Annamaria asks:
“I was raised Catholic and when we moved into another home closer to my father’s workplace and much larger for three kids than the previous house. We were not Ardent churchgoers but all three of us went through the first several sacraments. We also contacted our parish priest to come and bless the home. He did. He had a crucifix and holy water which he sprinkled in each room while praying mostly under his breath. I would have liked to have heard every word he said. I’ve been many years later went to a meeting which was designed to bring Catholics back to church and into the fold. I listen to all the questions and answers. My question to the priest was if the house has already been blessed by a previous owner doesn’t that blessing extend to anyone who lives under that roof? He was flabbergasted because I was trying to find out if there was an expiration date on that blessing or did each family have to request it individually? Course I didn’t get any answers to these because you couldn’t talk to a priest like that and I was just a kid. Seven or eight years old but I definitely had opinions already. We gave coffee and pastries before he got to the house blessings. Do you have an answer about an expiration date on a home blessing? When did home blessings become known to exist? I have a Saint Michael stained glass decal on my front, glass paneled door. I consider him my protector. I know what I’m asking about the blessing it sounds odd and you might think I’m trying to make fun of it but I’m not. Also should Christians be using sage to clear lonely spirits from the house and each individual room? To me sage seems more new age than biblical but I’m no expert which is why I’ve written to you. Thank you so much!”
Well, Annamaria, first of all, your question doesn’t sound odd at all; I’m glad you asked it because it touches on issues that we haven’t talked about on this website while these are questions on the minds of many Christians. Praise God that He gave you a critical mind and a heart longing to know the Truth.
Secondly, I am no expert either, but we know Someone Who is! That’s why I asked God to provide us with answers and did research in His Word.
That would also be my first advice to you: use a good Bible translation and make sure that you get very familiar with God’s Word; prayerfully reading the Bible is crucial for cultivating a healthy relationship with Jesus. If you love Him, you want to know more about Him, and everything you need to know is in the Old and New Testament. When you read the Bible with an open heart, His Spirit will show you areas in which you can grow, reveal answers to your questions, give you wisdom to discern Truth from untruth, and much more!
So, prayerfully read through the Bible as often as you can. Read it from beginning to end to get the full picture, and meditate on specific Scripture verses that jump off of the page for you. When you have specific questions, search His Word to find answers, while you pray for God to lead you. God wants to speak to you through His Word, and all we need to do is take the time to listen.
Now, let’s dig into your question, from which I’ve distilled 4 sub-questions:
- When did home (or house) blessings become known to exist?
- Does a home blessing have an expiration date?
- Does (an image of) Saint Michael offer protection?
- Do items such as sage offer protection against unwanted spirits in the house?
All of these are interesting, so I would like to cover them all, even though it increases the length of the article. But before we dig in, let’s start by defining the term ‘home blessing’.
What is a home blessing?
To understand what a home blessing or house blessing is, it’s good to establish what we mean when we say that we bless something or someone.
I believe that the Biblical definition of the act of blessing someone or something is to stoop down and gladly give from the good that you have an abundance of. You can read more about how I came to that conclusion in this older article. A blessing can be anything from giving of a cup of water to a thirsty person to praying for your enemies.
Blessing in this way, always infers extending God’s goodness in words or deeds. Essentially, all that we have came from God; we were born empty-handed and even our breath is His. Throughout our lives, God continues to give us many things that enable us to be His hands and feet in bringing joy to others. Immaterial things such as wisdom, love, faith, words of encouragement, understanding of the Scriptures, and material things such as food, clothing, or a house.
His blessings demonstrate His character, and that ought to bring unbelievers to repentance. When we extend these blessings, we demonstrate God’s character and give unbelievers a taste of His goodness.
For the definition of a home blessing or house blessing, I went to Wikipedia: “House blessings (also known as house healings, house clearings, house cleansings and space clearing) are rites intended to protect the inhabitants of a house or apartment from misfortune, whether before moving into it or to “heal” it after an occurrence. Many religions have house blessings of one form or another.”
When did home (or house) blessings become known to exist?
The same Wikipedia page refers to Matthew 2:11 as the root of these rituals. That verse states: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” (NIV).
However, the offering of these gifts has a spiritual significance (which I wrote about in a Christmas article) that has nothing to do with the current tradition of warding off unwanted spirits and uncleanliness, so I am not sure how these events are connected.
These traditions are also not related to Jesus’s command to His disciples to bless the house with peace, as stated in Matthew 10 and Luke 10: “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.” (Luke 10:5-6, NIV).
It’s not the same thing because Jesus isn’t talking about the building but about the people living in it. It’s a test to see whether the people living in that house are willing to hear and aid the Message of Peace (the Good News). If the occupant is a peace promoter, then they will share in the true peace that comes from Jesus Christ, if they won’t accept and welcome peace, then they will not have Peace.
After reading this article, you will understand that this actually is the essence of a blessed home.
Since I could not find any Biblical basis for this tradition, I have asked a Professor friend, who knows a lot more about religious traditions than I do. When I receive his answer, I will update this article.
The blessing comes with the gift
As Christians, we know that God is good; we experience it every day. All who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and then follow the lead of His Spirit are children of the Almighty (John 1:12-13, Galatians 3:26, Romans 8:14, 10:9-13). God takes care of His children, He protects them. This relationship between a Christian and our Heavenly Father is a deep and personal relationship (John 14:23, John 16:27). And like any father, God wants to see His children grow up and take after Himself. He wants them to bear much fruit through their relationship with Jesus, and like any good Father would, He will provide them with all they need to do so (John 15:8-16). For many of us, this includes a safe roof over our heads, rented or bought with the money He provided through the job He provided.
So, if God, Who is good, provides a home for us, why would we look at it with suspicion, as if He gave us something harmful? Jesus said: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11, NIV).
Openly thanking God for the house He provided, trusting Him that He gave you a house for your good and His glory, and living in it by faith, demonstrates that you trust your heavenly Father. And I believe that He is pleased by that.
When you look at it this way, you will understand that perceiving a house as being blessed (or not) is mostly a matter of the heart of the person living in it. If the person has faith that God gave them something good, and that He is their Protector and Peace-giver, there is nothing to fear in the house. For who can stand against God?
I’m going to push this even further by saying that God chose us to be light in this dark world (Ephesians 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:5, Matthew 5:14-16). This means that, like a lamp, we will illuminate every room we are in. And what hates the light and hides from it? Anything that likes to live in the dark (John 3:20). As long as we follow Jesus (meaning being hearers and doers of the Word) we will remain in His light, and that will keep our lamps burning: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12, NIV).
Light and darkness cannot coincide; darkness is immediately irradicated by the presence of light. So, to be protected, and to keep evil spirits or anything else from the devil at bay, we simply need to remain in the Light of Jesus.
Does a home blessing have an expiration date?
So, if the best way to protect ourselves is to remain in the light of Christ, then the best way to open the door for the enemy is doing the opposite. If we go against God’s will and don’t pay attention to His Word, we are truly putting ourselves in harm’s way. In darkness we stumble; we cannot see clearly and we cannot fight nor recognize evil when we are blinded. This means that you can pray over a house all you want, but in the long run, nothing will change for the better if the resident’s heart isn’t right with God.
It’s like what Jesus said about washing the cup: We need to clean the inside first, and then the outside will automatically be clean (Matthew 23:25-26, Luke 11:38-41).
It’s our own corruption that invites evil in. And nothing we do can cleanse us from that corruption because it is through our faith, not through works, that we become righteous (Romans 4:13). We must be careful not to treat prayers like a kind of “magic spell” that has an effect when we say certain words in a certain way. That is not what praying is. When you pray, you are talking to the Almighty God, Who is also our Father (Matthew 6:5-7). You can read more about praying here.
Freely praying to Father God implies that you have a relationship with Him through Jesus. And this relationship is what impresses evil spirits more than anything else, because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Being a friend and child of the Almighty means everything in the spiritual world. For who would want to evoke the wrath of God by harassing His children without permission?
In Acts 19:13-16 you can read an example of what can happen if you don’t have this relationship while trying to deal with evil spirits.
So, you could say that true home blessings don’t expire unless your love for God and your faith expires. And with true home blessings I mean the blessing coming from being in the light of Christ by believing in Him and then following Him (John 8:12, 12:46). As long as we do that, we bless everything around us by the presence of God working through us. But if you go your own way (something we probably all do at times), you step out of His light and will be disciplined, for God disciplines all His children (Hebrews 12:7-11, 1 Corinthians 11:32). The good news is that when we repent, ask for forgiveness, and turn back to Him, He will again protect us in any way we need, and we will have become holier in the process.
Does (an image of) Saint Michael offer protection?
You mentioned that you consider Saint Michael and/or the image you have of him on your door to be your protector. Through what we have discussed so far, we can conclude that God Himself is your Protector. He might deploy His angels and command them to serve and protect you, but if and how He does that, is His decision.
Adding an image of a heavenly being to your door is not going to aid your quest to remain in the light, quite the opposite: it communicates that you are taking matters into your own hands, by taking the seat of the Commander. It communicates that God is inaccessible, not enough, or even unable to do it, so you need to call upon an angel instead. And reading your question, I believe that that is not what you would like to communicate at all.
Throughout the Bible, God actually warns us against using images for protection because of the risk of the image becoming an idol. He wants everything in this world to point to Jesus. Not to us, not to an angel, or anything else in this world. Only Jesus should be at the center of what we think, say, feel, and do. Even when He commanded Moses to make an image of a snake for protection, it was to point to Jesus.
Our relationship with the Father, through His Son Jesus, is enough for us. Jesus said that He is the only Way to the Father, and the Gate that leads to peace and salvation (John 14:6, 10:9). That is why Jesus gave His Spirit to us, to help us, to guide us, to teach us, to empower us, to fill us with love, life, and peace (Luke 12:12, John 14:26, 16:13, Acts 1:8; 6:10; 8:29, Romans 5:5, 8:2-27).
This means that with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we have all we could ever need! If we feel that we lack something, He wants us to come straight to Him and ask for what we need. Thanks to what Jesus did on the cross, we no longer need to call upon priests, angels, or anyone else on earth or in heaven to intercede for us. We have all become priests and Jesus is our high priest, and the door to God is right open to us (1 Peter 2:9, Hebrews 2:17, 4:14, Hebrews 7-10). So, trust in God, pray to Him in Jesus’s Name, and ask Him for protection, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8, NIV)
Or you could put it this way: If the CEO of a company tells you to come straight to him when you need something, why would you go through a colleague or middle management instead? You would only do that if you:
- Have an unhealthy fear of the CEO
- Don’t believe he is willing or able to do anything for you
- Trust your colleague or the manager more than the CEO
- Don’t respect the CEO enough to honor his wishes by talking to him
If the CEO were God, none of these attitudes would be Biblical, wouldn’t you say?
Do items such as sage offer protection against unwanted spirits in the house?
I think that it is wise of you to be skeptical when it comes to the use of any objects that supposedly ward off spirits – thank God for giving you that insight!
The Bible teaches us that all spirits have to obey Christ (Mark 1:27, 3:11, 5:13, Luke 4:36, Hebrews 1). They are not easily impressed, but they submit to the Name of Jesus. This means that through Christ, and thus through the Holy Spirit He gave us, we also have authority over spirits (Luke 10:20, Acts 19:13-16). This authority has nothing do to with our flesh, and everything to do with Jesus’s Spirit living in us. It is God doing the miracles, not us, just like it was God working through for example Philip and Paul when the spirits fled from them (Acts 8:6-7, 19:11). Evil spirits don’t want to be in the presence of Light. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, it says in James 4:7.
Again, it is His Light shining through us, that keeps darkness at bay. Objects, herbs, smells, symbols, and other things from this world have nothing to do with that. We fight a spiritual battle. A battle we fight with the full Armor of God on, with the Word and prayer as our weapons. Think about it: why would a spiritual being have any fear of something physical? How can something physical harm something spiritual, or mere molecules harm something that isn’t made out of matter? They aren’t even on the same plane!
When Jesus is our Lord and Savior, our Father and Friend, we don’t have to fear spiritual beings that might be in our vicinity in the spiritual realm, whether in the home or anywhere else. Although they are more powerful than human beings, we don’t have to fear them more than we fear God, Who is in control of all of these beings. Because when we live by His Spirit, why would they harm us? Living by the Spirit, instead of by the flesh, is the only way to keep evil away and to live in peace (Romans 8).
If God would allow these beings to cause any of His children temporary harm, He would do it for the purpose of our good and His glory, like He did with Job for example. And if God would want that, would sage or anything else in this world be able to stop the Almighty?
In the Old Testament, we see the use of herbs in offerings, but these were meant to point to Jesus in some way. Now that Jesus has made the final sacrifice and the perfect sin offering for all of us, there is no need for any of those rituals anymore. In fact, if we do ritualistically use those objects to achieve what Jesus already bought for us on the cross, we are in essence saying that Jesus’s sacrifice wasn’t enough for us.
That doesn’t mean that sage or any of the herbs mentioned in the Bible are now to be avoided at all costs. You might find their aroma pleasant, or good for food or tea, and that is fine; they are still things that God created for us to enjoy and consume. The herbs themselves are not evil, but the intentions of misguided people who apply them can be. In any case, we should avoid using them for spiritual purposes, because we can’t fight this spiritual warfare with weapons of this world (Ephesians 6:12).
A final word
I realize that what I have written in this article can feel like a shock to the system for many Catholics who have been taught differently. To them, I would say: Please read the Bible for yourself. Let nothing stand between you and God, and don’t assume that every church leader (or any human being for that matter) knows it all. Respect their God-given authority, but never take information about the Bible at face value. Always check what they say about your walk with Christ in the Bible, because no one knows more about God than God Himself.
It’s good to remember that when you live by the Spirit and the Word, you will become more and more discerning. Darkness will become very unattractive to you, and that means that naturally, you won’t go looking for it (or living in it) unless God calls you to bring Light into it.
There might be things in your house, that you simply don’t want there anymore, because they don’t fit a holy lifestyle. I remember that soon after I came to Christ, the Holy Spirit led me to purge my house of all things evil: new age books, tarot cards, music that glorified evil, some clothes and jewelry, etc. It felt like a deep clean after which I felt lighter and shone brighter.
Another time I went to someone’s house – someone I visited more often – only this time something felt different. It felt as if there was a heavy darkness in that house. I went to explore. My heart was pounding in my chest and I was silently praying for protection as I went to where the darkness came from, like following smoke to see where the fire was. Quickly I found what it was: on a table upstairs lay a massive handbook for practicing witchcraft. Needless to say, I urged the owners to get rid of it.
Many Christians have examples like these, testimonies that demonstrate that the Spirit will guide you into holy Light. He will keep you from harm, as long as you let His light guide your path.
My final advice to you is: Please continue your quest for the Truth! Use the Bible as a Lamp to check for truths and untruths. Ask Jesus to guide you in your quest and let nothing and no one come between you and God.
Thank you for your important question, Annamaria, and may God bless you and guide you as you continue to work out your salvation!