Blessings and prayers for animals.

[emborios]

I agree bringing animals to church for a blessing is a bit absurd, but I think animals are a link to God. They have a divine purpose, a direct connection with the higher realms that many people lost.

[temporal1]

I agree bringing animals to church for a blessing is a bit absurd, but I think animals are a link to God.
They have a divine purpose, a direct connection with the higher realms that many people lost.

Thanks for refreshing this topic. It’s still on my mind.

You sense absurdity, do you sense wrong or harm in blessing animals? As a “link to God” there must be good?
i’m aware of these (usually annual?) church blessings, i’ve never attended one. i’ve been neutral, probably on your side of it, believing God created the universe and all within, for His purposes. All creatures, great and small, (and all not living, too).

i suppose it’s the human vulnerability to creating and worshipping false gods that muddies the waters.
an ancient problem, not less in contemporary times.

i think all of creation, from the most expansive seen in telescopes to most minute, spied under microscopes, has the potential to nudge humility into human reasoning, given a moment to consider it.

Much of human life experience swings from taking things for granted to being completely awestruck/dumbstruck.

Psalm 104:25
https://biblehub.com/psalms/104-25.htm

24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.

25Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.

26There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.…

Good stewardship
https://biblehub.com/topical/b/being_a_good_steward.htm

When i started this topic, i wasn’t thinking of formal church blessings.
i was wondering about any blessings or prayers for animals, at all.

For example, years ago, i had to put a loved family dog to sleep, our close family vet did it in her clinic. As she passed, i was close to her and thanked her so much for being the best pet she could have been, she was loved and appreciated. Not a blessing or prayer, it was thanks and gratitude.

More recently i wondered about blessings and prayers for animals.

[JayP]

Arise from the death of a loved family member, I think having to put down a beloved pet is both one of the hardest things to do, but one of the most necessary. As the animal faces the end, the may well be in pain, confused by say limbs that are not working. They literally look to you as you comfort them and talk to them as they are put down
Once a child is of a certain age, they should not be excluded. If handled well, it is an important lesson in so many ways. Animals are not people, but our love for them is real. Understanding that we must care for the, is a biblical call. Understanding death is real is an important lesson. And that a man faces it with compassion and understanding and reality. The pain of pets is we outlive them