In doing some reading about the Feast of the Epiphany, I like to encourage a custom of unknown origin that is often mentioned in connection with this day of celebration: the blessing and chalking of the house. Many versions of the ceremony that I’ve come across include these elements.The reciting of a blessing upon the house (or other dwelling) and those who inhabit it.
The blessing of a piece of chalk that is then used to write a formula above the entry of the house. The formula incorporates the current year with the initials of the wise men (whose names are not recorded in scripture but were given by tradition as Caspar [or Gaspar], Melchior, and Balthasar). This coming Epiphany, it would be written this way:
20 + C + M + B + 11
Some folks note that “C M B” can also stand for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat,” which means “May Christ bless this dwelling.”) This chalking is followed by the sprinkling of the door with holy water.
Like the Magi who brought their gifts to the dwelling place of Jesus, I invite you to imagine the coming year as a house—a space in time that is opening itself to all of us. How will we inhabit the coming year? How will we enter it with mindfulness and with intention? How will we move through the rooms of the coming months in a way that brings blessing to this world?
With these questions in mind, I offer this blessing for you.
The Year as a House: A Blessing
Think of the year as a house: door flung wide in welcome, threshold swept and waiting,
a graced spaciousness opening and offering itself to you.
Let it be blessed in every room. Let it be hallowed in every corner. Let every nook be a refuge and every object set to holy use.
Let it be here that safety will rest. Let it be here that health will make its home. Let it be here that peace will show its face. Let it be here that love will find its way.
Here let the weary come let the aching come let the lost come let the sorrowing come.
Here let them find their rest and let them find their soothing and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.
And may it be in this house of a year that the seasons will spin in beauty, and may it be
in these turning days that time will spiral with joy. And may it be that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace and light spill from every window to welcome the stranger home.
Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty.” (Psalm 84:1).
Lord I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that their homes may be a welcoming place for family and strangers. Wherever you make your home, may it be blessed, and may you enter this Epiphany and the coming year in peace.
