Opportunities for Involvement Are Everywhere - When You Look

My family did not attend the recent Blessing of the Animals hosted by our Animal Ministry. It will come no surprise to hear that we had water polo games that day. When you have three children who play and/or coach water polo, there is usually a water polo game or practice going on.

When I read Lisa McClure’s blog post about the ceremony, I was truly sorry that I didn’t make arrangements to bring our three cats. It sounds like it was a wonderful event, and our feline family members are very special to us (despite an annoying compulsion to sit on homework). My children appreciate that their kitties are always ready to snuggle up and watch a movie after a grueling workout. The Blessing would have been a great event for our family to attend, if we could have made it work with our schedule.

It occurred to me as I read Lisa’s post, that I didn’t know a whole lot about the Animal Ministry. How many other wonderful programs, I wondered, did we have at the Center that I really hadn’t paid attention to? Even though I’d listened to the Sunday announcements, I just hadn’t processed the information, for whatever reason.

 I decided to pay a visit to our website: www.cslcv.org

The programs I’d already been participating in jumped right out at me. (Isn’t that always how it works?) I clicked on the “Events & News” tab and decided to look around…

We have a Women’s Group – and they are going to a sweat lodge! There is a group known as Shifting Sands that meets every Thursday morning - that sounds intriguing… There is also a Men’s Group (I don’t think I’ll be checking that out.) For those who sing (also not me), we offer Choir on Thursday evenings! One of my favorite programs is happening this morning at 11:30 AM: the Parent Forum. It is typically held on the first Thursday of each month. There are several other programs that I simply didn’t list – there is truly something for everyone.

This month we are doing the Commitment Experiment. I hope you are participating. It is going to be exciting to see how this manifests in each of our lives. When you commit to something, you can’t help but get results – whether it’s a diet, a savings plan, a exercise regime, or a new spiritual practice. Consider choosing one or more of our programs and making a commitment to it this month. You’ll be glad you did.

Blessing of the Animals in San Clemente

On Saturday I brought my dog to the Blessing of the Animals hosted by our Animal Ministry at the Center for Spiritual Living Capistrano Valley. The ceremony was held at Pines Park, a stunning location overlooking the Pacific under a canopy of pine trees. We opened with a beautiful group prayer delivered by Kathy Storey.

We pray to God, our Creator, to bless our pets with your radiant light and love.
May our animal friends have good health, happy lives and always be protected and safe.
We ask for better understanding as we learn from our animal friends' wisdom, their innocence, their loyalty and particularly their seeming ability to not judge human beings unkindly.
Thank you for the pleasures, playfulness and sometimes the surprising humor our pets display.
Thank you for their companionship and friendship, especially for those lonely hours we may have experienced.
Thank you for our companion's natural ability to teach us to be aware of the present moment.
Thank you for the pure beauty of every animal they are all works of art, and may we appreciate your creation of this masterpiece.
Bless all animals in harms way, heal the sick, protect those who are lost and guide them to safety.
Thank you for the gift of love.

Next each individual pet was blessed.

My little Jack Russell was very excited about being part of the ceremony.

Here you can see Toni Sparks giving a wonderful blessing to my little dog. (She may have been expecting a cookie).






A special spot was set up to honor the beloved pets who have made their transition.

We wrote their names with loving messages and attached them to our tree.

Candles, pictures, even urns were brought. We gathered and shared our pet stories of love.

As I listened to everyone's stories I couldn't help but keep marvel at how much happiness and love our critters bring us and I was so thankful to our Animal Ministry for creating this special time and place.