Overview
This blessing, which is traditionally done on Epiphany or shortly after Epiphany, can be done at any time of the year to ask God’s blessing of protection over your home so that all who enter and depart this year may enjoy God’s blessing.
The inscription is made above your front door, which is the “threshold” of your home. It is recommended that it be done on the inside of your doorway to avoid it being washed or rubbed off from the outside. This inscription and the prayer that follow act as an invocation for the protection of God in His angels and in His saints. The letters have two meanings. They are the initials of the names of the three Magi: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also represent the first letters of the Latin blessing: “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” (“May Christ bless the house”). The crosses represent the protection of the Precious Blood of Christ, whom we invoke, and the holiness of the Magi who adored the infant Jesus.
This blessing is good for one year and should be redone annually.
The inscription and the prayer below should be performed by the head of the household (ideally the one who holds title of the house or who has signed the lease). If your home has never been blessed by a priest, you may want to have this done as well.
What is needed
- Chalk that has been blessed by a Catholic priest (if your doorway is white you may want to use colored chalk).
- Holy Water (ideally holy water that was made using the the old book of blessings)
- The following prayers. The longer prayer after the inscription has been found by exorcists to be particularly effective.
The Epiphany Inscription
As you are writing the symbols 20 + C + M + B + 21 the following prayer is said:
In the year of our Lord, two thousand (write the 20 at the front) and twenty-one (write the 21 at the end),
Christus (write the C), Mansionem (write the M) Benedicat (write the B), may Christ bless this home,
Through the intercession (write the first +) of Caspar (write the second +) Melchior (write third +) and Balthasar (write the fourth +).
Threshold Prayer to Invoke God’s protection
(the one recommended by exorcists)
Sacred is this threshold of our home and holy is this door.
This is the meeting place of friend, neighbor, and stranger.
May it be a bridge for our comings and goings.
Whenever we stand in its sacred circle, may our eyes be granted new vision,
so that we can see in friend or stranger the God of ten thousand disguises.
May this threshold be a sacred space where we come to celebrate the Sacrament of Hospitality.
May the spirits of evil never cross this threshold,
and may the Name of the All-Holy-One protect our home from harm.
May God’s angels stand guard at the right and the left of this opening
to grace our comings and goings.
May we who live in this home guard the sacredness of this doorway.
May our hearts be always alert to the danger of falseness and pretense
as we greet those who come to our door.
Let our affection be graced with honesty and reverence,
and may the oil of truth burn in the lamp of our eyes.
Help us to remember that our ancestors were strangers and exiles in Egypt,
that Joseph and Mary came knocking at a door like this, weary and in search of kindness.
May we receive all at this door as Godly guests.
May the blessing of God, and peace and grace of the All-Holy-One,
surround this threshold and rest upon all who shall pass across it. R. Amen.
Holy Water is then sprinkled in every room of the house while praying the rosary or singing a hymn. The inscription written with blessed chalk should not be removed until the next year when a new threshold blessing is performed.