FSSP Priest blessing a parishioners home (inscription with chalk)
Please ask your local priest to use the Roman Ritual and perform the Epiphany House Blessing on your home. The ceremony is in the Roman Ritual, and the English translation is below for you to follow along. All Catholic priests may use the traditional Roman Ritual pursuant to Summorum Pontificum, without seeking any type of permission. The only blessing of Epiphany water in the State of Georgia will take place at St Francis de Sales, in Mableton Ga. on Saturday January 5th (Vigil of the Epiphany) at 6:00 o'clock pm. The chalk and incense used in the blessing are actually blessed on the day of the Epiphany. For directions to the church see
http://stfrancisdesalesatl.com/
BLESSING OF HOMES During the Season of Epiphany
It is that time of year for your priest to come to your home and bless your house during the Octave of the Epiphany. He will use the Epiphany water blessed at vespers on the Vigil of the Epiphany and the chalk and incense blessed on the Feast of the Epiphany. Here is the English translation of the ritual.
( Please note the Father of the House will lead the priest from room to room with a lighted blessed candle-also all who enter for the first time after the blessing do so with their right foot)
As the priest comes into the home he says:
P: God's peace be in this home.
All: And in all who live here.
P. Ant.: Magi from the East came to Bethlehem to adore the Lord; and opening their treasure chests they presented Him with precious gifts: gold for the great King, incense for the true God, and myrrh in symbol of His burial. Alleluia.
Canticle of the Magnificat
Luke 1.46-55
P: "My soul * extols the Lord;
All: And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Savior.
P: How graciously He looked upon His lowly maid! * Oh, see, from this hour onward age after age will call me blessed!
All: How sublime is what He has done for me, * the Mighty One, whose name is 'Holy'!
P: From age to age He visits those * who worship Him in reverence.
All: His arm achieves the mastery: * He routs the haughty and proud of heart.
P: He puts down princes from their thrones, * and exalts the lowly;
All: He fills the hungry with blessings, * and sends away the rich with empty hands.
P: He has taken by the hand His servant Israel, * and mercifully kept His faith,
All: As He had promised our fathers * with Abraham and his posterity forever and evermore."
P: Glory be to the Father.
All: As it was in the beginning.
Meanwhile the home is sprinkled with holy water and incensed. At the end of the Magnificat the antiphon is repeated. Then the priest says Our Father (the rest inaudibly until:)
P: And lead us not into temptation.
All: But deliver us from evil.
P: Many shall come from Saba.
All: Bearing gold and incense.
P: Lord, heed my prayer.
All: And let my cry be heard by you.
P: The Lord be with you.
All: May he also be with you.
Let us pray.
God, who on this day revealed your only-begotten Son to all nations by the guidance of a star, grant that we who now know you by faith may finally behold you in your heavenly majesty; through Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Responsory: Be enlightened and shine forth, O Jerusalem, for your light is come; and upon you is risen the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary.
P: Nations shall walk in your light, and kings in the splendor of- your birth.
All: And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
Let us pray.
Lord God almighty, bless
this home, and under its shelter let there be health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness, mildness, obedience to your commandments, and thanksgiving to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May your blessing remain always in this home and on those who live here; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.
Bless each room with incense and Epiphany Water. Write the Magi’s initials, connected by Crosses, and the year’s numbers over the exterior doors with the blessed chalk, like this:
MM+K+M+B+XIX
