20/03/2014

Thursday 20th March 2014

(5) Man’s Best Friend

Good morning

In recalling what happened in by-gone years there’s a temptation to focus on the sensational and the tragic.: ‘on this day’ in 1989 the murder of two senior Northern Ireland police officers; the two child victims of the 1993 Warrington bomb – three-year old Jonathan Ball and 12-year old Tim Parry. How to deal with the issue of Victims and their traumatised families and with those who caused such suffering remains one of the roadblocks in our Northern Ireland Peace Process

But I begin today on a lighter note – the theft on this day in 1966 of the football World Cup, the solid gold Jules Rimet trophy from, of all places, the Westminster Central Hall premises, during a Church Service . But it’s the immediate sequel that caught my attention; for the cup was in fact retrieved, discovered a few days later, guess what, by Pickles, a mongrel dog out for a walk with his owner. Later that year, need I remind you, England won the trophy – and indeed they, like the other Home Nations, have been looking for it ever since!

But Pickles reminds me of how much we owe to our canine friends – those dogs who use their superhuman powers to detect malevolent packages, track lost loved ones, detect illicit drugs; guide the blind, alert the deaf or those dogs who sit loyally day and night beside their homeless owners on a city street

God of all Creation, remembering all who have died or been injured in the conflicts of our times, we thank you for those animals who have saved lives and those who enrich our lives as family pets. Save them from cruelty and neglect and help us to cherish the animal creation.

AMEN