Yesterday afternoon at Potomac Episcopal, a loose confederation of four local Episcopal churches that has worshipped together since the start of the pandemic, we had a special Blessing of the Animals service in celebration of The Feast of Francis of Assisi. We held the service indoors in the parish hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, one of the four churches, because of the rain caused by the remnants of hurricane Ian.
There were about 25 dogs and two cats that participated in the service. Participants also brought photos of pets and representations of pets that could not be present (including a parrot and some aquatic turtles) as well as mementos of pets who have died during the past year.
These are a few of the many photos that I took during the event that we uploaded to a Shutterfly website for viewing by all participant. Although we did not have music, we had a chorus of dogs barking throughout the short service, as you can hear in a video clip that I recorded. I have embedded at the end of this posting the YouTube version of that eight minute video that includes prayers and readings in celebration of the animals. It can also be found by clicking this link.
One of my favorite parts of the service was entitled “Litany of Thanks for Animals in the Life Cycle of Earth,” the text of which I have included below.
“We thank you, Lord, for the gift of animals in our lives. We thank you for animals that comfort us, delight us and give us companionship. We thank you for dogs and cats, birds and hamsters, guinea pigs and fish.
We thank you, Lord for the gift of animals.
We also thank you, Lord, for animals that give us wool and feathers to keep us warm. We thank you for the animals that give us milk, cheese and eggs to help us grow and keep us healthy. We thank you for horses, donkeys and oxen that work hard on farms throughout the world.
We thank you, Lord for the gift of animals.
We thank you, Lord, for animals that eat plants and fertilize the soil, making it richer and more fertile for new growth and new life. We give thanks for the gift of insects, bees, and butterflies, who pollinate fruit and vegetable plants for us to eat and flowers to give us joy.
We thank you, Lord for the gift of animals.
We thank you, Lord, for being our Good Shepherd, for seeking us when we are lost, for showing us water to quench our thirst, and for leading us to green pastures. Help us to share our blessings with others and to help others have clean water and green pastures to feed and nourish their families, too. In Christ’s name,
Amen.“
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Made my day! 😎❤️
Thanks. It was a lot of fun to be there in person.
Nice and unusual service. Animals do bring us a much.
The Episcopal church that I grew up in (north of Boston) actually has a pet ministry now that holds monthly pet-friendly services, as well as providing pet loss grief counseling and other support for pet owners. My own relationship with organized religion is a little complicated these days, but I do love that some churches are recognizing and supporting the importance of animals in our lives. Thanks for sharing what looked like a fun and sweet service.
Thanks, Karen. Like many churches, we had a pretty good number of older members and pets have been really important in providing companionship to them, particularly during the long periods of pandemic restrictions over the past couple of years.
I love that. We had a priest at our church who did that once years ago. It was awesome! I really like the Litany. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Michelle. I know that not everyone will welcome the fact that I included a bit of my my religious beliefs in my blog posting, but it is a part of who I am. I don’t like the idea of censoring myself for fear of offending others. 🙂
I think you should feel free to share whatever you want. It’s your blog! 😀
Thanks for the encouragement, Michelle. I totally agree with you and that is how I approach my blog.
That’s quite an event to facilitate with so many dogs.. kudos to y’all for the effort you’ve invested and I’m confident it provided much happiness for humans and pets!
Thanks, Liz. It was definitely a lot of fun for humans and dogs as well. So many of the social activities of the church were curtailed during the pandemic and things are only now starting to return to previous levels of activity.
Who wrote the prayer of gratitude?
I am not sure of the source of that prayer. I copied it from the church bulletin. I will check with my clergy and see if I can find out who wrote it.
Thank you, I appreciate that. It’s absolutely beautiful, and I’d like to forward it to my readers with thanks to you if we can find its source. 🙏
I believe that the original source may be a document that was put out by Episcopal Relief and Development, an international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church. Here is the link to that document https://www.episcopalrelief.org/wp-content/uploads/old-uploaded/church/ALGP_2018/ALGP_Lit/SUPP_LIT-Animals.pdf
Thank you very much for taking this trouble! Please have a beautiful day.