Epiphanytide

 

Either on Twelfth Night (5 January), the twelfth day of Christmastide and eve of the feast of the Epiphany, or on Epiphany Day (6 January) itself, many Christians (including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, among others) write on their doors with chalk in a pattern such as 20 ✝ C ✝ M ✝ B ✝ 21, with the numbers referring "to the calendar year (20 and 21, for instance, for this year, 2021); the crosses stand for Christ; and the letters have a two-fold significance: C, M and B are the initials for the traditional names of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar), but they are also an abbreviation of the Latin blessing Christus mansionem benedicat, which means, May Christ bless this house."^[2] Another form, for Three Kings day, is to mark the door with IIIK (the Roman numeral three followed by "K" for "Kings").

Chalking the door is done most commonly on Epiphany Day itself, although it can be done on any day of the Epiphany season.^[3] In some localities the chalk used to write the Epiphanytide pattern is blessed by a Christian priest or minister on Epiphany Day, then taken home to write the pattern.

The Christian custom of chalking the door has a biblical precedent as the Israelites in the Old Testament marked their doors in order to be saved from death; likewise, the Epiphanytide practice serves to protect Christian homes from evil spirits until the next Epiphany Day, at which time the custom is repeated. Families also perform this act to represent the hospitality of the Holy Family to the Magi (and all Gentiles); it thus serves as a house blessing to invite the presence of God in one's home. From the Catholic Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments:

The blessing of homes, on whose lintels are inscribed the Cross of salvation, together with the indication of the year and the initials of the three wise men (C+M+B), which can also be interpreted to mean Christus mansionem benedicat, written in blessed chalk; this custom, often accompanied by processions of children accompanied by their parents, expresses the blessing of Christ through the intercession of the three wise men and is an occasion for gathering offerings for charitable and missionary purposes.

Traditional Latin Christmas Mass

 

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1 John 4:4

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Padre Pio The Secret Of The Stigmata

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The Baby Jesus Appears To St. Francis of Assisi In Greccio, Italy

 

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Merry Christmas From The Portiuncula (next to the former Immaculate Conception Church) in Ozark, Ohio

 

My Great-Great Uncle, George Cosmos (Cose) Burkhard (Born 2 Sep 1869 and died 25 Apr 1962) along with his niece, Mary Burkhard (Born 27, April 1888 and died 14 Sep 1958) , standing in front of the Immaculate Conception Church sometime in the late 1950's. Cose and Mary were my Godparents.

The church was torn down in 1981.

We are rebuilding the church but this time we are building it just inside the Portiuncula Franciscan Hermitage and Retreat Center's property to ensure it won't be destroyed again. Also, we will be duplicating the Portiuncula Chapel that is located on the campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville. 

Monroe County, Ohio Catholics are invited to pre-plan their funerals at their convenience. Here is ours:

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Begging For Stones

 

Monroe County, Ohio Catholics are being asked to collect all their field stones and drop them off at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Cemetery on Ozark-Eddy Bridge Road so that we can duplicate this Portiuncula Chapel located at the Franciscan University of Steubenville

Francis set to begging for stones with which to restore the church of San Damiano. He called to the passers-by: "Whoever gives me one stone will have one reward; two stones, two rewards; three stones, a treble reward!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Legend of the Three Companions
CHAPTER VII

Please note : We are begging our Catholic brothers and sisters in Monroe County, Ohio to round up all their field stones and dump them into the woods next to the Church of the Immaculate Conception Cemetery on Ozark-Eddy Bridge Road (in the direction of the large white house towards Woodsfield). These stones will be used to erect the Portiuncula Chapel.

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Scatter Wheat And Grain On Christmas Day

All mayors and lords of castles and towns are required each year on Christmas Day to order their subjects to scatter wheat and other grain on the roads outside the walls so that our sisters the larks and other birds might have something to eat on so festive a day.

Mirror of Perfection - 114

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Miracle Of The Hay

 

The hay that had been placed in the manger at Greccio was kept, so that the Lord might save beasts of burden and other animals through it. And in truth it happened that many animals throughout that region, beasts of burden and others with various illnesses, were freed from their ailments after eating of this hay. Indeed, some women who had been laboring for a long time in a difficult birth delivered their children easily when some of this hay was placed upon them; and a large number of persons of both sexes, suffering from various illnesses, obtained the health sought in the same way.

Today, the place on which the manger stood is consecrated to the Lord by a church, and over the manger there is an altar dedicated to St. Francis, so that where once the animals ate the hay, now people eat to health of soul and body the flesh of the Lamb without blemish and without spot, our Lord Jesus Christ, who in highest and ineffable love gave himself to us, and lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God eternally glorious, forever and ever. Amen, Alleluia, Alleluia.

Celano - First Life

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The Star Of Bethlehem

 

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A Thorn Between Two Roses

Left to Right:  Congressman David McIntosh (R-IN), Chris Dickson (Republican Candidate for the Indiana General Assembly)  Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich 

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Photos Taken While Sitting On Our Back Yard Swing At The Portiuncula Hermitage

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Ran Into An Old Friend Of Mine

 

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Evening Time At The Portiuncula Hermitage

 

Marshmallows anyone?

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Fr. Timothy Davison In Woodsfield, Ohio on August 21, of 2021

 

Photo of Fr. Timothy Davison taken in front of the Woodsfield, Ohio County Court House where Fr. Tim led the Catholic faithful in praying a Rosary before the Traveling Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the protection of our most precious Unborn.  

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Photo Taken of Dr. Alveda King Along With Fra Chris Dickson, on Pro Life Sunday

 

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Please enjoy this Eucharistic Music Video sent to me by Theresa Thomas back in 2006

 

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The beautiful monastery at Greccio where St. Francis created the first live Christmas nativity.

 

“The man of God (Francis) stood before the manger, full of devotion and piety, bathed in tears and radiant with joy.”  St. Bonaventure (contemporary of St. Francis and biographer)

His face was wet with his own tears as Francis of Assisi stood before the people of the little town of Greccio one Christmas Eve long ago. With great tenderness and humility, he told them the story of the first Christmas. Behind him was a cave with two of the village people dressed as Mary and Joseph, and a wax baby representing Jesus. An Ox and donkey stood beside them. Mary was bending over the baby lying on a bed of straw. Francis turned to behold the love of his life, the Babe of Bethlehem, and he fell down in weeping adoration.

“The brethren were summoned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices, and that venerable night was made glorious by many with brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise.”

Greccio, a little town in Umbria, had experienced the extraordinary that Christmas eve in 1226. St. Francis of Assisi had assembled a live nativity scene in a cave on the outskirts of town to show the humble birth of Christ. The townspeople gathered around, full of wonder and expectation.

“the Holy Gospel was chanted by Francis…. Then he preached to the people around the nativity of the poor king; and being unable to utter His name for the tenderness of His love, He called Him the Babe of Bethlehem.”  Prior to this, mass on Christmas eve was spoken in Latin, which the people could not understand.

Francis encouraged the people to reject hatred and embrace love, with the help of God. Whether you remain a sceptic or not, the message of St. Francis resounds with hope for our individual worlds as well as the one we all share. As the hay was gathered up later and fed to the animals, a miracle occurred. The cattle were cured of their diseases. The people believed that God had honored his servant Francis.

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We Should See And Believe

 

Just as Jesus Christ appeared to the shepherds and the three wise men, so now he shows himself to us in consecrated bread; and as with their physical sight they saw only his flesh, but with the eyes of faith, they believed that he was God, so too, now, though we see bread and wine with the eyes of our body, we should see with the eyes of faith and firmly believe that it is his Most Holy Body and Blood, living and true.

Fra Chris

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The Smoke House At The Portiuncula Hermitage In Ozark, Ohio

 

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Fasting On Chritmas

 

When the question arose about eating meat that day, since Christmas day fell on a Friday, Brother Francis replied, saying to Brother Morico, "You sin, Brother, calling the day on which the Child was born to us a day of fast. It is my wish," he said, "that even the walls should eat meat on such a day, and if they cannot, they should be smeared with meat on the outside!"

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, Second Life
Chapter CLI

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Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

 

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St. Francis of Assisi Built The Very First Nativity Scene in Greccio

 

What Francis did on the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ near the little town called Greccio in the third year before his glorious death should be especially noted and recalled with reverent memory. In that place there was a certain man named John, of good reputation and an even better life, whom blessed Francis loved with a special love, for in the place where he lived he held a noble and honorable position in as much as he had trampled upon the nobility of his birth and pursued nobility of soul. Blessed Francis sent for this man, as he often did, about fifteen days before the birth of the Lord, and he said to him: "If you want us to celebrate the present feast of our Lord at Greccio, go with haste and diligently prepare what I tell you. For I wish to do something that will recall to memory the little Child who was born in Bethlehem and set before our bodily eyes in some way the inconveniences of his infant needs, how he lay in a manger, how, with an ox and an ass standing by, he lay upon the hay where he had been placed." When the good and faithful man heard these things, he ran with haste and prepared in that place all the things the saint had told him.

The manger was prepared, the hay had been brought, the ox and the ass were led in. There simplicity was honored, poverty was exalted, humility was commended, and Greccio was made, as it were, a new Bethlehem.

Saint Francis of Assisi
Celano, First Life
CHAPTER XXX

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God Chose An Unborn Child To Announce The Coming Of His Son!

 

As soon as Mary received the announcement from the angel, she went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth, who was with child. And the unborn child, John the Baptist, rejoiced in Elizabeth's womb. How wonderful it was...Almighty God chose an unborn child to announce the coming of His Son!

This was the first Eucharist: the gift of God's Son establishing Mary as the first altar, the first tabernacle. Mary is the only one able to confirm in complete sincerity, "This is my body!"

Fra Chris Dickson, F.L.A.

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Are We Too Embarrassed To Pray Before Meals In A Restaurant?

 

When dining out at a restaurant, do we say Grace, making the Sign of the Cross before and after praying? Or are we more concerned about the people who may laugh at us? Perhaps if they see us Crossing ourselves in public they will be emboldened enough to do it themselves next time. 

Fra Chris

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"Stations of the Cross" Originated From The Franciscans

 

 FUS students praying at the outdoor Stations of the Cross on the 

campus of the Franciscan University of Steubenville

The emperor Constantine permitted Christians to legally worship in the Roman Empire in 313 after 250 years of persecution. In 335, he erected the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at the site where Jesus’ tomb was believed to have been. Processions of pilgrims to the church, especially during Holy Week, began soon after its completion.

Devotions to the Way of the Cross began in earnest after 1342, when the Franciscan friars were given custody of the holy sites in the Holy Land. The Franciscans have been closely identified with the devotion ever since; for years, Church regulations required a set of the stations to be blessed by a Franciscan when possible.

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Solitude...Silence...Stillness

 

Solitude, silence and stillness help us connect to God, but he doesn't intend for us to hoard them. Rather, we are to share them with the world. The genius of the Franciscan Movement is that it balances quiet meditation with preaching. Intimacy with God builds up a foundation through which we discover intimacy with our brothers and sisters in Christ! 

Fra Chris

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The Breviary Was Originated By The Franciscans

 

Franciscans are itinerant ministers called to travel throughout the world preaching repentance and penance. At first, in the early thirteenth century, this exempted them from praying the Office of the Hours in a church or monastery. Also, the complete Office of the Hours was very large and bulky, consisting of several volumes of books, making it impossible to carry them all around when walking from town to town. Therefore, they developed a briefer version of the Office of Hours called the Breviary. As the friars carpeted Europe they spread the use of the Breviary throughout the entire Church. ~ Fra Chris

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Advent

 

"When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming."

(CCC524)

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Have You Done Your Best?

 

"God will not ask how many books you have read; how many miracles you have worked; He will ask you if you have done your best, for the love of Him."   

~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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