Animal Prayer

BEHIND THE ART

Years ago I saw a movie about St. Francis of Assisi. One scene in particular remains fresh in my memory. Francis is in bed where he has lain sick for many days. He revives a little and, though still weak is able to walk. He crosses the room and steps onto a balcony. The sun is shining. The sky is blue. He looks up and sees a lark gliding by. As if beckoning, he raises his hand. The lark circles, descends and comes to him.

The image of the bird perched peacefully on the man’s extended forefinger is touching and miraculous. But it seems to me something else as well. I see this image as a bridge across the great gulf – a gulf as old, I suppose, as The Fall; filled with fear and mistrust. It is the gulf that separates us from the creatures of the natural world. 

In the wild (in Eden, presumably, there was no “wild”) the graceful deer bolts across the meadow as we approach. The nervous squirrel dashes up the nearest tree. Even the butterfly makes her erratic departure when we get too near. “Wait. Don’t be afraid,” something in us wants to say, “we won’t hurt you.” But the animals know different. 

So, it is encouraging to find exceptions to this state of fear and mistrust. Here is one:
Jesus making his entry into Jerusalem on a colt that has never been ridden before. Under normal circumstances this would be a risky activity. (As a boy I lived on a ranch; rode horses; “broke” one; hit the ground often.) But God on horseback is hardly a normal circumstance. In this encounter between creature and Creator, the animal – perhaps for the first time in his life – did not panic, did not shy away from the human touch. He was at peace. 

Another more immediate example is the ideal – and often actual – relationship between dog and human.

When my son brings his dog Lou to our shop, and she runs up and nuzzles my hand, wanting to be acknowledged, wanting to be patted, I sense her greeting me, I sense our relationship, and am always grateful for it, always glad. 

When God created the animals and put them in Adam’s care, I imagine it was something like this He had in mind. 

—Michael