Sacred Art of Living: Saint Duke
Photos: Duke, Patron Saint of Napping and Deep Sighs
The poet David Whyte wonders “Why are we the one terrible part of creation privileged to refuse our flowering?” One of the ways I understand Saints are as those people who have been honored for embracing their flowering, for allowing themselves to bud and blossom and burst forth fully into the world.
These last few months, I have been contemplating the idea of what it would mean to extend my image of the Communion of Saints to include not only the ones I love who have gone before me, but other members of creation as well. Animals don’t refuse their own flowering, they are simply what God created them to be. This image has arisen for me especially in response to our sudden loss of Duke in August who was a very special creature in our life. It used to be that special connections to animals were signs of holiness. We in large part have lost the sense of the sacred bond that crosses over species and reaches beyond our perceived boundaries. We desperately need to reclaim a holistic understanding of the holy presence in all of creation.
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