A central European tradition has caught on in St Johns Wood – albeit in a rather sanitised form!
The tradition is to bless chalk for writing an Epiphany Blessing over the front door, invoking God’s blessing on the New Year. Chalking walls does not go down big in St Johns Wood, but sticking up cards seems more acceptable, and indeed rather popular.
Copies of the card are available at Mass today, and from the entrance to the church through the week. They are also being distributed at St Edward’s and St Joseph’s schools.
Decoding the Epiphany Blessing
- The ‘*’ symbolises the star that led the wise men to Jesus.
- The letters ‘C’, ‘M’, and ‘B’ signify the Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
- The three crosses signify the Holy Trinity made known to us through the Incarnation.
- Encompassing them all is the year we have just entered into: ‘2015’.
- The initials, C, M, B, can also be interpreted as the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat which means “Christ bless this house”.
And the line from Pope Francis? A reminder of the Proclaim ’15 work in the parish – responding to the call to the New Evangelisation.
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