Theophany Season

This is a season for consecrating homes, which is a little longer in most city parishes. I will tell you about a house I visit every year, with joy, as if I were going to the wedding of one of my own. I have known the house for about ten years, ever since it got inhabited by a couple who made me believe that they would be an effective leaven in the parish. I was wrong. The couple handed over the responsibility of receiving me to a housekeeper with whom I have no common race or color. Year after year, the housekeeper established a tradition that she later passed on to another girl who took over the housekeeping after her. The tradition is the same. I enter the house; I complete my service; then, before I bid her farewell, she stands at the door and hands me a piece of paper on which she had written the names of some of her own folks in her country, saying that they are in need of prayer. This tradition not only wiped off my sadness at the neglect of the couple who own the house, but it also made my joy at the visit greater than words can describe. This is the season for the parishioners!