Isaiah 7:10-14 / Romans 1:1-7 / Matthew 1:18-25
To have a roof over our heads and a house to live in is not just one of the basic needs.
It gives us a sense of comfort and security in which we can call our home.
And especially so in land scarce Singapore, to have a house that we can call home is indeed something to be cherished.
However in Singapore, there is also this trend of buying and selling houses, whether it is for upgrading or downgrading.
When it comes to HDB flats, the selling and buying can be a rather anxious time. Because you can end up selling your flat but the new flat is not ready; or that the new flat is ready to be occupied but you can’t find a buyer for the old flat yet.
If it is the case of looking for a buyer for the old flat, then maybe we might consider praying to St. Joseph.
We know that St. Joseph is the patron saint of workers and the protector of the Catholic Church. But we might not know that he is also the patron saint of selling homes.
It seems that there is this very old Catholic tradition of burying a St. Joseph statue upside down to expedite selling property.
Around 1500 A.D., European nuns living at a cloister needed more land on which to plant vegetable gardens and raise livestock. They had medals made that were imprinted with Saint Joseph’s image and wondered if burying them in the ground would help their prayers be heard and answered more quickly. Evidently, it worked because they nuns gained more land after burying their medals and were able to remain self-sufficient at their cloister.
However, why the medals were substituted for statues of St. Joseph is unclear. By engaging in this ritual, the nuns essentially reinforced the concept of turning something over to the will of God. Catholics and anyone else who believes that having faith can cause good things to happen believe that it is not the act of burying a medal or statue that results in the sale of house but that it is faith in the Lord and His saints which propels the materialization of desired property transactions.
But for us, burying a statue of St. Joseph in the ground does not seem respectful, and if we are selling a HDB flat, burying the statue in a flower pot is certainly out of the question!
Certainly it would be enough to place a statue of St. Joseph in a respectful place in the house and say a prayer to him for a speedy sale of the house.
What has St. Joseph to say about all this, we can’t be too sure. But there is no harm to ask him to help us in our need, even if it is in selling the house.
But certainly St. Joseph would want our house to be a home. He too had a house and he had plans to make it into a home for him and Mary, his betrothed.
And then he found out that Mary was with child. And being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, he decided to divorce her informally.
It was then that the Lord intervened and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him to take Mary home as his wife. And when he woke up he did what the angel of the Lord told him to do – he took Mary to his home. And in doing so, he also took Jesus into his home.
The gospel described St. Joseph as a man of honour. Being a male is a matter of birth. Being a man is a matter of age. But being a man of honour is a matter of choice.
St. Joseph showed that he was a man of honour when he chose to do what God wanted of him although he didn’t fully understand what it meant by what was conceived in Mary was by the Holy Spirit.
Nonetheless he prepared a home for Mary and Jesus, and he kept watch and guarded what was entrusted to him.
Probably his thoughts can be expressed by this quote of Mother Teresa: I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. But I didn’t know He trust me so much.
St. Joseph would also have taught Jesus how to be a man of honour and how to build a home. He would also have taught Jesus how to work with wood, for his trade was a carpenter.
And Jesus did work with wood. Because with just two pieces of wood, He built a bridge to our heavenly home.
As we come to the 4th Sunday of Advent, let us also make our final preparations to invite Jesus and Mary and Joseph into our homes.
Let us give a sign to them that we want them in our homes by putting up the Nativity Crib if we have yet to do so.
And with Jesus, Mary and Joseph in our homes, let us work for righteousness and love and we will find life, prosperity and honour.
Let our homes be the home of the Emmanuel, the “God-is-with-us” so that there will be peace and joy at home.
Yes, we can sell our house and buy a new house, but we can’t buy a home.
And let us remember why Jesus came. He came so that He can bring us home; He came to bring us to our eternal home.
But first, let us welcome Him and Mary and Joseph into our homes. Then we will look forward to our eternal home.