The Epiphany and blessing of the Chalk

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OurLadyofSorrows

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This Sunday is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is a custom in some Parishes to bless chalk and take it home and use it to write a prayer ‘blessing’ on the home. Please note only a Priest can bless a home, laity use the chalk for a prayer on the lintel of the door most used at home.

There are a few old threads on this.
I will copy this one in as it includes a Priest discussing this custom.
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What to do with blessed chalk on Epiphany Liturgy and Sacraments
On Epiphany my family will do a traditional door blessing for the first time using blessed chalk. I read elsewhere on an old thread on this forum that you shouldn’t throw out the chalk after using it – that you should bury it or return it the parish. What if I plan to use it next Epiphany? Can I just store the chalk away?
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OurLadyofSorrows said:
Please note only a Priest can bless a home,
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From Book of Blessings, Chapter 11, Order for the Blessing of a New Home:

“661 The present order may be used by a priest or deacon. It may also be used by a layperson, who follows the rites and prayers designated for a lay minister.”

The ceremony includes:
"PRAYER OF BLESSING
673 A minister who is a priest or deacon says the prayer of blessing with hands outstretched; a lay minister says the prayer with hands joined.

Lord,
be close to your servants
who move into this home (today)
and ask for your blessing.
Be their shelter when they are at home,
their companion when they are away,
and their welcome guest when they return.
And at last receive them
into the dwelling place you have prepared for them
in your Father’s house,
where you live for ever and ever.
R. Amen."

In the Latin original n. 661 is n. 475 and n. 673 is n. 487.

[Excerpt from the English translation of Book of Blessings © 1987, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.]
 
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JohnLilburne said:
661 The present order may be used by a priest or deacon. It may also be used by a layperson, who follows the rites and prayers designated for a lay minister.”
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Please read my linked thread. Father David, a Priest on it states this, after the question is asked if laity can do the Epiphany blessing for the home, with holy water and the specific chalk marking.

“They (the laity) can mark their homes, but the homes won’t be “blessed.” Instead, it would be a prayer based on the blessing ritual.”

Here we read that laity are using the specific blessing ritual as a prayer of blessing where the Priest actually blesses the home.

Blessing homes annually or once by a Priest is a good day’s work for the Lord.

I wont comment on a Deacon because I dont know. Maybe a Deacon will comment here.
 
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I suggest that two things are being conflated here. As @OurLadyofSorrows says and we see from the priest in the cited older post that the layperson writing with the chalk on the house is not the layperson blessing the house. On the other hand @JohnLilburne is citing the ‘Blessing of a New Home’ from the Book of Blessings. I propose this sacramental of writing on your home with chalk blessed by a priest at Epiphany and blessing a new home are not the same thing.
 
Part of the ceremony that TheLittleLady to linked to, at http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-wor...ing-of-the-home-and-household-on-epiphany.cfm is
“Bless this house
and all who inhabit it.”

It is said by the leader. From the book Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers, ISBN 1555862926, it is clear that this is not limited to Priests. For example the introduction on page 11 has: “The leader generally should be the appropriate person, someone able to lead well, someone who can give the prayer dignity. Such dignity comes from how well the leader knows the place of prayer in a Christian’s life. In most families, the leader will not always be the same person.”
 
Thank you all for those links. I am going to ask the Priest taking the Latin Mass next Sunday to confirm if Laity can bless their home like a Priest would, with one of the ceremonies outlined (there are a few variations), Or if the Laity is doing something different.
 
OurLadyofSorrows said:
if Laity can bless their home like a Priest would, with one of the ceremonies outlined (there are a few variations), Or if the Laity is doing something different.
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Of course the laity is doing something different - your question will be misleading from the start. We do not bless as clergy do, but that does not mean we cannot bless our homes per the way described above.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
your question will be misleading from the start
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It is not intended to be misleading. I read this comment as quite uncharitable. I am going to respond.

This thread is intended to bring awareness of this tradition. A tradition engaged in today, at my Parish, after Mass, with exorcising of salt, and blessing of holy water and chalk.
There are numerous threads in years past, on this topic. In the thread I chose to link, after reading a few, of these old threads, Father David, a Priest , makes a clear statement about what laity are doing in stating “it would be a prayer based on the blessing ritual” I chose to link that thread precisely because Father David, as clergy, had engaged in it, he has made valuable contributions over the years on the old and new CAF, and we should be able to have trust in his guidance. As I certainly do with those clearly identified as clergy and religious.

The statement of Father David is quite different to the replies of yourself, thelittlelady and john, who have not identified as clergy. Is it a matter of semantics, on the clear meaning of words? Well it could be? Prayer vs Blessing. Unfortunately Fr David is not on the forum anymore to ask.
In matters like this I am informed by clergy as priority. Your statements, in my reading, are in conflict with that of a Priest. Now do not be offended by that , but know that this has me a little confused, as it probably does others who are reading. What is my course of action? Argue the point on CAF, remain confused? No. Instead…
As I stated, I will ask my clergy next Sunday, who will understand my question , and have no qualms about any ‘misleading’ intentions. After all, the Bishop and his clergy have given out blessed chalk and exorcised salt in real time, today on the Feast of the Epiphany. I am confident my question will not be novel to them.
 
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TheLittleLady said:
We lay persons bless things that are under our authority. Parents may bless their children, bless their food.
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We laity use what is termed “invocative blessings”. Here we are asking God to bless. I feel this is an important distinction. We ask God to bless when we employ the sacramental that is blessing.

“In an invocative blessing, the minister implores the divine favor of God to grant some spiritual or temporal good without any change of condition, such as when a parent blessed a child. This blessing is also a recognition of God’s goodness in bestowing this “blessing” upon us, such as when we offer a blessing for our food at meal time. In blessing objects or places, a view is also taken toward those who will use the objects or visit the places”
 
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My question that I cannot get a clear answer on is:
Does the chalk have to be blessed by a priest?
The closest thing I can come to is that a Lay person can do it but they must do it with clasped hands, not with open hands as a priest would.
 
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w01fpack said:
Does the chalk have to be blessed by a priest?
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Yes, most definitely. What the Bishop and Priests did yesterday was exorcise salt, bless water to make Holy Water, mix some of the salt with the Holy Water in another ceremonial rite of the process, and then bless and sprinkle the chalk with the salt holy water. The Bishop explained what he was doing… and did it all loud enough for us to hear. I was at a Latin Mass but this was all done in English.
It was a nice little ceremony at the end of Mass. We were then told how to write this year with the chalk, told what it means, and given the chalk. If asked the priests will come and bless your home, some people like to do this annually.
 
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As a sacramental, it can neither be valid nor invalid; validity is reserved to sacraments.
 
w01fpack said:
Does the chalk have to be blessed to be valid?
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Yes and by the clergy if you want it to become a sacramental. Using the blessing that also exorcises salt and Holy Water, then is used in the blessing of the chalk, is pretty ‘efficient’ in my opinion. (its what we do after Latin Mass within our Diocese, we also have Indian Priests in the English Mass who bless the Chalk after the Mass as well)
The reason we do this is because it is a wonderful sacramental and as with using exorcised salt, Holy Water, we invoke and request God to ward off evil in our homes.
Jen95 said:
Here is what the USCCB has to say. It’s one of those confusing issues post-Vatican II – can laypeople bless things and what is the nature of those blessings.
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There is one opinion amongst some clergy that the book of blessings could be revised and tightened up. Google will bring up a few opinions on its current format.
 
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What I meant was, does the chalk have to be blessed for the door blessing to be valid.
 
I understood that, but a blessing - of door, chalk, anything - doesn’t have “validity” per se.
 
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