I've had people suggest that we bury a statue of St. Joseph on our property as a way to help the house be sold. I am reluctant to do this, as it strikes me as being more superstitious than pious. I am not opposed to invoking the help of the saints as appropriate, but maybe praying a novena would be better than burying a statue. What do you think?
Last Friday, one of the women in our cursillo group asked us when we wanted to the house to sell by. We told her Friday (that's tomorrow). We thought that we might have a buyer, but they decided to make an offer on a different house. I want God to send us the right buyer, one who will appreciate the quirks of this place. One who will harvest the vegetables we will leave behind and not curse at them for not being lawn. But it really is out of our hands.
In the meanwhile, life continues. Youngest child gets on the airplane later today to take her off to college-land. After 32 years of parenting, I guess that we are officially empty-nesters - unless someone rebounds. It could happen. And of course, parents never stop praying for and worrying about their kidlets, even when said offspring are taller and faster than the parents!
poor saint joseph!
1 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: poor saint joseph!.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://mt.stblogs.org/cgi/mt-tb.cgi/19677
This is the sign of the times. I see the "For Sale" in front of homes everywhere. It's amazing how a year can change one's perspective! 2 years ago, we embarked on the "journey" to sell our town home and move to a single family home. At that time, the ... Read More
I completely agree about burying St. Joseph. It just seems borderline sacrilegious or at least superstitious. Bombarding heaven with novenas would be more effective, IMHO. You are in my prayers, as I feel deeply for those who are trying to sell their house right now in today's softer market.
I'm uncomfortable with it as well, I agree, asking the Saint to pray for a house buyer is different that burying the statue.
In the year before we bought our house, the house next door to ours sold twice. The family that bought it the first time had to move within six months.
After we'd been in our home about two years, my neighbor came over, pale, and asked me to come take a look at something. When we got to the front of her house, she carefully dug up a plastic bag and said, "What's this?"
I burst out laughing. It was a St. Joseph statue, buried upsidedown.
I explained about the superstition, and the neighbor was relieved. She thought maybe it had something to do with a dead baby, since St. Joseph was holding the Christ child.
My opinion? After the house sold, the first sellers forgot to dig up the statue, so one day St. Joseph was passing through, found the statue upsidedown, and made sure the house would sell again.
So hey, if you have any neighbors you want to get rid of, now you know what to do!
Yeah, I'm in agreement with your previous commentors, pray to him, don't bury him. ;)
When I began my journey towards the Church, and first was learning about the Communion of Saints, I took a leap of faith and prayed to St. Joseph for a house. We were a family of 5 living in a 2 bedroom apartment. We had no feasible way of buying a house. But I prayed. And within two months we moved into our home. A week later, I discovered #4 was on the way. lol St. Joseph is one of my favorite 'kin'. That's why #5 bears his name as his middle name. I really wanted him to have Joseph for his first name, but I couldn't bear anyone calling him "Joey" which I knew would have been inevitable.
We just moved into a new home last month and a couple days ago as I was weeding the flower bed, I found what I thought was an old tent stake. After unearthing it, I discovered it to be poor St. Joseph, buried upside down. I guess it worked but I think I'd stick to praying to St. Joseph instead.
Go with the novena and put the statue in a place of honor in your new house.
I don't have any trouble with burying a statue of St. Joseph. It's a sweet custom, part of our wacky "Catholic distinctiveness" and it's obviously either/or not and/both with respect to praying to him. (Novenas have a strong reputation as being superstitious but then other people won't see them and we don't have to be embarrassed.)
I foolishly buried St. Joseph with evangelization in mind. I put him in the front flower bed hoping the new owners would find him. But the new owners happen to be Muslim, so I think my little evangelization project is likely to be unsuccessful. And after reading Jane's comment I'm even more sure it wouldn't have worked!
We are in a similar situation and keep getting the same suggestion. I explain that I think it's ridiculous and am keeping St. Joseph up on the shelf. I figure he won't be mad at me for not burying him in the dirt.
This custom seems to have popped up overnight, although I read somewhere that St. Teresa of Avila did something similar. It doesn't feel like a "real" tradition, but more of a fad.