Blessing of the Animals

For years, I've read articles in our local paper about the annual Blessing of the Animals on St. Francis Day. Which means that for years, I've missed it and every time, I kick myself. This year, I didn't and spent some time at St. James Cathedral on Saturday at the service for animals. I was asked to share some of my photos with our local community newspaper, The Bulletin, which I gladly did. You can see them here. And here are some of the rest.

 There was a brief service and a choir 


and several other aspects that normally go into being a church. And then there were things that were less regular, but really wonderful and, in my opinion, things that should be included in every church service. Because they were love embodied and personified and isn't that what Christianity is all about?

Such as dogs. Like this one – what a wonderful face!


During the sermon, these two communed



and one of the great things about being a dog is that you don't have to stand up when everybody else do

 

Over to the side behind the bushes, two of the Cathedral staff looked on

 

And then everyone got in line to see Bishop Linda Nicholls
 

Although most of the attendees were dogs, there was a horse (which I missed) and a few cats

 

This beauty is blind and the first time I teared up was when she got blessed.

 

This one got me going, too

 

These two were in particular need of being blessed, after trying to bite the Bishop

 

And it was all these small moments, such as this one, that opened my heart and moved me deeply

 

Had to take a photo of this wee cutie, which reminded me of our much beloved and never-forgotten Trine

 

It was a beautiful day and I'll be sure to go back next year.
    




Comments

Rachel said…
I am in the choir at my local Episcopalian church (my those robes look familiar!) and the blessing of the animals is, bar none, my favorite thing we do all year. This year it was mostly dogs and cats, but we did have somebody show up with a couple of donkeys!

Lovely pictures of a lovely day.
10:48 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farber’s Disease: Could Your Child’s Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Be Misdiagnosed?

Image
Joint inflammation or contractures. Nodules (small lumps under the skin or in other tissues). A weakened or hoarse voice. Children with these symptoms may have been diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) or other types of juvenile arthritis . But do they actually have JIA or do they have Farber’s disease? An equine digression When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. This is an adage in the medical world that encourages doctors to not wander off exploring rare and esoteric reasons for a patient’s symptoms. Because most of the time, that hoof beat of a rash likely isn’t the plague, the joint pain more likely a type of arthritis than the bends (especially if the person has never scuba dived) and you get the picture. But once in a while, it actually is a zebra. And even if it’s first identified as a horse, eventually, the stripes come through. It took five years of my parents running around to different doctors before one finally recognized that I had...
Read more

13 Things to Know for Rheumatoid Arthritis Newbies + Facebook Live

Image
Getting a diagnosis of any type of chronic illness can throw you for loop. There is so much to know and you have so little energy. My new slideshow for HealthCentral collects 13 things you need to know as an RA newbie : "Receiving a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a moment of strange duality. On one hand, you may be relieved to finally have answers for the symptoms you’ve been experiencing. On the other, it can be incredibly overwhelming to find out you have a chronic illness. Wrapping your head around all the new factors RA brings into your life is a long-term process. Here are some of the things you need to know." See the slideshow on HealthCentral . And in case you missed it, here is the Facebook Live I did yesterday talking about this topic:   
Read more