Lets us bless our fellow creatures

Thursday, October 4th, is the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. He is one of the most universally loved of all saints, not only among Catholics, but also among Buddhists, Muslims, other Christian denominations, and people who love and care for Mother Earth and her inhabitants.
I am posting some links to Franciscan sites ... for pet blessings and articles on Saint Francis.

First as a possible starting place for prayer and meditation, I offer these two quotes from Francis:

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. -St. Francis de Assisi

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.-St. Francis de Assisi
these quotes were borrowed from:

http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=assisi

The page below from a Franciscan magazine includes bios of St. Francis, articles on his life, list of places in the US having pet and animal blessings(a lot of these are this sunday, a bless-your-pet yourself blessing, plus e-cards, prayers etc.) Very interesting article on St. Francis and the Muslims.

http://www.americancatholic.org/features/francis/default.asp

The below link is to a wonderful article by the famous sportswriter Paul Gallico, who also wrote wonderful animal stories (Thomasina, The Small Miracle, The Snow Goose, plus many other novels)...Be good to yourself and read this article.

http://www.cin.org/saints/francisgallico.html