Blessing The Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God's Creatures, Wild and Tame

by Lynn L. Caruso (Introduction)

Celebrate the Mystery, Compassion, Wonder and Beauty of Animals Take a spiritual journey through this beautiful collection of blessings, prayers and meditations about the creatures, wild and tame, that inhabit our world. These moving contributions about all types of animals―playful dogs and beloved cats, giant whales and powerful elephants, tiny insects and delicate birds―are drawn from many faith traditions, including Native American, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist. A special section also provides animal blessing ceremonies you can use to memorialize the loss of a companion animal, offer prayers for an animal suffering illness or injury or simply recognize the spiritual connection we create when we fully appreciate another member of God's creation. Contributors
Akhenaton • Cecil Frances Alexander • Matsuo Basho • Henry Ward Beecher • Henry Bergh • Annie Besant • Ambrose Bierce • Black Elk • Elizabeth Barrett Browning • Martin Buber • Yosa Buson • Isaac Caruso • Chang Chiu-Ch'eng • John C. Chendo • Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Feng Chih • John Ciardi • Jean Cocteau • Rev. Dr. Scott Cowdell • James Dickey • Emily Dickinson • George Washington Doane • Fyodor Dostoevsky • Mark Doty • Johann Eckhart • Mary Cronk Farrell • John Bookser Feister • Rev. Roberta Finkelstein • Eliza Lee Cabot Follen • T. Griffith Foulk • Anatole France • Saint Francis of Assisi • Diana L. Guerrero • Joy Harjo • Stanley Hauerwas • Kathy Heffernan • Jane Hirshfield • Alicia Hokanson • Gerard Manley Hopkins • Victor Hugo • Kobayashi Issa • Francis Jammes • Saint John of the Cross • Naito Joso • Kabir • Galway Kinnell • Rudy Kipling • Laurie Klein • Mukai Kyorai • Laurie Lamon • Lao-Tzu • D. H. Lawrence • Richard Lehnert • Letakos-Lesa • Paul Lindholdt • Kevin E. Mackin • Seumas MacManus • Lauren McLaughlin • Fiona McLeod, (pseudonym of William Sharp) • Sugawara no Michizane • Mirabai • Rev. Gloria S. Moncrief • John Muir • Claire Rudolf Murphy • Gloria Pinsker • Po Chü-i • Sri Ramakrishna • Pam Reinke • Rivage (pseudonym of Mary Newman) • Christina Rossetti • Jalaluddin Rumi • Carl Sandburg • Meghan Nuttall Sayres • Albert Schweitzer • Sir Walter Scott • Masaoka Shiki • Izumi Shikibu • Mark S.Sisk • Christopher Smart • Rabindranath Tagore • Henry David Thoreau • Mark Twain • Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo • Evelyn Underhill • Carl Van Vechten • Walt Whitman • James Arlington Wright • William Butler Yeats

Genres: Animals

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2006

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mostly pedestrian collection of pieces revering animals, nature and life in general. There were some decent contributions (James Dickey's NOT being one of them)but sometimes it seemed to be more about what the editor had contributed to the collection. To find anything awe inspiring, you really need to dig.
I will commend the editor for her inclusion of other than Christian works-including passages from that book often demonized of late (usually by Christians): the Qu'ran.
I bought this book long before I lost my two cats over the past 12 months but only recently found it amid my horrendous pile of books beside my bed. I started to read it as the first anniversary of my first cat's passing approaches in the hope that I might find something to mark the date.
Maybe I have, maybe not.
Meanwhile, my cats' ashes rest in their urns on top of my dresser.
I give them snacks everyday.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one little book I will have to own. My animals are quite dear to me. It something that runs in my family. My cousin has had his cleft palleted Belgian horse blessed at his church. I have always felt that animals deserve much more. This book is a start...