A BLESSING FOR ST. FRANCIS DAY

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men.” 

 

                                                       St. Francis of Assis

 

       This blessing is identified in some places as "a Franciscan blessing," but I don't know the origin of it.  Nevertheless, I think it is an important one for animals, and for the links between disregard of animals suffering and disregard of human suffering, a link St. Francis readily made.  (A link so clear now, in fact, that the FBI now recognizes animal cruelty as a Group A felony, just like homicide, arson, and assault.)   So, as you read the blessig below, think especially of the animals in factory farms, fur farms, laboratories, steel leg traps, hoarding situations, puppy mills, chained in yards, locked in basements, dodging bb shot, wounded by arrows from hunters, fenced in canned hunting grounds, and more.  Pray that the church, and all humans, will come to see all of these practices as the indefensible cruelty they are and we that we can all work together to make the world a kinder place for both humans and other animals.   

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships,

so that you may live deep in your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of [any creature],

so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,

so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world,

so that you can do what other claim cannot be done.

Amen.

 

May God grant you a joyous and blessed St. Francis Day, filled with the joy of companionship - human and animal, and strengthen you to do His work for the animals in the days and years to come.  

Here is a link to my St. Francis Day post from last year, How To Be A Blessing To The Animals. 

St. Francis Day: How To Be A Blessing To The Animals

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord"

                                          Psalm 150:6 

            If you have read the About Me section of this blog, you know that my journey toward understanding animal welfare as a theological concern began with an idea to include animals who really need a blessing – shelter pets in need of the blessing of a loving home – in a St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals service.  To that end, I contacted the Washington National Cathedral and the Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL) and arranged just such an event.  (The event, that year and in all the years following has included animals from both the WARL and the Washington Humane Society, as well as representatives from both organizations and the Humane Society of the United States Faith Outreach Department.)  It seemed fitting, therefore, that as I begin this blog, I should mark St. Francis Day by presenting the remarks I made at that first blessing event, before I had any idea where this road would lead or how central this issue would become to me. 

            These remarks were in the year following Hurricane Katrina and present at the event were dogs WARL had rescued from that disaster.  The remarks also reference then-pending legislation.  While Katrina and some of those bills are in the past, there are always animals in need of rescue from natural or man-made disasters and there are always legislative issues requiring our attention.  The remarks, therefore, remain just as relevant today as they were when they were first made.

            Finally, by way of introducing these comments, I would like to observe that St. Francis has become quite tame and domesticated in our modern understanding.  We picture him surrounded by birds and bunnies, praising the sun and the moon.  This does him a great disservice.  St. Francis was a radical theologian, who walked away from a life of wealth and comfort to live in poverty and serve the unwanted – be they human or animal.  He calls us to a radical faith based in service and grounded in the understanding that all of creation belongs to and is loved by God.  St. Francis tells us that caring for the animals as God cares for us is not a part-time theology for the children and their pets – it is the way we are called to live every day.