The Blessing of Chalk

It has been a tradition in the Church to bless chalk at the masses for Epiphany, and then use the blessed chalk as part of blessing one’s home in the New Year.

The home blessing can be done as follows:
Use the blessed chalk to write:
 21+C+M+B+20
above the doorways. 2021 for the year; C, M, B for the 3 Magi – Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar – and for Christus Mansionem Benedicat, Latin for “May Christ Bless this House.”
As you are writing, pray one of the following prayers:

May all who come to our home this year rejoice to find Christ living among us; and may we seek and serve, in everyone we meet, that same Jesus who is Lord, forever and ever. Amen.
or
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. Fill us with the light of Christ, that our concern for others may reflect your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
Lord our God, bless this household. May we be blessed with health, goodness of heart, gentleness, and the keeping of your law. We give thanks to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
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The Epiphany Proclamation

To be said before the liturgy, or after the Gospel, or before the concluding blessing.
 
Dear brothers and sisters,
the glory of the Lord has shone upon us,
and shall ever be manifest among us,
until the day of his return.
 
Through the rhythms of times and seasons
let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.
Let us recall the year's culmination,
the Easter Triduum of the Lord:
his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial, and his rising celebrated between the evening of the ninth day of April and the evening of the eleventh day of April.
 
Each Easter – as on each Sunday –
the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed
by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.
From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.
Easter Sunday will occur on the Fourth day of April, 2021. 
 
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, will occur on the Seventeenth day of February, 2021.
 
The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on Thursday, the Thirteenth day of May, 2021.
 
Pentecost, joyful conclusion of the season of Easter, will be celebrated on the Twenty-third day of May, 2021.
 
Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the passover of Christ
in the feasts of the holy Mother of God,
in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints,
and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.
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To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, Lord of time and history, be endless praise, for ever and ever.
Amen.

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