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Give Roadkilled Animals Your Blessings
I wish that souls could rise up white like fire smoke from the newly dead, and that we could see plumes of soul travel from great distances. Indeed at this very moment animal and human souls are rising up invisibly in amazing numbers around the world. But souls have no color, no mass, no warmth. And so for many, the existance of souls is in doubt, unless you have experienced a certain state of grace in your own heart of hearts. Then you have no doubt that all sentient beings have souls. And you believe that the soul's energy can't be destroyed. And your prayers are always received and honored. And you know that your blessings always have meaning.
What Can You Do for Roadkilled Animals?
What does that mean as you drive past roadkilled animals? Each is a pathetic splay of limbs or innards, pain-marked signs of hopeless struggles to live. We are inured to the suffering, so many of us, and hardly give a glance. Some even make jokes. But you are a more compassionate being, or you would not be reading this now. You have an opportunity to give a gift to the animal soul that suffered, to give a gift to the great universe of souls that inhabits all of life.
Your blessing to the soul of the humble animal can lift you into a momentary state of grace and give meaning to the departed life of that being. Beyond that moment, beyond your destination, beyond your goal for the day, beyond all of these daily encumbrances lies an opportunity to lift that humble soul and your own at the same time. Give that roadkilled animal your blessing. To each one that you pass, give your blessing.
Give Your Blessing
A simple "God bless" will do. Or "I commend thee to God." Here are a selection of alternatives:
- "Onward, dear fox, to join the spirit"
- "God loves you, little brother" (alternate with "sister")
- "Blessings blessings blessingsĀ "
- "Into the light with you"
Visualize yourself caressing the domed forehead of each one, and whispering into the ear your blessing. Visualize the animal dissolving from your arms into a white light. These visualizations need only take a few moments and have power to lift the animal's spirit and your own to a higher level. You can feel it happen. It is happening because your energy bends to your will, and your intention to give a blessing delivers a gift of loving energy to the departed soul of the animal.
If you can, pull to the side and respectfully move the dead animal off the roadway into a gentle bed of grass. The physical state of decomposition may make this impossible without a shovel. But if you can, then do it.
A Spiritual Practice of Compassion
This spiritual practice of giving blessings to roadkilled animals will be an aid to your own advancement as a spiritual being, but most importantly, will give a loving energy to the spirit of the animal who has been needlessly killed. Your thoughts are things. Your blessings have power. Your prayers and blessings can help to bring a measure of comfort to the departed soul of the animal.
Make this practice a part of your daily life and feel the compassion soften and enrich in your heart. Teach your older children too, so that they learn compassion through action.
© 2005-2016 The Sunbear Squad; All rights reserved.
Read our Bill of Rights for Pets...
...for a thoughtful look at your role as a pet owner and guardian.
A Prayer for Animals
Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends, the animals, especially for the animals who are suffering; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them all thy mercy and pity, and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals and so to share the blessings of the merciful.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer