Fr. Tony's Paw Prints Message
Friday Dec. 29, 2023
Epiphany Door Blessing
The Feast of the
Epiphany on January 6 (next Saturday) 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. In some traditions, the liturgical color is green (being the first
little bit of ordinary time before Lent that will be resumed after Eastertide
with the large season of ordinary time), in others, it is white for an expanded
Epiphany tide. In the old Sarum
(Salisbury Cathedral) use of pre-reformation England that served as the
mainstay for the first prayerbooks, its color was orange. Whatever
the color, the theme of the readings and hymns in church during this season start
with light and then focus on the wondrous deeds of Jesus in his ministry. For us here at St. Mark’s Medford, the Sunday
after Epiphany marks the start of the ministry of our new Rector, Fr. Les
Ferguson, and provides us an occasion to shine “this little light of mine” and
perhaps re-invent ourselves as a parish community.
The January 6th celebration commemorates the arrival of the
Magi told in Matthew 2: strange Persian religious figures (“wizards” is
the best translation of “magi” that I can think of who follow a star to find
the baby Jesus and come to pay him homage and to bring him gifts.
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 early 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+24
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 with you some of the blessed chalk we will be setting
out for you at the end of our Church service on this Sunday, and use the
following words as you write the blessing on the space above one of your
house’s doors:
[STAR]
20 + C + M + B + 24
“Lord Jesus, around two thousand (20) and twenty-four years (24) ago, by
the light of a great star (STAR) you showed the
way for the three Wise Men
Caspar
(C), Melchior (M),
and
Balthasar (B) to find you as a newborn baby (20+). Christ (C+) fill our
home (M+) with Your light and bless us (B+).
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.”
A happy bright new year to us all,
and to new and re-invigorated life in the parish with Fr. Les.
–Fr. Tony+
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