~by Susi Pittman

Our spirituality can have a wonderful effect on the pets in our lives. It is perhaps the least thought about but the most important aspect of connecting two creatures in a universal intimacy. It leads to a multi-dimensional relationship of signals, gestures and sounds, all complemented by a peaceful persona.

Some would be authorities would have us believe that achieving such intimacy is first of all ridiculous and secondly, represents our need to transmit human characteristics upon animals, thus making the relationship dysfunctional.

The truth is this type of thinking could not be further from the truth!

Jesus came embracing all of creation. Born among the creatures of a stable, with shepherds and the flocks in attendance; a donkey that carried the Holy Family into exile in Egypt; the descending Holy Spirit in the form of a dove at His Baptism; the wild animals that kept Jesus company while in the desert for 40 days; and a donkey to carry Our Lord in His triumphant return to Jerusalem.

Genuine loving contact in any form is not dysfunctional, but very human. It helps to develop our humanity when we connect with the unconditional love of a pet. It has been proven again and again in nursing homes, hospitals and with our wounded veterans, just how animals can lift our spirits and change our lives, just by being close.

To get a glimpse of heaven is to have a pet or an animal that needs our care. They live here on earth in the present moment. That “vita” in and of itself is fascinating.

As human beings, we live by the clock, for the clock and with the clock. Time plays into every aspect of our lives. Not so with animals. They know not time. Their internal gauge is different than ours. It is set to “life rhythms” rather than minutes and hours. Our pets especially are masters of observation. They take note of our routines, our habits and idiosyncrasies and move in our lives accordingly. The dynamics of the relationship is usually in the hands of the human. Together we communicate; We by voice, tone, touch, playfulness, sternness, love or even an unseen impulse; They by just a look. It is evocative and complex.

The deepest intimacy is based not on speech, but in the intuitiveness of being present in the moment. There are no questions, no hurtful words. It is gentle, wafting in the presence of the spiritual dignity given all God’s creatures. They have been given the ability to know our needs, weaknesses, strengths, love’s and dislikes in so many ways.

Our pets know when we are about to return home from work as much as they know that a thunderstorm will arrive during the day. One is in the rhythm of our life the other is the rhythm of the natural realm which God has “hard-wired” them to know. Animals are acutely aware of so much more than our five senses are telling us.

Our pets are deeply rooted in spirituality. They were created as “good” by the Creator and given their own “particular good,” receiving God to the extent that they are capable of. Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks of animals having a soul, but made much differently than what God has given to humankind.

We are promised that all things will be made new by the Creator. (Revelations 21:5) Animals were created to cooperate with the Creator in this realm as they move about with humanity, ever subject to humankind’s disposition of them. And ever to be blessed eternally by the One who calls them back to Himself.

It is up to us to receive and understand the mission given us as stewards. That we were given dominion over all the earth and its creatures for the continued loving and responsible providence God had willed from the beginning.

Our pets are a wonderful place to start understanding that. They lead us in their unconditional love to places in our heart that resound the harmony of old. Their devotion and physical presence in our lives enriches the “living” experience taking us beyond ourselves.

Our pets would if they could, remain with us until our natural deaths. So many times, a family pet has mourned the loss of its owner to an early death, showing how deeply and emotionally they feel the loss.

The spiritual and physical bonds between pet and pet owner grow and change as the love matures. The trust, love and gentility given and taken, is one of the miracles of true harmony with creation that God has given humankind.

It is through this veil of humility and humaneness that we cross the barrier of species and interconnect as family.

Susi Pittman is founder of CatholicStewardsofCreation.com and Owner-President of Twin Oaks Publishing; she is author of Animals in Heaven? Catholics Want to Know!; an advocate for the Florida Catholic Conference; a member of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Council of Women in Jacksonville, Florida; an Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Augustine;a member of the Florida Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, the National Association of Professional Women, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and the National Audubon society.