Fr. Tony's Midweek Message
White Gifts, Epiphany Door Blessing
The Feast of the Epiphany on January 6
(next Tuesday) commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the world. The
word Epiphany comes from the Greek word for manifestation or to
show forth. Epiphany falls on the twelfth day of Christmas and
thus ends Christmastide. It begins a period before Lent where the Church
focuses on who Jesus really is. The theme of the readings and hymns in
church start with light and then focus on the wondrous deeds of Jesus in his
ministry.
The January 6th celebration commemorates the arrival of the Magi told in Matthew 2: strange Persian religious figures follow a star to find the baby Jesus and come to pay him homage and to bring him gifts. This coming Sunday, January 4, we will be celebrating at Trinity the Second Sunday of Christmas, with the Gospel story of the 12 year-old boy Jesus in the Temple. This is because we are going to be having a special Epiphany Service on Tuesday January 6 at 6 p.m. that uses the Magi reading.
The January 6th celebration commemorates the arrival of the Magi told in Matthew 2: strange Persian religious figures follow a star to find the baby Jesus and come to pay him homage and to bring him gifts. This coming Sunday, January 4, we will be celebrating at Trinity the Second Sunday of Christmas, with the Gospel story of the 12 year-old boy Jesus in the Temple. This is because we are going to be having a special Epiphany Service on Tuesday January 6 at 6 p.m. that uses the Magi reading.
Though January 4 will not be a Three
Kings Sunday this year, we will still be honoring some of the Epiphany traditions
that day: the children will move the Magi
figures to the crèche, we will offer our “White Gifts” after the
homily. This will be the culmination of
our holiday gift giving, gifts for the needy in the community wrapped in white
to establish anonymity and as a symbol of the light that Epiphany
celebrates. We will also bless chalk for
the annual Epiphany door blessing in our homes.
For centuries, Western Christians (those stemming from the Latin-speaking Church) have had a special tradition of celebrating the end of the Christmas season and praying for blessings in the New Year. It is a practice of simple January 6 door decoration. Since the Middle Ages, some Christians have marked the doors to their homes with the year, the letters C, M and B, and four crosses. They generally mark these in chalk above the main entrance to their homes. This year’s marking is this: 20+C+M+B+15
The letters C, M, and B stand for the names ascribed to the wise men in medieval poetry (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar). They also stand for the Latin phrase of blessing: Christus mansionem benedicat, translated as “May Christ bless this house.”
If you would like to bless your home for the New Year and mark it with chalk on January 6, please take some of the blessed chalk with you at the end of Mass on Sunday, and use the following words as you write the blessing on the space above one of your house’s doors:
“Lord Jesus, around two thousand (20) and fifteen years (15) ago, by the light of a great star you showed the way for the three Wise Men, (C) Caspar, (M) Melchior, (B) and Balthasar to find you as a newborn baby. Christ (++) fill our home with Your light, and bless us (++), and remain with us throughout this New Year. You are the Son of God made flesh, and showed yourself to the whole world. Help us now to show forth Your light to all through our acts of love incarnate. Amen.”
–Fr. Tony+
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