Photo by B. Dupont
Although it was rain that forced Noah and his family and menagerie on the ark, not a drop fell Sunday afternoon on our Blessing of the Animals sponsored this year by Trinity Episcopal Church, Holy Family Parish, Animals as Intermediaries, The Emerson Umbrella and Jane Langton and Ilse Plume, author and illustrator of the new book, St. Francis and the Wolf.
About 50 animals and their humans participated: mostly cats and dogs but also one beautiful lizard! We were called to prayer, sang a hymn, heard the word of Genesis and the St. Francis story, gave thanks and praise for the animals of God's creation and the service ended with four members of the clergy individually blessing the animals present.
I hope this will have been the First Annual Concord Blessing of Animals!
The dog in the photo looks as if he either likes the priest or that he likes being blessed!
ReplyDeleteAll creatures (or things) great and small, the Lord God made them all ... or something like that.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to bless God's precious little critters that give us humans "unconditional love" and "forgive" us our outbursts of anger so quickly. Perhaps they are trying to tell us something in their own special and innocent ways?
I've always been told that animals don't have souls ... but, you can't prove that by me. :)
Bless you, Father, for having a BIG heart to bless God's helpless critters great and small.
Nice to see that you had good attendance. Please list your events and photos on my blog--which celebrates my new book, Blessing of the Animals (ISBN 1402729677). The direct link is http://www.blessingoftheanimals.com/blog_book_buzz.html
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that animals are so ecumenical. Now if only we could take some good lessons from them.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good day. You do look like such a dog lover.
I was talking with a friend today about the Pet Blessing on Sunday. She told me that last year at the one held at Trinity Episcopal the pets included a chicken and a horse! I bet St. Francis had no idea what an influence he would have on 21st century Concordians!
ReplyDeleteThe look on your face shows just how much you LOVE animals!
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