St. Joseph Upside Down
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:12 PM
This post requires a disclaimer.
Although I know some people who swear by it, I cannot in conscience recommend the practice of burying a St. Joseph statue upside down in order to sell a house.
Seems a little rude to me! St. Joseph is a good man and a powerful intercessor: if you need to sell or find a house, just ask him. He’ll come through because of your prayer. Don’t bury the poor man in the mud.
I have to tell you this story though, overheard last night in a buffet line. (I assure you no one was trying to overhear; the speaker was just animated…and entertaining.) In excited tones a young woman was telling her friends about how a mutual friend of theirs buried a St. Joseph statue in her yard. In a variation on the usual theme, she did this at the start of a novena to St. Joseph to find herself a husband.
When the novena ended (I think it was a 9-month rather than a 9-day prayer), having gone the entire period without so much as a date or a phone call, she gave up.
More than gave up, in fact: she dug up the statue, gave poor St. Joseph whatfor, and pitched him over the fence in frustration.
“Ow!” came an anguished cry.
Ashamed, the young lady went to apologize to her unintended victim…and that is how she met her husband.
Isn’t that delightful?
Now: before anyone rebukes me for not wanting to bury St. Joseph (and that story just might change my mind!), let me acknowledge that it is my personal scruple springing from my own devotion. You may wish to do it, and that is fine. The Church neither encourages nor discourages the practice, which seems to have begun from St. Teresa’s practice of burying St. Joseph medals to consecrate the ground of a new convent.
As with any sacramental or tradition, its power lies in our faith, not in some kind of magic. If we do it as an outward manifestation of our confidence in St. Joseph’s help—not superstitiously—it’s fine. For more on this practice and how it should be properly understood, here’s a nice little discussion provided by Catholics United for the Faith.
Feel free to share your own St. Joseph stories below. Perhaps we can start a new devotion, in which single persons throw St. Joseph over the fence to find their intendeds.
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