St. Francis Day

Today, we went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for the celebration of St. Francis. This is the 26th year the cathedral has invited anyone to bring their pets into (and I truly mean into)the service for a blessing. This service attracts an estimated 3,000 people. Members of St. Savior (the parish worshipping within the cathedral) are able to reserve places to sit while anyone else gets to wait in line in hopes of getting a seat.

From our perspective, it was a packed house. The building was fuller today than it was last Easter (which breaks my heart). They do this service up big too. The Bishop of New York is there. Several singers and singing groups perform. Dancers lead in the processional. The congregation does motions to a song. Parts of the service are made to sound like wolves and hump back whales are somewhere in the building trying to worship. At the end, the is a procession of animals......anywhere from camels to llamas to reindeer to bunnies to chickens to monkeys....you name it!

And this year, right there on the altar beside the Bishop of New York was my husband Brad. Sorry to be so boastful...but it was cool. AND the one thing he asked for was a picture of him on the altar. Guess what?!?! The camera died!!!! God's funny little sense of humor. So, I have made a little clip of some of the pictures we were able to get. Notice that my view through the service was of a parrot. There is a man holding a goat as well. And Brad is sitting by the Bishop (you can only see the back of their heads!). The videos do not begin to capture the power of the music or the beauty of the dance through out the service. The whole thing was incredible. Enjoy what few shots we were able to get!!