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Blessing the Animals
- Wayne State University Press
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2 B L e s s i n G T H e a n i M a L s at five today, the priest will bless the animals, so we collect on the stone rim of the fountain, old women with canary cages, children holding cats and parrots, a bowl of fish, dogs, of course, some combed and ribboned, others big and dour as burros. one boy pulls a goat on a rope, another slides a snake around his neck. We nod or talk, cheerful, half serious about this rite where no sins slouch in the shadows, a baptism of the innocents. By and by the priest comes out, a cream-colored robe with gold embroidery. We gather, lifting the animals, but he doesn’t seem to see us. He takes out a small book and reads some words we can’t 2 make out. slips a carved stick into a clay bottle, sprinkles a little water on the nearest fur or feathers, turns, and walks back in. That’s it. all right, Padre, maybe there is no scriptural authority for blessing animals. Maybe splashing water on a goat is not your notion of a holy office. Maybe you intend to teach some dignity to your young seminarian who thinks his calling is to take the hands of wrinkled widows on the street. as we walk away, a quick wind catches the fountain, dissolves us all in mist. When it clears, the finches and macaws fluff up their greens and crimsons, tilt their heads, and add their heathen whistles to the slippery skin of water on the ancient stones. ...