My hen, Charlie, died final month.
Charlie was a fantastic little parrot, jam-packed with character. Most days, my shoulder was her perch, from which she would plant kisses on my cheek. She cherished having her image taken, and my buddy taught her to pose. After we would chortle, she would chortle—and she or he had a knack for figuring out when the punchline of a joke was coming and would all the time chortle at precisely the fitting second.
She additionally cherished to snuggle. She would fly over, sit with us, wrapped in a hoodie on the sofa, and watch films and Mass with us. When my son would apply violin, she can be the metronome completely chirping out the beat. If he stopped training after only some minutes, Charlie would squawk at him till he would begin training once more. My son used to joke that she was a music trainer in a earlier life. At evening, after we would end up the sunshine, she would say, “Good evening. I really like you.” She was energetic and love.
Within the days after her demise, I discovered myself shocked on the depth of my grief. The areas of our residence the place she had perched appeared to emit a palpable absence. I reminded myself that she was not an individual. That didn’t assist in any respect. The actual fact was, she was nonetheless a cherished member of our household for over a decade, and whereas she was solely six inches lengthy, she consistently made her presence recognized. I made a decision to simply sit with my grief in prayer.
As I prayed, St. Ignatius’s ideas on creation got here to thoughts. Within the Contemplation to Attain the Love of God, he asks us to mirror on “how God dwells in creatures: within the components giving them existence, within the vegetation giving them life, within the animals conferring upon them sensation, in man bestowing understanding” (Religious Workouts 235) and to contemplate “how God works and labors for me in all creatures upon the face of the earth, that’s, He conducts Himself as one who labors. Thus, within the heavens, the weather, the vegetation, the fruits, the cattle, and so forth., He provides being, conserves them, confers life and sensation, and so forth.” (236) Ignatius additional advises that we’re to “think about all blessings and presents as descending from above.” (237)
Charlie definitely was a blessing from above, and she or he taught me about God. If God can pack a lot love into one pleasant little hen and if, as Ignatius signifies, God has created and continues to create all of creation as present for us, how immense is God’s love for us?
It’s value spending a while with that thought: God’s love animates all of creation, all the time, and all of this wondrous creation is a present to us!
Have you ever ever had a pet that taught you about God’s love for you?