Cats and dogs and the church of God

“Francis called all creatures, no matter how small by the name of brother and sister; because he knew they had the same source as himself.”

                                                    Saint Bonaventure's Life of St Francis


"If humankind could have known God without the world, God would never have created the world."

                                                    Meister Eckhart


"In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!"

                                                  Colossians 3:11 (New Revised Standard Version)

~ o ~

From time to time they appear in our blog posts, but we haven’t introduced them properly. We apologize. 

So, here they are, the dogs and cats that share Barrowfield with us. They will be introduced according to age with the result that there will be no distinction between cats and dogs. As a rule we do not see them as two separate entities, although they need to be treated differently being cats and dogs. But that’s a different story. 

Katryn (Jack Russell) 

Photograph by George Angus

At 13 the old lady of the house. Close to home she cashes in on her age and uses every opportunity to sleep on her blanket in the kitchen while all the other dogs must stay outside. But the moment she notices us putting on our boots a wave of life goes through those old bones and she can’t wait to go for our walk. Still very independent she’ll explore the river bank, but we keep an eye on her. It now happens often that she stands lost on a spot looking for us. I do believe however that she will still give that specific snake-bark of hers should she come across one of them. 

Mily (Impossible to trace breed) 

Photograph by Matilda Angus

We call her “our Mily” or “Milytjie” expressing our protectiveness where she is concerned. She is timid and slow in a Forrest Gump sort of way. When her “baby brother” Patat bullies her, her only defence is miaowing, but now she does it even when he leisurely strolls into the room. So we tell her “All right now, don’t overdo it.” Her favourite activity is climbing into boxes and baskets, she loves it when you brush her hair and she takes medicine for her chronic gingivitis. Of all our pets she tends to make the most beautiful pictures. 

Jasper (Border Collie) 

Photograph by Matilda Angus

Definitely a 5 on the Enneagram he is also the head boy. Not the leader of the pack – he is too soft, sensitive and gentleman-like for that – but the head boy. Should you discipline one of the other dogs he’ll immediately come and sit in front of you, saying, “Look, I am a good dog.” Because the crack of a whip and the sound of flying beetles frighten him, he eats inside with Katryn. Otherwise he’ll have no appetite. He is so intelligent that I have conversations with him as with a human which he understands. He is also my shadow, always in the workshop where I work or at my heel when we walk. 

Roxy (Labrador) 

Photograph by Matilda Angus

Our water dog. I think God created the river here at Barrowfield for Roxy to be in her element. While still in Gauteng she came to us as a rich city girl that could no longer stay with her previous owners. For almost three months after her arrival she did not make a sound and she had to learn what her name was. Now she is the mother figure, learning new arrivals the ropes. When she has the regular fungal infection in her ear, you can’t even say as casual as possible to Matilda where we are drying the dishes, “I see she’s shaking her head. Shall we have a look?” She immediately flattens her ears and trots to their den under the bathroom floor. Then I have to put on my overall and headlamp and crawl with the ointment into the den where she quietly waits for me to treat the ear. Women! 

Patat (Impossible to trace breed) 

Photograph by George Angus

The most written about of all our pets even though he is almost the youngest. He’s got attitude, character, chutzpah, cheek and everything else that makes him a wonderful writing subject. Sebastien loves him to pieces and calls him “Boyo” or “Mister Man”. And we can’t even lay claim to fame in choosing him as our pet. He was given to us wrapped in a Volkswagen Polo engine. 

Molly (Husky x Golden Retriever x Alsatian) 

Photograph by Matilda Angus

Very difficult to find a puppy photo of her that’s not blurred – our hop, skip and jump child. It is so strange, she is the youngest of all the dogs but she’s got all the potential to develop into the leader of the pack. Almost as intelligent as Jasper, but more aggressive and assertive and on a certain level more in touch with her primal being as a dog than any of the others. But she is ironically also the most demonstrative in displaying her love. Early morning, while she excitedly walks with me as I go to loosen the windmill and unlock the workshop, she opens her jaws wide and gently folds it around my calf every time I step forward. Then I walk tall and feel very privileged. 

~ o ~ 

In showing the pictures and talking about them, we might come over as grandparents carrying photos of grandchildren in our wallets. You’ll be forgiven should you think along those lines. 

However, what we really want to touch upon is what the Scholastic theologians called the Great Chain of being, and the Franciscans believe to be “the Univocity of all Being.” The Latin word Univocity meaning “one voice.” 

Very simply it means that I am not the centre of the universe. I am not even part of a specific race or nationality or species that is the centre of the universe. I am part of a great chain of being along with the Creator, all other people on the face of the earth, all the animals, plants and the planet itself. All this is grounded in the One Being, God. In themselves, and in their union together, all these elements and beings in creation proclaim the glory of God (Psalm 104) and the inherent dignity of all things. They speak with one voice, saying the same thing, each in his or her or its unique way. 

In our contact with our pets we experience this on a daily basis. It teaches us humility, respect and a very deep appreciation for life itself as an expression of God’s being. 

In that regard Richard Rohr writes: 

“In the 4th century St. Augustine said that ‘the church consists in the state of communion of the whole world’ (Ecclesiam in totius orbis communione consistere). Wherever we are connected, in right relationship, you might say “in love,” there is the Christ, the Body of God, and there is the church. But we whittled that Great Mystery down into something small, exclusive, and manageable too. The church became a Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant private club, and not necessarily with people who were “in communion” with anything else, usually not with the natural world, animals, with non-Christians, or even with other Christians outside their own denomination. It became a very tiny salvation, hardly worthy of the name. God was not very victorious at all.”
(From Radical Grace, April-May-June, Volume 23, Number 2, 2010) 

How on earth did we manage to get everything so upside down and so small?  

While writing, a conversation between Winnie the Pooh and his friend Piglet comes to mind: 

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said.” 

I started with our pets and the numerous ways in which they enrich our lives and I ended with God’s church where members traditionally called each other brother and sister. 

Sage Pooh would have looked at the beginning and end of my piece and said: “Same thing.” 

And that’s exactly what I’m saying. 

George