1.   She was born on Diwali-the Hindu festival of light-when the goddess of wealth blesses your house.

2.   Finally, the day came to bless the house with the residents and volunteers.

3.   I use it to bless my house.

4.   In return for blessing houses, families and livestock, they were repaid in goods or labor, allowing them to prosper at the expense of their spiritual charges.

5.   Last January, during the Epiphany, the priest visited the couple to bless their house, a modern, unadorned structure on an unpaved road outside of town.

6.   None of his parishioners ever had asked him to bless their house.

7.   She even has been called to bless a house whose current residents believed it was haunted by a ghost.

8.   Still, in one way the houses are oddly blessed.

9.   The family had the house blessed twice by a Catholic priest, which seemed to take care of their unwanted guest.

10.   Wood has blessed this house so far.