Cats and the Sign of the Cross

There is a wild kitty that has been coming around lately. She's definitely wild and hasn't learned her manners yet, to put it mildly. The kids like to "play" with the kitty from the other side of the doorwall. The cat mildly tolerates it as you can kind of see by the unamused look on her face in the picture above. Dominic spent a lot of time in front of the window trying to attract the attentions of the curmudgeonly-humored feline. Then he came in the kitchen after me and I picked him up. "Do you like the kitty?', I asked him. He tucked his head down into me and in a fleeting moment his heart melted, tears beginning, he said, "Yes."  When he was consoled I put him down and he went over again to gaze at the kitty through the window. After some time, there was heard a proud proclamation, "I taught the kitty to make the sign of the cross with her head!" This is the first and only thing that kitty has learned to do. It's a beginning!


 And what is a merciful heart? It is the heart's burning for the sake of the entire creation, for men, for birds, for animals, for demons and for every created thing; and by the recollection and sight of them the eyes of a merciful man pour forth abundant tears. From the strong and vehement mercy which grips his heart and from his great compassion, his heart is humbled and he cannot bear to hear or see any injury or slight sorrow in creation. 

For this reason he continually offers up tearful prayer, even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth and for those who harm him, that they be protected and receive mercy. And in like manner he even prays for the family of reptiles because of the great compassion that burns in his heart without measure in the likeness of God. 

- St. Isaac The Syrian, Homily 81, from "The River of Fire", Dr. Alexandre Kalomiros