This Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Epiphany. I must admit that I was delighted at the opportunity to (re)introduce the tradition of blessing chalk for use in blessing the doors of one’s house on this day. Taken from the old Roman Ritual, the blessing itself speaks to the intention of the house blessing:
“Bless, + O Lord God, this creature chalk to render it helpful to men. Grant that they who use it in faith and with it inscribe upon the entrance of their homes the names of thy saints, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, may through their merits and intercession enjoy health of body and protection of soul. Through Christ our Lord.”
In the course of actually using the chalk (see the blessing text below – a printable PDF for anyone who wants to bless their home!), the year and the initials of the three magi are inscribed above the doorway: “20+C+M+B+25”. There’s a few things to love about this. It’s always great to create an opportunity for families to pray together and for their home to be blessed (each year!), but my favorite is that the inscription is sure to start conversations where we can share our faith in both explanation and practice – after all, you don’t have to be Catholic to take part in this tradition! It’s like a secret Catholic code that anyone can learn, share, and enjoy đ
I hope you’ll join me in blessing your home (and office…. and really, any doorway!) – and inviting others to do the same – as we begin in earnest the new year. May the Lord grant us many graces as we prepare to move from the joys of Christmas to the work & ministry of Ordinary Time.
January 5 – In the archdiocese of Seattle (among others) we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany to the Sunday after January 1 (transferred from its default place according to the Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, #37). Following the star that led them to the place of Christ’s birth, the magi presented their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrhh to the Lord. Each of these has a traditional symbolism: gold for Christ’s kingship, frankincense for His worship, and myrhh (used at burials) foreshadowing His death. Read about Saint Gregory the Great’s reflection on how we might mirror these gifts in our lives at Aleteia.
January 6 – Today is the memorial of Saint AndrĂ© Bessette. Born in Montreal, he applied to the Congregation of the Holy Cross (a religious community perhaps most famously known for founding Notre Dame). At first, he was not accepted due to his poor health but was ultimately accepted due to the urging of the bishop. He had an extraordinary devotion to Saint Joseph – to whom he attributed the healing of many sick people who came to him for application of the oil from the chapel lamp that he rubbed on those who came to him. So many people came that a new chapel – the Oratory on Mount Royal – was eventually built, which is where he ended up being buried at the age of 92. Read more about him at the Holy Cross website.
January 7 – As an enthusiast of canon law, today’s saint (Saint Raymond of Penyafort) is one I am particularly happy to celebrate. A Dominican of the thirteenth century, he was a lawyer and a scholar. As a novice he was directed to develop a book of case studies for confessors which ended up assisting in the formation of the penitential system of the medieval church. Some time later, Pope Gregory IX brought him to Rome as his confessor where Raymond ended up collecting all the decrees of popes and councils since 1150. So well did he arrange these documents that canonists referenced them until the first formal codification of canon law in 1917! Read more about him at the Vatican News website.
January 9 – Today isn’t a feast day, but it is notable because it is the anniversary of the beginning of the trial against Saint Joan of Arc 594 years ago in 1431. In a time when she was unjustly questioned & condemned through the manipulations of bishops loyal to the English government, she remained faithful even at her execution. The finding of her as a heretic was overturned nearly twenty years later and she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Read Pope Benedict XVI’s reflection on her from one of his general audiences in 2011.
Priests celebrating their anniversaries this week
- Rev. Joseph Long Tran (January 6, 1996)
- Rev. Thomas McMichael (January 10, 2009)
- Rev. David Kim, S.D.D. (January 10, 2015)
Remembering our deceased priests
- Fr. William J. O’Brien (January 5, 1970)
- Fr. William Carey (January 7, 1973)
- Fr. Emile Kauten (January 7, 1912)
- Fr. John A. McCorristin (January 10, 1969)
- Fr. John E. O’Brien (January 10, 1942)
- Fr. Theodore O. Sondergeld (January 11, 2005)
1/12/25
Father Maurer,
I suspect that comments are closed for your 1/5-11 post and that is fine. And because I don’t have access to your private e-mail (OK with that), my thoughts will more than likely be ‘seen and not heard’ here.
1. THANK YOU for the framed display of the ‘Prayers at the foot of the altar’ and of ‘The Last Gospel’. In addition, I have heard that you use Canon I on Sundays and often skip the sign of peace among the people. And the biretta?? Hmmm! Could these be some hints of being a ‘priest of the Roman Rite?’
2. Father, you ARE an ‘alter Christus’ and, as such, it causes me pain in my heart to see you and all celebrants of the NO ‘remembering the Supper of the Lord’ around a table rather than ‘reenacting His Sacrifice on the Cross’ on an altar. With all that has been said and written about the preparation of the NO by Archbishop Bugnini (a Freemason)and his consultation with 6 Protestant Pastors to confirm that everything that may offend Protestants was removed from the TLM, one can see his ultimate purpose was to destroy the Church. It was almost 60 years before I knew I had been attending a Protestant Rite! I had never attended one and didn’t recognize one when I did!! I was among those obedient Catholics who followed whatever came from Rome. Not anymore.
The new ‘Rite’ explains the comfort felt by converts who have told us Catholics many times that they have everything we have … except the Eucharist. Well, now ‘they’ have that, too, as converts, and have also brought their way of worshipping, e.g., raising hands/arms during the Our Father and a total disregard for the thing we Catholics call ‘rubrics’.
3. Father, if you were to consider offering the TLM, no doubt you would risk being cancelled. On the other hand, I see your obedience as first to God and then to His vicar on earth. Is THAT worth the risk???
Lastly, Father, my comments come from experience and reading. Tell me where I am wrong.
I encourage you to re-consider the path of disobedience that you have chosen (your own self-description, please note), as well as the grave misunderstanding & dismissal of the Ordinary Form of the Mass. It would be helpful to re-visit the Church’s teaching on the Mass – teachings that demonstrate the continuity of Christ & His Church’s teaching from the Last Supper & His Passion, through the various forms of the Mass, up to and including the Ordinary Form – a good place to start would be 1382 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I have removed your name from your comments for your own privacy – should you wish to have a conversation about these things, please call me at the parish office.