'Can you pray for my sick dog?'

The Holy Family with a Bird, Murillo, painted 1650.

I was in our parish church in Dublin this afternoon praying when I saw a young man of about 19 come in, kneel in the front pew for a couple of minutess, light a candle in front of the latar of the Blessed Virgin and then leave. I was thinking that it was a hopeful sign to see a young person do this. Indeed, yesterday at Sunday Mass, while the congregation at the Mass at 11am wasn't great, there were some young people present.

A few minutes latr thee young man came, approached me and told me his dog was sick. I wouldn't describe him as distressed but he was upset. I asked hiim how old his dog was and he said 'three'. He also gave me the dog's name, 'Sam'. I asked him if he had taken Sam to the vet. 'He's with him right now', he told me.

I mentioned two saints to the young man, whose name I asked but won't mention here, who had the gift of healing animals, St Francis and St Martin de Porres. (I'm not certain that St Francis actually healed them but many churches bless pets on his feast day). The young man was happy with this and went off. I prayed of him and for little Sam.



St Martin de Porres is sometimes depicted with a broom, a dog, cat, mouse and bird at his feet. He had the gift of healing persons and their animals, as the picture above suggests. (If the picture disappears click on the link. I'm not sure whether or not it's copyright but the link brings you to the source).Probably health authorities today in the West would be horrified to see animals outside a hospital ward!

 

Full post here.