St. Francis had a very special way of looking at the world. He called animals “brother” and “sister” because he believed that every creature was part of God's creation. There are wonderful stories about him preaching to birds, helping a rabbit that had been caught in a trap, and even making peace with a frightening wolf in the town of Gubbio."
Stinky was impurressed. Periwinkle went on, "One of my favorites is the story about the birds. Francis came upon a whole flock and began talking to them about God. Instead of flying away, the birds stayed and listened! Francis blessed them before they flew off. How cool is that?" Stinky said it was cool and also said they should probably apologize to the Tabbies for mentioning a BURD! That made Periwinkle giggle, but she agreed.
Stinky said, "I know about St. Francis too! St. Francis also wrote a beautiful prayer-poem called The Canticle of the Creatures. He praised God for the sun, moon, stars, wind, water, fire, Earth—and all the creatures who share our world. To Francis, creation wasn't just something beautiful to look at. It was a reminder of God's goodness. That's one reason St. Francis became associated with animals and care for creation, and why he was named patron saint of ecology in 1979. Because of St. Francis' love for animals, many churches have a special Blessing of the Animals around his feast day on October 4 just like this one. People bring their beloved pets—dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, and sometimes even horses or other animals—to be blessed. The service gives everyone a chance to thank God for these special members of our families and to remember our responsibility to treat animals with kindness and compassion." Looking around they realized there were only two other cats there and a burd (sorry again, Tabbies) and the rest of the pets were woofies.
Since they were early (thanks to Periwinkle's Mom), the two walked around and met some of the woofies.
They saw these woofies and realized the one on the right was a Sheriff's woofie.
This little girl's Mom explained that she was deaf and blind but wanted to come to be blessed too.
Soon it was time for the blessing...
After the blessing, the two said goodbye to their new friends and thanked Father Adam. They followed Periwinkle's Mom and Reesie to the car and went back to Periwinkle's house. Their tummies were rumbling, so they had a quick snack of Churus and talked about the day. Stinky said, "I think the most important thing St. Francis teaches us is pretty simple: Be kind, be gentle, take care of God's creatures, and live peacefully with one another." Periwinkle added, "You don't have to be a saint to make the world a kinder place. You can start with the animal sitting beside you, the bird in your backyard (sorry Tabbies), a squirrel in a tree, or even a little bug that needs a safe place to go."
They said "I love you" to each other over and over, knowing it was almost time for Stinky to leave. He thanked Periwinkle's Mom for taking them to the blessing and told Reesie how impurressed he was with how she handled the barking dogs. He told Noelle she was wise to stay home since he knew she would have been really scared.
One more whisker-kiss and "I love you" and Stinky hopped into the Teleportation Tunnel. With a WOOSH he was on his way home. Periwinkle went to find Noelle to tell her about the day.
