Students at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School in Eltham, Melbourne, shrieked with delight as Fr Michael Sierakowski blessed them with holy water during a blessing of the pets in the lead-up to the Feast of St Francis recently, reports Melbourne Catholic.
Seated on the school’s basketball court, the children had raised their hands towards a large jug of water and a leafy branch as Fr Michael prayed for the animals who share their homes and lives.
Fr Michael Sierakowski with Rodrigo Castellanos, the Franciscan Secular Order regional minister for Victoria. PHOTO: Melbourne Catholic.
‘Through the intercession of St Francis of Assisi, let us care for those animals with kindness and respect,’ he prayed. ‘May they remind us of the beauty of your creation and our responsibility to care for the world you’ve given us all.’
The blessing, held on the last day of term 3, on Friday September 18, began as a solemn moment, but quickly became playful when Fr Michael flicked holy water over the students and their beloved pets with the leafy sprig. The children laughed as the refreshing drops landed on them on the warm day. He then continued around the edges of the court, blessing all those gathered.
The pets—an array of dogs, as well as a few cats secured in pet carriers—appeared to take the unexpected sprinkling in their stride.
The blessing marked the conclusion of The St Francis Project, a four-week program run by the Secular Franciscan Order in partnership with the school. It formed part of Jubilee Year of St Francis of Assisi, marking 800 years since the death of the great saint whose love for people, nature and animals remains central to Franciscan spirituality.
The Secular Franciscan Order’s Regional Minister for Victoria, Rodrigo Castellanos, said the project grew from conversations with Parish of Risen Christ priest Fr Michael and school principal Rudy Vail.
Mr Castellanos, who is also a member of the parish, said the school had welcomed the opportunity to learn about St Francis through its religious education classes.
St Francis is the patron of animals and ecology, and an icon of universal fraternity, harmony and peace. The students explored St Francis’ life and spirituality through a presentation and four lessons, learning about his youth, the Cross of San Damiano, the Canticle of the Creatures, and his death and entry into heaven.
Together, the lessons invited the children to consider what St Francis’ care for creation, his conversion and his understanding of human relationships might teach them about their own lives.
Mr Castellanos said the students were particularly enthusiastic when they learned how the program would end. ‘Everybody really lit up when I told them that we were going to be doing blessings of the pets today,’ he said.
‘You can’t really beat that. No amount of historical information will beat bringing your loved animals to be blessed.’
Mr Castellanos said that in the Canticle of the Creatures, St Francis invites everyone to see God’s creation as a united family to which they also belong. ‘There is one Creator, and then all of us creatures are basically brothers and sisters,’ he said. ‘We’re not only here to look after them, we are here to be in a family together.’
That message shaped the blessing ceremony. A reading from Genesis recalled God’s creation of wild animals, cattle and all the creatures that move along the ground.
Some pets making friends during their outing for the Blessing of the Animals at Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic School in Eltham. PHOTO: Melbourne Catholic.
The community then prayed for the Church, animals in homes, lost, abandoned and mistreated animals, the people who rescue and care for them, and those responsible for protecting the earth. They also remembered pets that had died and the happiness and companionship they had brought to their families.
Principal Rudy Vail led the students in the Prayer of St Francis, asking God to make them instruments of peace, love, pardon, faith, hope, light and joy.
To close the ceremony, Fr Michael encouraged the community to remember St Francis’ love for human beings, animals and the natural world before offering a final blessing for the students, their pets and the school community.
Mr Castellanos said the blessing and the earlier lessons on St Francis were part of a wider series of Franciscan celebrations held over the last four years. These had included a focus on the Canticle of the Creatures and a reflection on the stigmata, or signs of the cross, received by St Francis.
There was also the 800-year anniversary of the first Nativity scene, which was created by St Francis. In 1223, he sought papal permission to recreate the scene of Christ’s birth in a Bethlehem stable so people could more closely experience what it would have been like. The tradition is still going strong centuries later.
For the students at Our Lady Help of Christians primary school, the term’s learning ended with a joyful and tangible expression of the central Franciscan message: loving God’s creation means treating its creatures with kindness, respect and care.
This article was published in Melbourne Catholic, the publication of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.