Epiphany - Chalk House Blessing
Happy Epiphany! One of my goals for the new year was to grow spiritually. The other was to share more of how my family celbrates the liturgical calendar and how my husband and I help teach our children about our faith. If you don't know we're a Catholic family and today marks the twelveth day of Christmas and the arrival of the Maggi to the smallest and frailest of kings, Jesus. To mark this day, my kids received a few small gifts, to celebrate the arrival of Three Kings. We also blessed our home, which traditionally Catholics call an Epiphany - Chalk House Blessing.Yesterday we attended the vigil mass after a fun visit to a local park to spend some time with farm animals. I was hoping it would give my kids a sense of what it may have been like in the manger with a newborn and... cows. Not sure I succeeded, in that regard... I'll share pictures from our fun afternoon later in the week.We also blessed our home for the year with the following on the lintel of our front door 20 + C + M + B + 19This isn't algebra, it's a centuries-old Catholic tradition of blessing one's home. You don't see it too often here in the States, but in Europe, we saw it a lot. If you're a Catholic (heck even if you're not) I invite you to bless your home. It's a beautiful and simple way to invite Jesus into your home and ask him to bless your family and all who enter into it for the year.The numbers represent the year we're in 2019. The plus signs represent the Cross, and the letters: C, M, B, are to represent the traditional names of the Three Wise Men or Three Kings, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless the house.”Catholic's traditionally use chalk blessed at the vigil Mass, but if you don't have it, you can say a simple prayer over it. It need not be overly complicated, simplicity is probably best. This chalk blessing and prayer are what we used.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiitng my home on the Internet. I pray you will be blessed with an abundance of love and joy, this year and always.xo