Blog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 

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Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care - 15 Mar 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

As I’ve mentioned in earlier Blogs, on days when Frank is doing the driving, I often read out loud from a book that we have chosen and placed in the car beforehand. Today I want to tell you about our latest choice:

Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care by Andrew Linzey is absolutely outstanding in every way! The prayers in this remarkable book are so uplifting and so beautiful that I know God inspired them. While writing this Blog, I’m trying to find the words to describe the way my very soul is touched by the magnificence of these liturgies, and to rejoice that there are some people in this fallen world who have allowed their hearts and souls to be taught and transformed by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is a portion of just one of the many prayers from this book that resonate with me and cause me to say, “Yes! This is truth!”:

Merciful God we are made in your image but we have made gods of ourselves; we have turned your creatures into things and machines,

making them objects of our sport using them for our vanity, exploiting them for our greed and stealing their lives;

but you are the liberating God who can transform even ourselves; help us to turn from our evil and embrace the vision of your peaceable kingdom:

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah. 11:9, RSV)

My prayer is that Andrew Linzey’s much-needed book of Animal Rites, Liturgies of Animal Care will find a place everywhere and will be a catalyst of positive change, lifting us all closer to God’s original intent for His entire creation.

Also see: Animal Rites: Liturgies of Animal Care

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