On Sunday October 3rd my friend Rev. Mary Florence invited me to share a reflection at the Eucharist and the Blessing of the Animals for the feast of St. Francis. So, accompanied by my two poodles, we set forth. It was a very joyous occasion with the human community very welcoming and the animal community very well behaved with each other. This is the text of my reflection.
The readings for the Eucharist were:
Job 12:7-10
Isaiah 11:1-4a, 6, 9 (canticle)
Rom. 8:22-28
Lk. 12:22-34
My Text:
A theme running through the three readings and the canticle today is the reign of God and what it might look like. It has indeed pleased the Father to give us the Kingdom - and not just us humans, but all creation is drawn into this new life of the Resurrection.
All living creatures are so integral to our identity - whether from the point of biodiversity of the planet to the animals who support our existence to our pets who share our lives and our homes. We are all part of that great unity of creation St. Paul writes about in today’s reading as we are moved by the Spirit to the fullness of creation in Christ.
For me, St. Francis is such an example of this Spirit-directed humanity. He so surrendered himself in love to the God of Jesus that he saw all creation for what it is - an expression of Trinitarian love that was transparent with God’s glory and redemptive love. This was the very ground of his reverence for and delight in all things. There was no romantic sentimentality in his relationship with creation. He saw with the eyes of redeemed love. St. Bonaventure, the great follower of St. Francis described this revelatory nature of creation as seeing the footprints of God in creation.
Nature was so transparent for Francis that a lamb would remind him of Jesus, the Lamb of God; doves (which he always bought and released) reminded him of the peace of Christ. Two twigs crossed - the Cross of Jesus - and then he would pick them up and turn them into a fiddle to sing and play the praises of God. He would not let the brothers destroy the grasses and flowers growing around the friaries because they gave praise to God and Francis’ preaching to the birds was his response to Christ’s injunction to preach the gospel to all creation.
I love the story of the wolf of Gubbio – Francis did not ‘tame’ him. He did a far more astounding and respectful thing – he brought peace between the townsfolk and the wolf. In bringing this peace, he set up a mutual relationship – the wolf protects the town and the town feeds the wolf. It was a foretaste of that time when all things would be brought together in Christ which are written about by Paul and Isaiah in today’s texts.
Francis could only do this because he had found peace deep within himself in his surrender to the healing, redeeming Brother Jesus. He grew in absolute trust in God which enabled other creatures to instinctively trust him. He called all creation sister or brother, not through sentimentality but because Jesus, through whom all things were created, became our brother in his Incarnation.
So, what does all this mean for us and our relationships with our beloved animals?
We most certainly have a duty of care – no one here would deny that. However, if we would see with the eyes of love, we need to open our eyes to how these creatures who live so closely with us speak of God for us, to recognise those ‘footprints’, as Job said in the first reading, ‘ask the animals, and they will teach you…’
I would like to tell you stories of two poodles who have taught me so much:
Sophia Chiara – very elegant, reserved, true to her name of Sophia, the wise one. She has the ability to read people and she is the first to sense if they are in trouble. She tries to cuddle up to them, and she watches them closely. I still have the marks on my office door where she tried to chew down the door to try to get to be with someone in distress. So she speaks of God who nurtures and knows us better than we know ourselves.
However, she is also persistent.
In my office the couch on which visitors or clients sit is in front of a window. When the poodles are shut outside during consultations, in her younger days she would come around to the window and bounce up and down until she could see in. All I would see would be eyes, nose and two flying ears. I would have to pull the blinds to keep my concentration. During a time when I was in a state of ‘contention’ with God, she reminded me so much of the God who never lets us go. Who pursues us, is always there, waiting, even when we draw the blinds.
Beatrice Boudicca is another matter. Even though she is almost blind now, Beatrice lives to run and play. She has her own sort of wisdom. In her playfulness she reminds me of Proverbs 8 in which Divine Wisdom says she was at play before the Lord as a little child, delighting in his universe. Now, I tend to be rather serious and focused on what I have to do, Beatrice has taught me to play – to take time to delight in the gifts of God all around me. She welcomes whoever comes to the house – indiscriminately – just as Jesus welcomed all who came to him.
C.S. Lewis wrote that our relationship with our pets is a foretaste of the peace and harmony of heaven. Some theologians think that is a bit romantic. However, I do believe that our pets are God’s gift to us as is all creation. They give us a very special insight into our relationship with God’s creation and to delight in it. Also it is for us to love these animals with tenderness and care as was given to us as stewards of creation. They teach us things no human can and they bring forth a unique tenderness, responsibility and joy.
Jesus’ words in the Gospel today reassure us that all creation is in the care of God and transparent with God for those willing to see. If we wish it, our beloved pets as well as all creation remind us of this.
They are indeed God’s gift to us.
