My day started with a text from my little sister, asking me if I would like to go to a Zoom call, at my niece’s school for ” The Blessing of Animal Service”, and would I bring my kitten Corey and my somewhat famous dog Ruffus. Ruffus is our beloved Rescue Dog from Cabarete, famous for his floppy ear and charming, gentlemanly ways. Corey our white and gray, long-haired tabby kitten joined our family a mere six weeks ago, she has stolen our hearts and is currently working on being pals with Ruffus.
Not having any clue what an animal blessing is, I found myself texting back, “sure thing”! I happened to have had a break between Life Coaching Clients at the scheduled time and I wanted to show love and support for my sister and niece.
Tomorrow is the annual Blessing of the Animals service to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis. The service is at 2 p.m. and students and families are welcome to gather their pets and join the virtual service.
“Corey, Ruffus and I are going to a Service for Blessing Animals at 2:00, you wanna join us? ” I call to my husband, Martin. Looking slightly baffled he cheerfully agreed.
While deeply spiritual, both raised in church-going families, as a couple we regularly attend Christmas Eve services every second year, although we consider that to be regular, we are not considered to be mainstream churchgoers, just saying in case you have the impression that we regularly go to service on Thursdays at 2:00 PM.
I did ask Mr. Googly, ( as Pluto would say), about the Feast of St. Francis and found out that the Feast celebrates St. Francis of Assisi, who among other things just happens to have my favorite prayer.
The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is dispair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
So off we went, so to speak, to the Service of Animals Blessing. That is to say, we went from the living room to the other part of the living room, Martin, Corey the kitten, and Ruffus, well Ruffus was already on his blanket, to the Zoom call. And there we saw 100s of participants. Do you know the Zoom Small Box? Well, they were filled with faces, of children and parents, and animals live and stuffed toy animals. Lots of kittens, lots of doggies, I do believe there was a chicken. Beautiful music played, lovely children, read prayers, we seemed to all sing a song and we heard a little chat from, the priest about love, and animals and how we are all creatures of the universe, all deserving love and all deserving to love others. I cuddled Ruffus, held Corey and Martin’s hand ( and I held in my heart the love for all the dearly departed animals that we and others have loved) and tears flowed down my cheeks. I was grateful for this little service, that blessed the animals and each of us. And I thought to myself, I thought I was doing something nice for my sister and niece and look what I received this beautiful gift of peace and love! And then I remembered that famous line from my favorite prayer. “For it is in giving that we receive.”
Susy Giddy is a Certified Life Coach. Her specialty is helping clients get the life they want. She lives in Mont Tremblant Quebec and Cabarete, Dominican Republic She can be reached at susy@cabaretelifecoaching.com