Mango's Father

My cat Mango

"We are all creatures of one family."

~St. Francis of Assisi

I was praying my regular prayer* and I got to the part where I chant "Kyrie Eleison" and "Christe Eleison." I was sitting cross-legged on the bed and my cat Mango was curled up right in front of my legs, happy in my presence and maybe my singing (because I sing silly songs to him from time to time.)

I had actually had a kind of rough prayer session to start out with. When you have obstacles, you know it when you pray, or I do anyway. By the time I started the chanting part, things were much better. And I looked down at Mango who was curled up there so happy, not quite in my lap but right in front of it.

And I thought, "there he is, resting in the love of his adoptive human father. And here I am, resting in the love of my adoptive Father."

Would that everything in life could be as simple, as graceful, as beautiful as this.



*I have a regular prayer that I pray, I pray it on Rosary beads but it is not the Rosary. On the main beads I pray the Jesus Prayer a little more than halfway up, and then on the main beads I alternate between chanting "Kyrie Eleison" and "Christe Eleison," one on each group of beads. So in other words I chant the one on one set of beads, and the other on the next set and so on. For the beads in between, the ones that separate the groups, I pray "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy." Then when I am finished with praying and chanting the whole of the beads and am back at the cross, I say the Our Father. I pray this way because it is very good at silencing the mind and bringing to the forefront any issues you are having. And the chanting part is very beautiful, or at least it is to me.