Feast of the Epiphany - Catholic Tradition to Bless the Lintel of your Front Door for the New Year

Adoration of the Magi - Domenico Ghirlandaio 

The Epiphany of the Lord
We Three Kings of Orient Are

 We three kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain, moor and mountain

Following yonder star

O Star of wonder, star of night

Star with royal beauty bright

Westward leading, still proceeding

Guide us to thy Perfect Light

Adoration of the Magi - Peter Paul Rubens

To orient ourselves means to get our bearings, to know where we are, or to find ourselves. Today the Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord, the day when Tradition tells us, that Magi bearing gifts traveled from the Orient following a star seeking the “newborn king of the Jews” in Bethlehem. As they gazed upon this newborn king, the baby Jesus, they “found themselves” suddenly aware that what they were witnessing, what had been “made known” to them, was the manifestation of Christ not only to themselves, but to all peoples. The Magi had experienced an epiphany; or rather they experienced The Epiphany.

Adoration of the Magi - Hieronymus Bosch

House Blessing on the Epiphany

It is a Catholic custom to gather as a family and ask God’s blessing on their home on the Feast of the Epiphany by marking the lintel of the front door with chalk blessed by a priest.

We were first introduced to this at Mass in Winters, California in 2012.  It is an invitation for Jesus to be a daily guest in our home, our comings and goings, our conversations, our work and play, our joys and sorrows all year long.  It has been our tradition ever since.

Use white chalk blessed by your parish priest, and write the numbers and letters 20 + C + M + B + whatever the year is on the lintel of your front door frame. This year we write 20 + C + M + B + 20.  Then offer a simple prayer to God asking for His blessings such as:

Bless, O Lord God almighty, this home, that in it there may be health, purity, the strength of victory, humility, goodness and mercy, the fulfillment of thy law, and thanksgiving to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  And may this blessing remain upon our home and upon all who enter or dwell herein.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

The letters C, M, B have two meanings:

They are the initials of the traditional names of the three magi: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. 

They also abbreviate the Latin words Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ bless this house.”

The “+” sign represents the cross and the number the year, 2020. 

May God bless you and yours during this new year. 

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Religious Art - Public Domain