House Blessing for Epiphany

[Basilisa Marie]

Hey friends. 

Here's a House Blessing for Epiphany. 

All the cool kids are doing it. 

A House Blessing for Epiphany

 

 

On the Feast of Epiphany, we celebrate the time when the Three Wise Men (sometimes called Magi) visited Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and offered them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Epiphany is twelve days after Christmas.

This year we celebrate it on Sunday, January 3^rd, 2016.

 

One way to celebrate this day is to celebrate the old Christian tradition of blessing your house with chalk. On the inside lintel of the front door, we write this inscription:

 

20 + C + M + B + 16

 

The “20” and “16” are the two halves of the current year. The letters have two meanings. The letters are the initials of the traditional names of the Three Wise Men: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. They also stand for the Latin words “Christus Mansionem Benedicat,” which means “May Christ bless this house!” The crosses remind us of Christ, whom we are asking to bless all who live in and visit the home. You can use the following blessing to write the inscription above your door, or somewhere on top of the door frame.

 

All begin by praying an Our Father. Then the Leader says and writes:

 

“The Three Wise Men, Caspar…”

Write the letter C

“Melchior…”

Write the letter M

“and Balthasar…”

Write the letter B

“followed the star of God’s Son, Who became man, Two Thousand…”

Write the number 20

“and Sixteen years ago.”

Write the number 16

“May Christ bless our home…”

Write the first two crosses

“and remain with us through the new year.”

Write the last two crosses

 

Then everyone prays together:

 

Almighty God, incline your ear. Bless us and all who are gathered here. Make the door of my house wide enough to receive all who need human love and companionship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be neither stumbling block to children nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter’s power. O God, make the door of my house the gateway to Your eternal Kingdom. We ask these things in the Name of Jesus Christ Your Son. Amen.

 

[MarysLittleFlower]

Our priest did this last year he also blessed our whole apartment with holy water and brought incense! It was a whole ceremony

Edited January 3, 2016 by MarysLittleFlower

[Nihil Obstat]

My priests do this every year. This is the first year I get to participate. ^_^

[sr.christinaosf]

At the local parish here, I believe they give out blessed chalk so parishioners can write on their doorframes.