Blessing of the Animals
Over the next few weeks, I will be hosting my fellow Pets In Space authors. Today I welcome Alexis Glynn Latner. For more information on Alexis, please visit her website http://www.alexisglynnlatner.com/.
Blessing of the Animals
The way pets comfort, pleasantly distract, reassure and help us can be, for those who use religious language, a blessing. This has not escaped notice of the mainstream Christianity. Episcopal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, some relatively daring Methodist, and congregations of other denominations conduct a blessing of the animals every year in October, on the feast day of St. Francis: he who of all the saints had a great love for nature and all creatures. Francis is the patron saint of animals; Pope John Paul II in 1979 made him the patron saint of ecology. And his likeness turns up in all kinds of gardens, often with a birdbath or bird feeder as part of it.
In the blessing of the animals, there may be the invitation for (well behaved) animals to attend worship. Last year in my church, a number of dogs, two cats in carriers, and one snake were noted. Or there might be a special service outdoors, say in the cloisters, with all pets welcome. The pets that show up range from horses to spiders. I heard of an Episcopal church in New York City that made a liturgical procession of it, and the creatures involved included a roach in a glass jar reposing on a purple liturgical pillow. (That one may have represented not so much pet kind as unavoidable fellow inhabitants of the city. Then again, I’m sure that some blessing of the animals somewhere has had a Madagascar hissing cockroach brought to be duly blessed; some people do keep these as pets.)
Animals, especially pets, bless us so much we can certainly bless them back! From an Episcopal Church online resource comes this blessing complete with a few notes on how it should be conducted.
THE BLESSING OF EACH PET (INDIVIDUALLY)
(The blessing is usually done with the sprinkling of water over the animal and the owner. )
“N., (name of animal, i.e. “Smokey”, not cat/dog)
may you be blessed in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May you and
(the name of the “owner”) enjoy life together
and find joy with the God who created you.”
(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/st_francis_day_resources_1.pdf)
Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Susan!
