DOUG PORTER: Not all of our neighbors are human

As I watched the disturbing news reports of the shooting in Las Vegas, a brief segment near the end of the newscast about a church service called the Blessing of the Animals managed to lift my spirits.

This service is a common practice in several protestant denominations (including a couple of churches here in Southwest Georgia) and is based on the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi — an Italian, Roman Catholic friar whose death in October 1226 is marked by the blessing of the animals.

Some churches believe that a blessing of animals bears witnesses to a love, care and concern for creation, while helping us recognize our mutual interdependence on God’s creatures. Francis saw God in all of creation, especially the animals. He called them his brothers and sisters. He is even said to have preached a sermon to a flock of birds.

When Jesus was asked what he considered the greatest commandment that stood above all other teachings, he replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus does not define “neighbor” and it might be presumptuous to extend its meaning, but I am going to do it anyway. Not all of our neighbors, as St. Francis noted, are humans.

I have plenty of friends who celebrate their animal brothers and sisters on social media. I see dog lovers (like me), cat lovers, horse lovers, and (with my zookeeper friends) exotic animal lovers. These people recognize that animals have the power to heal us. They are our therapy animals — loving us unconditionally, healing our broken spirits and bringing us closer to our creator.

I wonder if the evil monsters that fly airplanes into buildings, look into the faces of elementary school children as they shoot them, or rain bullets from automatic weapons onto unsuspecting crowds of people ever had a dog lick their hand, a cat crawl onto their lap, or a horse nuzzle them for affection.

There was plenty of love and heroism on display during and after the shooting in Las Vegas. I’ll bet most of those who stopped to help others are also animal lovers.

What strikes me about blessing animals in a time of human tragedy is that animals lift our spirits in spite of the horrors around us. Maybe we can see a little of God in the eyes of our animals or feel God’s touch in an innocent lick or an affectionate nuzzle. Maybe animals can be tangible reminders of God’s love and spirit.

The only thing more appropriate than an annual blessing of the animals at church would be for us to follow the example set by St. Francis and honor them every day as part of God’s creation. As we do so, it wouldn’t hurt to remember the Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O, God, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

Can I get an Amen?

Doug Porter is a retired zoologist and former executive director of Chehaw.