By Rev. Laura Folkwein
Blessing One:
Over the past week, a number of my clergy friends online have been sharing sweet and funny posts about Blessing of the Animals in connection to the Feast Day of St. Francis (officially, October 4th). I saw happy dogs in the pews in church, scared guinea pigs on church lawns, more dogs of every variety, and a few cats—some happier than others, of course. I suspect that these dear creatures who live with so many of us know inherently that they are blessed as creations of God. They don’t need us to give them any special blessings. These fun (and unpredictable!) blessings of the animals are for us, their human companions and guardians more than for them. I do hope every furry, scaled or feathered one who got toted to church also received plenty of treats and scritches when they got home.
May the animals in our lives continue to bless all of us who delight in their company in our homes and outside our windows, on the trails, and even via silly cat videos online.
Blessing the animals in the fall (in the northern hemisphere) on the Feast Day of St. Francis can also alert us to the needs of many creatures for extra care during the coming frigid winter months, especially as we continue to expand human habitats and coexist (?) with the critters who were here before most of us.
Blessings to all the humans who negotiate those tricky relationships between people and wild animals, those who track and grieve creatures on the endangered species lists, those with curiosity and skill for biological research, and the ones who are trained in wildlife management and veterinary medicine.
Blessings to the ones who make warm enclosures for feral cats to winter in (and get them to spay/neuter clinics in warmer months), deliver stray dogs back home or to the animal shelter, feed the birds, leave the comfort of warm beds in early mornings to water domestic sheep, goats, horses and cattle, and to those who delight in migrating Canadian geese and the ever-present neighborhood deer and bunnies.
Blessing Two:
If you would like to celebrate St. Francis himself a little further, I commend the following blog post to you from one of my favorite spiritual homes on the internet, The Abbey of the Arts. Christine Valters Paintner and a cadre of modern contemplatives and dancing monks (really!) guide a global community in Celtic spirituality, creative expression and contemplative spiritual practice in a truly ecumenical spirit.
The following blessing poem was posted to Abbey of the Arts from Christine’s forthcoming book, Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty (to be published by Paraclete Press in spring 2023). It is shared with permission.
See the post and the beautiful accompanying artwork in its original habitat, here: https://abbeyofthearts.com/blog/2022/10/04/blessing-on-the-feast-of-francis-of-assisi/#