Dayspring will hold its ninth annual Blessing of the Animals in Tempe on Sunday, October 27 at 12:00pm. All pets are welcome on a leash or in a carrier. Children are invited to bring their favorite stuffed animals for a blessing during the 10:00 service.
This custom is conducted in remembrance of St. Francis of Assisi’s love for all creatures. Francis, whose feast day is October 4th, loved the larks flying about his hilltop town. He and his early brothers, staying in a small hovel, allowed themselves to be displaced by a donkey. Francis wrote a Canticle of the Creatures, an ode to God’s living things, “All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures.”
You are invited to bring your animal companions to church for a special blessing. Church is the place where the bond of creation is celebrated. Every creature is important. The love we give to and receive from our animal companions can draw us more deeply into the larger circle of life, and into the wonder of our common relationship to our Creator.