I promised a blog soon as we were ‘settled’ in our new home, a senior living campus in northeast Ohio. Well, here I am. Let me tell you it has been a remarkable journey. I am so busy that my Ma’m has to wake me for my daily walks! My main ministry is to visit the residents and bring joy to everyone: Oh, my goodness, I have to stop and get petted and cuddled by employees and residents wherever I’m going. I know just about everyone: residents and employees; I know where certain rooms are like the laundry, the kitchen, the activities center, the dining room, the chapel. If unleashed, I could find Sr. Helen’s room or Sr. Anita’s, and these are almost a mile in dog steps!! I socialize with residents on the outdoor patio in the middle of a gorgeous garden. All I need is sunglasses, a cigarette holder in one paw and a margarita in the other and, well, you get the picture; I’m the doyenne of this villa and the whole town.
One evening a nurse was so smitten when she saw me in the sisters’ community room she scooped me up and hugged me nearly to death and wanted to take me on her rounds, but Ma’m intervened. So, about an hour later when we were back in our room there was a knock on the door and said nurse appeared with another nurse saying, “We’d like to see Lily again because she is so adorable.” I kid you not. Those were her exact words! Honestly, a girl can’t get any rest around here when she’s so popular!
From my mail bag I’ve selected two letters representative of most of your questions lately. Bouncer from Tim’s Bar and Grille writes: “I’m used to snarling at boisterous customers and threatening to chew alive folks who get out of line or fight over the bar bill. Any advice on how to be welcoming and warm to customers like you are?”
Lily: Well, buddy, our circumstances are quite different. No one argues over bar tabs here. In fact, I have never seen any such misbehavior since I’ve been here. But I will bet if you meander among the customers looking sweet and welcoming, you will become the charmer-in-chief, a much better title than ‘Bouncer,’ don’t you think? Everyone wants to be around warmth, kindness, and gentleness, even if it comes from a drooling, ferocious looking guard dog for a bar. Get on it, buddy. People will love you.
From the Cozy Nook Bookstore in Peoria, Pansy, the cat who runs Pansy’s Paw Patrol in the store, writes that she is often overlooked in her job. She thinks that she and fellow cat, Leona (an apt name for a house cat who acts more like a lion than a sleepy bookstore cat), are neglected in their work. What to do?
Lily: Well Pansy, it’s time to lighten up. Bookstores are almost like libraries. People appreciate quiet as they thumb through books. And, really, your feline nature suits you for this job. You don’t bark, run, or pant. You amble through the aisles and let people know you’re there. You sit on the window shelf which entices people to come in even if the books on display don’t do this. You and Leona are like psychics who get the atmosphere drenched in quiet spirituality so people can’t in touch with the noiseless part of life and throw themselves into a treasured peace of mind. My goodness! Your job is the same as mine. Getting people to the center of peace where the metronome of life is gentle but moving on with time. You are appreciated, Pansy! God appreciates you and has since you were a little kitty scrambling for your mother’s milk. God made you for the purpose of bringing a certain peace to a bookstore tucked between shops on a busy street in Peoria. Stop whining and appreciate yourself and the rest will follow. Now, I gotta go to my next visit.
Reflection
St. Thomas Aquinas, the apotheosis of theologians, held that “the highest good after God is not the good of humans, but the good of the order of the whole universe…for Thomas, nonhuman animals share with human animals a spiritual reality or soul…The animal can feel or experience fear, hate, joy, anger.” (For Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action by Charles Camosy, Franciscan Media, 2013, p.66.) Camosy writes that St. Thomas thought animals have a reason for doing what they do. He asks, “If an animal has a reason for doing what it does, then how far away are we from concluding that this animal has self-awareness?” (p.66) Self-awareness is the test for rational consciousness. Yes, ‘rational.’
All animals, especially your pets, deserve respect for what God created them to be, and each creation is a different gift to us, all fuzzy, furry, hairy or scaly but gift, nonetheless. Treat them that way.
For this week, can you casually read sections of the Hebrew scriptures and note the beautiful words on animals? Notice especially the gifts they are to the elderly and, if possible, share these gifts with them. Make their days a bit more joyful.
In All Things Charity 
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