Some (Holy) Feline Humor
Just a little news from The Monastery Menagerie to lighten your day…
You may be familiar with the custom of blessing animals on October 4th, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This year, since the Lord has added two friendly felines to our number, we decided to hold our own little ceremony before Mass. After all, if any cats should be blessed, monastery cats certainly should!
Nico, easygoing as usual, was hanging out on the cloister walkway and submitted graciously to being scooped up by Sr. Frances Marie and brought into the vestry. Josē, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Searching, calling his name, and even shaking the treat bag proved to no avail. So we went ahead with only one kitty - and aside from a little holy water accidentally getting in Nico’s eyes (a mishap from which he quickly recovered his composure), everything went smoothly.
Just then, Sr. Miriam Esther checked outside again and discovered the truant Josē wandering around the walkways. She went to fetch him and bring him in for his own dose of holy water. All was peaceful - until our elder cat caught sight of the STRANGE MEN in the vestry … Having been raised by nuns ever since he was a kitten, Josē has developed a phobia of people with pant legs in general, and men in particular!
But we were determined to have BOTH our cats blessed, and so Sister braced herself for some scratches and got a firmer hold on the wriggling feline. Having been forewarned of Josē’s skittishness, Fr. Lou was ready to launch into the prayer as soon as Sister made it into the vestry. After the ordeal was over, Josē was released from his bonds and went to hide under a chair while Nico, from his perch in Sr. Frances Marie’s arms, looked on with an air of lazy amusement.
Both cats were soon returned to the great outdoors, and there have thankfully been no lingering hard feelings over the incident. In fact, we think that the blessing really “took,” since Josē has been spotted multiple times on our Stations of the Cross path, where we like to think he’s “saying his prayers”!
“Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures!”
Nico curiously investigates the bottle of holy water
Josē made it through all right - but not before he sank his claws into Sister’s shoulder!!