Happy New Year! I pray your New Year has gotten off to a good start, and what better way for us to begin than by celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany today! The wise men - the magi, reveal to us that God is with us through the three gifts they present to Jesus. Gold represents purity and the office of king that is Christ's, while incense represents the presence of God and Jesus' priestly role of himself being the sacrifice, and myrrh represents Christ's prophetic role (myrrh prophecies the death of Jesus) of announcing the will and plan of God. Myrrh (death) represents how Christ the high priest (incense) will rule as king (gold) over sin and death. How amazing!
As Christians we are called to do the same to die to sin, thus sanctifying our lives, and to rule with Christ the King. One way we can do that today is by blessing our homes with chalk, incense, and holy water. We place the marks 20+C+M+B+24 above the outside of our doors, remembering at the same time the names of the three wise men who came to visit Jesus C=Caspar, M=Melchor, B=Balthasar, as well as the Latin phrase Cristus Mansionem Benedicat (May Christ Bless this home).There are blessed home blessing packets available as well as bilingual sheets for you to use to bless your home. There will also be holy water bottles available outside the church along with hand-held incense burners you can purchase to burn the incense and walk through your home to bless your home. Incense, as we read in Revelation 8:4 represents your prayers as well as the Presence of God.
I pray we can take this time to gather to pray together as a family in our homes and to be intentional about making our homes a place where Jesus dwells, because He first dwells in our hearts.
Christus Mansionem Benedicat!May Christ bless your home! 20+C+M+B+24!