in a manner that such petitions may be breathed from them as a holy fragrance; we should exclaim with the Psalmist; "Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight: (Ps. cxl.2)"


I remember incense in the house around the second World War but after the 1950's people stopped using it.  Another tradition gone by the wayside.

 :geezer:

I think it is fairly common.  I see the ads for home incense and burners in all type of Catholic catalogs.

I don't burn incense because it makes me cough.

Here's one choice:

incense