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.