St. Francis Day

Having just been in Assisi, the home of St. Francis, it seemed only appropriate to mark today. 

St Francis believed that nature itself was the mirror of God. He called all creatures his “brothers” and “sisters”, and even preached to the birds and supposedly persuaded a wolf to stop attacking some locals if they agreed to feed the wolf. In his “Canticle of the Creatures” (“Praises of Creatures” or “Canticle of the Sun”), he mentioned the “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon”, the wind and water, and “Sister Death”. 
https://godspacelight.com/2015/09/29/st-francis-day-blessing-of-the-animals-2015/

So, below is a picture of our sister Willow and 

a blast from the past of our sister Poppy

 when we took her to a Blessing of the Animals service in 2015. 

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Blessing of the Animals

We had a delightful morning (but I'm not sure Poppy did!) heading over to church with the Whites at St. Steven's in Laurelhurst for the annual Blessing of the Animals Service in honor of the feast day of St. Francis. Poppy was an amazing sport in the sanctuary with dogs and cats in the mix. I sure loved one of the dogs who added a few howls and whines through some of the songs. 

All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices, let us sing. Alleluia! 

  

Lord purge our eyes to see 

within a seed a tree, 

within the glowing egg a bird, 

within the shroud a butterfly. 

Till, taught by such we see

Beyond all creatures, thee

And hearken to thy tender word

And hear its "Fear not; it is I." 

-Christina Rossetti 

Apprehend God in all things, 

for God is in all things. 

Every single creature is full of God

and is a book about God. 

Every creature is a word of God. 

If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature- 

Even a caterpillar- 

I would never have to prepare a sermon. 

So full of God is every creature. 

-Meister Eckhart 

For all your creatures that breathe and move and have life, 

We thank you, O Lord. 

That we may love and honor the work of your hand, 

We thank you, O Lord. 

That each companion animal here may be treasured with care, 

We thank you, O Lord.  

For those, O Lord, the humble beasts, that bear with us the joys and sorrows of the day, and offer their guileless lives for love and companionship: we supplicate Thy tenderness of heart, for Thou has promised to save both mans an beast, and great is Thy loving kindness, O Master, Savior of the world. Amen. Eastern Orthodox prayer 

Beloved creatures, live without fear... your Creator loves you, makes you holy and is always with you. 

a vision of the peaceable kingdom this morning :) 

So thankful Poppy had Anna and Taylor holding her and keeping her safe. I think her heart has just settled back down and she is breathing easy now that we are back at home. :) 

with Caroline and Ellie White and their pastor Stephanie from St. Steven's