Sidda's Blessing

Yesterday, Sidda was blessed at St. Andrew's Blessing of the Animals. There were mainly dogs at the service, so Sidda was not very happy. I had her in her carrier during the service. When I looked down, she had turned around in the bag so she couldn't see any dogs.

The Blessing Prayer for all of us and our pets was as follows:

Almighty God, our Creator, to you belongs all praise, all glory, and all honor. It is you alone whom we bless. O God, we praise you for filling the world with animals. May we think of your marvelous works whenever we play with and care for our animals. Please keep our pets healthy and help us to always remember your goodness throughout our lives and bring us to the fullness of your heavenly kingdom where we shall see even greater things that we now know and where we shall all live and love forever. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.


Then each pet was blessed individually. When I got Sidda out to be blessed, her little heart was just a pounding. However, as Edward, the priest, was blessing her she started calming down. Here are the pictures.

The actual blessing:

She kept looking around at all the other people:

This is our official picture in front of the St. Francis banner. By this point Sidda was ready to go home. My black shirt was white with fur when we left.

If you were wondering, yesterday was the Feast Day of St. Francis (patron saint of animals and ecology) - thus, why there was a service for the Blessing of Animals. This service acknowledges our belief that our loving Creator fashioned not just human beings, but also the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the creatures of the forests and fields. It also acknowledges our calling to be stewards and caretakers of all God's creatures. This is a prayer attributed to St. Francis (there is also a hymn with these words, and it is one of my favorites.)

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love:

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is discord, union;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.