Of the Wisdom of the Elders

My mother used to repeat to me: “When you visit a sick person in his house, you do not accept hospitality. If you want to allow yourself something, have a cup of coffee, if you see that it was ready before you enter”. In every way, my mother came from her parents’ upbringing. “This is what my father used to say”. She knew that a sick person in the house would sicken the whole house. Serving the sick is a blessing, but it is also tiring. To save those who serve the sick some trouble, this is part of our participation in the service. If you tell her: "there is a maid in the house"; she answers you immediately: “it is also her right that we should not add a burden to her labor”. This was not her direction to me after I became a priest, but this has always been her reasoning. My mother had inherited the belief that all people are caretakers for one another. This is of the wisdom of the elders!