of dogs and animals of all kinds

Today is our dog Aidan’s birthday.  He is six years old, a fact of which I’m sure he is keenly aware!  He seems to be so cognizant of it that he decided to take a nap to celebrate.  (I appear to have awoken him.)

The feast of St. Francis of Assisi was earlier this month, but we have a service we’ve used in the past for the Blessing of the Animals.  Here’s a prayer that appears in it:

Prayer of thanksgiving and confession

Creator God,

you have made a beautiful world filled with wonder and surprises!

We give you thanks.

Creator God, who has gifted us with the blessing of animals,

those in the wild, those on farms,

those in our own homes.

We give you thanks.

We thank you for abundant life;

for the birds we hear in the morning,

for the drone of the bees when we are outside,

for the vast tapestry of life which is interwoven,

We give you thanks.

We thank you for the gift of our own animal

companions, for the joy they bring us,

For the unconditional love and forgiveness which teaches us about you;

For the confidant, the listener, the stress-releaser,

For the benefits they are to health and to spirit.

We give you thanks.

And yet, we know that we have not always been

faithful caretakers of your animals.

Forgive us when we dirty their environment,

erase places of shelter, pollute the waters, kill off their food supplies,

or neglect animals in our own communities.

Forgive us.

Forgive us when we do not consider the wider picture:

when we neglect the animals in the wild,

and inflict cruelty in the name of sport or of food production.

Forgive us.

Each year more animals are becoming extinct,

or are added to the endangered species list.

Forgive us, for allowing beauty to be forever destroyed.

God is love. Through Christ your sins are forgiven.

Take hold of this forgiveness, and live your life,

knowing that you are forgiven, and deeply loved.

Amen.