St. Francis Propers – George Yandell
Although not unique, Koko the gorilla was one of the few non-humans known to keep pets. She had been taught American Sign Language. Researchers at the Gorilla Foundation said that Koko asked for a cat for Christmas in 1983. Ron Cohn, a biologist with the foundation, explained to the Los Angeles Times that when she was given a lifelike stuffed animal, she was less than satisfied. She did not play with it and continued to sign “sad”. So on her birthday in July 1984, she was able to choose a kitten from a litter. Koko selected a gray male Manx from a litter of abandoned kittens and named him “All Ball”. Dr. Penny Patterson, who had custody of Koko and organized the Gorilla Foundation, wrote that Koko cared for the kitten as if it were a baby gorilla. Researchers said that she tried to nurse All Ball and was very gentle and loving. They believed the kitten, and her skills gained through playing with dolls, would be a tool to help Koko learn how to nurture an offspring.
In December of that same year, All Ball escaped from Koko’s cage and was hit and killed by a car. Later, Patterson said that when she signed to Koko that All Ball had gone, Koko signed “Bad, sad, bad” and “Frown, cry, frown, sad”. Patterson also reported later hearing Koko making a sound similar to human weeping.
In 1985, Koko was allowed to pick out two new kittens from a litter to be her companions. The animals she chose, which she later named “Lipstick” and “Smokey”. They were also Manxes like All Ball. [The above from Wikipedia.]
Fred Rogers wanted to meet Koko the gorilla, who had often watched “Mr. Rogers’s Neighborhood.” When they met, the huge gorilla gave the diminutive Rogers a big hug, then took off Mister Rogers’s shoes.
It is only too easy to think of a neighborhood more as a place than as a relationship, more realty than reality. In our better moments, we might even call it an outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual reality. Then maybe we’d be on to something. We err when we so often make the church a remote shrine above it all for our protection.
Mr. Rogers’s Neighborhood is as good a metaphor for the church as I can imagine. If it’s not, we should pray to become a neighborhood where we can discover not only our own humanity and begin to fulfill it, but where we can discover the unity of all beings. Maybe we could dare to become more human precisely as our fear is dispelled, and to do so by the grace God gives us to love, not walk away from, our neighbors, whether human or not.
And of course, this is how Francis of Assisi lived Church: all beings included in the fellowship of God, with Jesus at its center.
It is the Church’s work to lead people into reconciliation and truth. Fred Rogers was a pastor and prophet, perhaps one of the finest. Wouldn’t it be a gift to the world if we become a Mister Rogers neighborhood where fear is no more?
Perhaps Koko and Mr. Rogers give us a clue. Why not before each Holy Family gathering we all just give one another a big hug, take off our neighbor’s shoes, and dance? [The above adapted from a sermon by Lane Denson in 2003.]
St. Francis would have been delighted to meet Koko. His simple faith understood that God was present in all creatures, in all of creation. He left very few writings but his ‘Canticle of the Sun’ emphasizes his joyful spirit and profound faith:
“Most High, omnipotent, good Lord,
To thee be ceaseless praise outpoured,
And blessing without measure.
Let creatures all give praise to thee
And serve in great humility.”
I want to offer you a prayer from Joan Chittister that Susan found.
A Prayer for Animals (by Joan Chittister) Great God, you have gifted us with a presence in our lives to save us from ourselves. You have given us animals whose lives speak to us of devotion and heart of patient endurance of the power of faithful presence and of love without reason.
Give us, great and gentle God, the caring appreciation of those creatures who model for us your companionship and protection as well as your personal care. We have seen in them, loving God, the stability of commitment and the greatness of trust that we owe you.
For the joy they have brought us and the faith in humanity they have shown us, we thank you, our God.
In them we sense the goodness of the cosmos, the graciousness of your creation, and insight into the sacredness of our own animal nature. For that we are forever grateful.
Tempted to take the creatures of the world for granted, inclined to treat them more as property than present signs of your life and love, give us the grace, O God, to forever care for them as you have cared for us.
We see in them living signs of the network of nature of which we are only a part. May you, great God who made them, reward them with good caretakers with bright sun and days of play with a comfortable old age with the love they deserve for having so faithfully loved us.
Give us vision to squander our love on others as they have squandered theirs on us. For all of them, great God, we give you thanks and see the glory of you glowing in them, as well. Amen.