BLESSING OF A HOME AT EASTER

It is an old tradition to have one’s home blessed during Easter time. The family can use the following rite on Easter Sunday or any other Sunday from Easter to Pentecost, especially before enjoying their main meal together. Use a branch blessed on Palm Sunday and Holy Water blessed during the Easter Vigil. One member of the family will be leading the prayers.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Blessed are you, Lord God, king of all creation:
through you goodness you have given this house to be a home for our family.
Let your peace remain with us always.
Let all who come here to share our life, find generosity, tranquility and happiness;
may they depart enriched by the joy of Christian living.
Blessed be God forever.

Lord God almighty,
hear the prayers of your people:
we celebrate our creation and redemption.
You chose water to show your goodness
when you led your people to freedom through the Red Sea
and satisfied their thirst in the desert
with water from the rock.
Water was the symbol used by the prophets
to foretell your new covenant with man.
You made the water of baptism holy
by Christ’s baptism in the Jordan:
by it you give us a new birth and renew us in holiness.
May this water remind us of our baptism
and let us share the joy of all who have been baptized at Easter.

All bless themselves with Holy Water and the leader sprinkles the rooms of the house with Holy Water using the branch blessed on Palm Sunday.

Psalm 90:1-6,10-11

The Lord, the Most High, is our dwelling.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to the Lord: “My refuge,
my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!

The Lord, the Most High, is our dwelling.
It is he who will free you from the snare
of the fowler who seeks to destroy you;
he will conceal you with his pinions
and under his wings you will find refuge.

The Lord, the Most High, is our dwelling.
You will not fear the terror of the night
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the plague that prowls in the darkness
nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.

The Lord, the Most High, is our dwelling.
Upon you no evil shall fall,
nor plague approach where you dwell.
For you has he commanded is angels,
to keep you in all your ways.

The Lord, the Most High, is our dwelling.
All pray in silence. Also a personal prayer could be expressed.

Now let us pray together in the words our Saviour gave us:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

May the Father love us,
and come to us and live with us.
Amen.

May the Son of God stay with us,
and give us his peace.
Amen.

May the Spirit of God teach us all things
and stay with us forever.
Amen.