Last Updated on January 6, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
Animal blessings are happening all over the world in October for the feast of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals. He was an animal-loving queer saint who talked with birds, befriended wolves and called all animals “brother” and “sister.”
The following animal blessing prayer was written by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry. It is included in her book “Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations.” In the introduction to this prayer in the book, Cherry notes that animals are especially important in the lives of many LGBTQ people, with dogs and cats sometimes becoming surrogate children. Discrimination against LGBTQ people is linked to attitudes that devalue animals and the rest of nature.
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God, our Creator and Sustainer,
May we remember that the earth does not belong to us, but we belong to the earth. We are dust, and to dust we shall return. In the words of Isaiah, “Surely the people is grass.”
May we remember that humanity is but one small, fragile strand in the interdependent web of life.
May we remember that we human beings are not the only ones created to look at flowers, to taste cool water, to listen to the wind, and to feel the earth beneath our feet.
May we remember that what befalls the earth befalls all who live on her lovely shores.
May we never forget that to harm the Earth is to scorn the Creator.
We pray for the animals who are our companions.
We pray for the wildlife displaced as we develop land for human use.
We pray for the animals who work for us, including the seeing-eye dog, the carriage horse, and the laboratory rat.
We pray for animals who are bought and sold, animals who live in cages, and animals who live free.
We pray for animals indigenous to this particular place, including [name a few species].
We pray for the animals who have made our lives possible by becoming food and clothing for us.
We pray for endangered species, including the giant panda and the California condor, and we remember the dinosaurs, passenger pigeons, and other extinct species.
We pray for all human beings who have felt degraded by being compared to animals.
God, we know that you hear all or prayers, those spoken and those that we hold silently in our hearts. We claim your loving presence with us now in the name of the One who created all animals. Amen.
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Related link:
Earth Day: LGBTQ spirituality affirms the Earth
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Top image credit:
Saint Francis shakes hands with the wolf of Gubbio in a 1911 engraving by Carl Weidemeyer (Wikipedia)
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in October 2020, was expanded over time, and was most recently updated on Oct. 2, 2023.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
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Kitt, I love your opening here as I do the rest of the prayer. It is even more urgent now than when you wrote it. Plus I love the engraving of St Francis.