Epiphany Home Blessing Instructions:

• Gather at your manger scene. All make the sign of the cross.
• Leader: Peace be with this house and with all who live here. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
• All respond: Now and forever.
• Leader: During these days of the Christmas season, we keep this feast of Epiphany, celebrating the manifestation of Christ to the Magi, to John in the River Jordan, and to the disciples at the wedding of Cana. Today Christ is manifest to us! Today this home is a holy place. Listen to the words of the Holy Gospel according to John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was God in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-3, 14 (alt reading Matthew 2:1-12). This is the Gospel of the Lord.
• All respond: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
• Everyone then processes from one room to another. In each room, God’s blessing is asked on all that takes place in that room. Blessed water may be carried and sprinkled.
• When all return to the starting place, pray The Lord’s Prayer followed by silence.
• Leader: 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. Let us bless the Lord.
• All respond, making the sign of the cross: Thanks be to God. 
• The blessing concludes with an appropriate song, for example, “O Come All Ye Faithful” or “We Three Kings.”
• In chalk, over each door of the home—external doors and bedrooms—write the following: 20+C+M+B+25

Note: The traditional markings of “CMB” refer to the names of the three Wise Men who visited the Holy Family at the Nativity — Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. “CMB” is also an abbreviation of the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates to “May Christ bless this home.” The numbers preceding and following symbolize the year, with crosses in between.