St. Francis Fair - A Celebration of the Blessing of Animals

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"Blessed are you, Lord God,
Maker of all living creatures.
On the fifth and sixth days of creation,
you called forth fish in the sea,
birds in the air and animals on the land.
You inspired St. Francis to call all animals
his brothers and sisters.
We ask you to bless these animals gathered about us.
By the power of your love,
enable these creatures—our sisters and brothers—to
live according to you plan.
May we always praise you for your beauty in creation.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen."

In Your infinite wisdom, Lord God,
when You created the Universe
You blessed us with all living creatures.
We especially thank You for giving us our pets
who are our friends and who bring us so much joy in life.
Their presence very often helps us get through trying times.
Kindly bless my pet.
May my pet continue giving me joy and remind me of Your power.
 

May we realize that as our pets
trust us to take care of them, so we should trust You to take care of us,
and in taking care of them we share in Your love for all Your creatures.
Enlighten our minds to preserve all endangered species
so that we may continue to appreciate all Your creatures.
 

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only certain immortality,
never fully understanding the necessary plan." 

Irving Townsend.

There is a bridge connecting Heaven and Earth.
It is called "The Rainbow Bridge" because of its
many colors.
Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge,
there is a land of meadows, hills and
valleys with lush green grass.
When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place. There is always food and water and warm spring  weather.
Those old and frail animals are young again.
Those who have been maimed are made whole again.
They play all day with each other.
But there is only one thing missing.
They are not with their special person who
loved them on earth.
So, each day, they run and play until the day comes when one suddenly stops playing and looks up.
The nose twitches, the ears are up, the eyes are staring, and this one runs from the group.
You have been seen.
When you and your special friend meet,
you take him or her in your arms and embrace.
Your face is kissed again and again.
You look once more into the eyes of your trusting pet. Then, you cross the Rainbow Bridge together, never again to be separated.

It is long known that the beloved and familiar "Prayer of St. Francis, which is also known as the prayer of peace, was not actually written by the Saint himself.   Nevertheless, St. Francis spoke of all of creation as being interconnected and related, so much so that he even referred to the sun as "Brother Sun" and the moon as "Sister Moon".   The prayer of peace, often set to music in churches, is a wonderful and indeed timely prayer for the era we live in, even if he did not write it because that which is good and life giving, is worth holding on to.  We at All Saints invite you to pray the prayer as often as you can:

 Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life. 

“And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?”   

Luke 14:5
 

“For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.”  Psalm 50:10-11 

“Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds.”  

Proverbs 27:23

 “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”    Matthew 6:26 

“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.”  Deuteronomy 22:10

“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.”  Deuteronomy 25:4

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father."  Matthew 10:29

“Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.”  Proverbs 12:10

Most of us are familiar with the Nativity Scenes that are seen around churches and in stores during the Advent/Christmas season.  St. Francis is attributed with having created a live Nativity Scene based on the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus Christ.   It was a way to teach people who could neither read nor write, the story of the Nativity of Jesus and to help stir their imaginations to a deeper faith.

Did you know that there is another legend that invites us to think about the Nativity and which also includes animals?  It is he story of how the little tabby cat got the "M" all tabby's now carry on their forehead.   It goes like this:  When Jesus was being born in the stable, there was a little barn cat present, whose job it was to keep the mice at bay.  That night, as she witnessed the birth of God Among Us, she also brought warmth & comfort to his mother.  It is said that God marked the little tabby with an "M" after Mary, for her gift of warmth.

While this is just a sweet, sentimental tale, the sentiment is like that of the story of the Rainbow Bridge and other similar stories.  It doesn't have to be historically true to speak the truth of our hearts which yearn for God's love and compassion for all creation.  Our willingness to retell these stories, speaks to the hope and faith we have for a broken world and which includes all of creation in God's redemptive work.