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We should offer gratitude for their various blessings

Almost nowhere in the common prayers and liturgies of the Christian church used for the past two millennia do we find prayers for nonhuman creatures. We discovered this when reading Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care (Pilgrim Press, 2001) by Andrew Linzey. An Anglican priest, Linzey holds the world's first post in theology and animal welfare at Oxford [England] University.

October, which includes the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, is a good month to rectify this omission. Francis saw all of creation as a reflection of God's love and thus deserving of reverence. He called the animals his brothers and sisters, and he was known to have once given his warm lodgings to a donkey. Many paintings of Francis show him with birds sitting on his outstretched arms or a cat sleeping in his lap.

Appropriately, one of the few times when congregations do pray for animals is during "Blessings of the Animals" services held around Oct. 4, Francis' Feast Day. But we think this isn't enough.

Animals are blessings for many of us. Our pets provide hours of companionship. They encourage us to get outside and exercise, and some even remind us to stretch. Research verifies that petting an animal can help lower blood pressure. Dogs, cats and birds make a big difference in the lives of emotionally disturbed children, withdrawn patients with mental illnesses, lonely nursing home residents and isolated prisoners. Surely we, as recipients of these gifts from animals, can say prayers of gratitude to the Creator of such caring creatures.

Here are some gratitude and compassion practices involving animals.

* Spend time observing an animal sleeping. Get close enough so you can see the rise and fall of its chest as it breathes. Synchronize your breathing with the animal's. Do this for at least five minutes as you think about your connection with all breathing things and in turn with the Spirit, the breath of life.

* Think about what you have learned from an animal-your pet or an animal you have observed in the wild. Don Holt in Praying With Katie (Andrews McMeel, 2001) describes watching his cat just sit and stare. She becomes a model of contemplation for him: "Simply to sit at God's feet and gaze, trying neither to understand nor to influence." Gunilla Norris in Journeying in Place (Harmony, 1994) watches geese fly in formation and learns that it's possible to rely on others and see them as equals.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:25 AM