Actually, she’s spoiled rotten. But I’m still going to arrange my schedule tomorrow to bring her to church for the Blessing of the Pets, because hey, it’s that time of year!

Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, known to most as Christians’ favorite garden statuary (with the possible exception of a statue of the Blessed Mother appearing in most Catholic yards) and as the guy who wrote that prayer about “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

Interestingly, there’s no evidence that he wrote that prayer. But he did write the Canticle of the Sun, a lovely prayer / song praising God through the gifts of nature, such as Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Nature.

I’m not going to go into Francis’ background here – there’s plenty of information on the internet and beyond. What resonates with me about St. Francis is that he saw God’s presence in all of creation and lived that way. He came from a wealthy background, saw the futility of it, turned to a simple life and found peace there. He even preached to the birds.

I don’t spend a lot of time on social media, but I do enjoy Quora. There, people ask various questions… and any member may answer. Some answers get upvoted and viewed a lot. One this morning asked the question “Where do dogs go when they have passed? Do they go to heaven?”

Someone answered with a story about the heartbreaking loss of their dog Scooby – and then a few days later receiving an email from someone who knew him and his dog but was unaware that Scooby had died. Out of the blue, the writer felt compelled to share a dream she’d just had about Scooby that sent a clear message: “I’m ok, can you let them know?” – along with a certain toy and setting that she was unaware of but that the writer of the post recognized immediately.

I shared that post with a few pet lovers. We all agreed that it wouldn’t be heaven without our pets. After all, they give us unconditional love here on earth. We are blessed to have these loving, amazing creatures.

I hope I can manage to get home in time to get my SweetGirl off to church. She really doesn’t need a blessing, especially as she IS one…but it’s a nice way to honor what St. Francis saw hundreds of years ago – God’s hand in all aspects of God’s creation.