Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Of California Missions and St. Joseph


Grace and peace to you friends! I will be out of commission for awhile; my wife and I are taking a long overdue vacation to sunny California. We will be visiting many of the historic Spanish missions, starting in San Diego and heading up the coast to end at Sacramento. I am particularly excited about getting a chance to venerate Bl. Junipero Serra only a month ahead of his canonization by Pope Francis in September. We will be stopping in San Diego, Laguna Beach, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Sacramento and everywhere in between. If you are in the area and have any recommendations for masses or attractions, please let me know in the combox or email at uscatholicam@gmail.com.

When we return home, my family and I will be making another major transition - we have sold our house of nine years and are moving to another part of Michigan. We will thus be very busy in September and I do not anticipate I will get a chance to post much. There may be some guest posts and my co-bloggers Noah and Maximus may post, but I doubt I will be around much. Please pray for us during this transition.

As a side note, I never had too much confidence in the practice of burying the statue of St. Joseph upside down to sell a house. It just sounded...well, really weird. We were confident our house would sell quickly; its a cute house, very well maintained, and with lake access - and homes are moving quick right now in Michigan. But we were very disheartened when a month and then two went by without even so much as a single offer on the home. Even lowering our price did nothing. Then we started into our third month with no activity. We began to think we'd be here all fall.

Then my wife suggested I buy the St. Joseph Home Seller Kit (I still don't like that name); we prayed the prayers, buried the statue, started saying the novena. Three days after the statue was buried, the house sold. And we found and purchased our dream house the next day.

Deo gratias!

8 comments:

c matt said...

We are in a similar situation. I buried our St. Joseph statue next to a statue of Mary in our garden. We start showing our house this week (still some painting and other minor repairs to do).

c matt said...

I also heard of a St. Joseph story in reverse. A young couple was going to sell their house, buy another in a different area. Did the St. Joseph thing. When they thought it was all done and about to buy, the deal fell through. A few weeks later, the area where they were going to buy a house flooded. Just sayin'.

J. said...

Joseph does know a thing or two about houses, I would guess.

Tina said...

I had the opposite experience. I had purchased a townhouse and was digging up the garden soil in the front of the house and found an upside down St. Joseph statue undoubtedly left by the previous owner. I cleaned him up and gave him a spot on my prayer shelf. He has been faithfully guarding me and my current home ever since. I also have a little prayer card with the "St. Joseph, Protector of Homes" prayer and say it whenever I leave on trips. So the practice not only helps the seller but in my case, the buyer as well. Congratulations on your new home.

Anonymous said...

I live in southern California. Visit Mission San Juan Capistrano there are nice places to eat in town walking distance from the Mission and shops. If your in Laguna Beach go to Alisio Creek Beach it is in south Laguna Beach on Pacific Coast Highway. You can have a picnic there, and bonfire at night. There is parking down on the beach with parking meters so have coins. You can park up on the highway for free but I don't recommend it, can be dangerous with the cars going by. There iareclife guards at this beach, a snack bar, single stall restrooms and outdoor showers to rinse off the sand, it can get crowded because it is a family friendly beach with a Playground. The water is really nice, one of the better beachs in the area in my opinion. My family prefers this beach out of all the beaches in Orange County. There is a Ruby's Diner that is neat to eat ( patio on the roof) and it is not to far from Aliso Creek Beach on PCH . There u is one by San Juan Capistrano Mission, they have burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads and Fish chips if you are there on a Friday. There is plenty of shopping everywhere! If you are here in Orange County on Sunday there are Latin Masses at StJohn the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa at 12:30pm our parish. StMary's by the Sea Catholic Church in Huntington Beach at 12noon or down at The Mission San Juan Capistrano in the Chapel inside the Mission in the morning at 8:00am? There is also one at John Paul II Center in Yorba Linda in the morning at 8:00am or 7am I believe? All these Holy Masses are said by the Norbertine Fathers. They have a Abbey up in Sillverado Canyon, modern looking but they are building a new one further out in the canyons. Also this Sauturday the 22nd there will be protests in front of Planned Parenthoods from 9-11 am our parish will be at the one in Tustin. If you are in Long Beach you can see the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary you can drive over the Vincent Thomas Bridge over to the Ports O' Call visit the Los Angeles Maritime Mueseum and the Battleship USS Iowa and Cabrillo beach and Mueseum in San Pedro. Palos Verdes nice scenic route. There is a pretty Catholic Church called Mary Star of the Sea in San Pedro. St. Peter and StPaul's Catholic Church in Wilimington also a Norbertine Priests run parish., that is pretty old they also have a Latin Mass at 6:30 am or 9:00am? . There is plenty to do in Southern California besides amusement parks. Make sure you have a In and Out hamburger they are pretty good and a reasonable price. SuperMex has great Mexican food not too pricey. You can look up locations. It is warm and nights you only need a light sweater, if that. Summertime! Make sure you see the Sunset in Laguna Beach it is beautiful. If you are going to be in Los Angeles nice to see the. Griffith Observatory or the Gety Muesuem. If in downtown Los Angeles you can see Olvera Street. There is a Latin Mass at St. Victors Catholic Church in West Hollywood and there is one at St Therese in Alhambra we have friends that go there, not to far from the San Gabriel Mission and the Hunington Library in Pasadena. If you going through the Centeral Coast make sure you don't miss Mission San Miguel outside the town of Paso Robles. The Centeral coast has very nice wineries. I know up in Sacramento there is a Latin Mass at St Stephen the first Martyr, we know the priest there. Fr. John Lyons FSSP. Have a enjoyable and safe trip!

Boniface said...

Wow. Thank you. We unfortunately won't be ion Orange County long enough for all that - but we will be at San Juan Capistrano today around noon to check it out.

Paul Hellyer said...

I never heard of such a ridiculous thing as to bury a statue of st joseph upside down. This is pure superstition. Its no diferent from the black magic found in Haiti or Africa. Is this what the Catholic faith has degenerated to due to the devestation in the wake of Vatican 2?
Shame on you. Turn to Christ Jesus as our only help and hope in this world.

Boniface said...

Just for your information, the practice of burying a statue of St. Joseph predates Vatican II by some time. I believe it goes back to the Baroque period.