Celebrate the Epiphany this Sunday

Thank you "Catholic Icing" for the pic from 2011! 

A Church tradition my family has just started participating in in the past two years has quickly become one of my favorites. On the Sunday when we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany (when the three kings, after following the star find the new baby Jesus), we are given pieces of chalk to use to bless our home. The chalk is blessed by the priest, but I would venture to say God will still honor your request to bless your home even if you don't have the "special chalk".

Wanna do it too? Here's what you do:

Above your door (on the outside) write this:
20+C+M+B+13

The "20" and the "13" represent this calendar year, 2013 and the "C, M & B" are the first initials of what tradition tells us are the names of the three kings, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. The “C, M, B" also stands for the Latin blessing Christius Mansionem Benedicat which means “May Christ Bless this House”.

There is a pretty extensive blessing here you can say where the priest or head of the household leads and everyone else responds. But for the abbreviated version, which I am pretty sure is what is handed out with the chalk at my church, use this prayer:

Lord God of heaven and earth, you revealed your only begotten Son to every nation by the guidance of a star. Bless this house and all who inhabit it. May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness and the keeping of your law. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our love for each other may go out to all. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can involve all the kids where each person gets to write a different letter or number and every time you enter your home you'll be reminded that it is a home filled with people who know and serve the Lord!