MY CAT’S SPIRITUALITY
I don’t believe that my cat has learned anything from me even if I have tried. However, I must confess that I have learned a lot from him…
It was one Friday afternoon. A child knocks on my door to tell me that my cat had an ugly wound in his head. When I saw it I was shocked. The wound was big, infected and horrible.
I called the veterinarian. A nice doctor was ready to see my cat right away. The gentle vet cleaned my cat’s head but left an open and even uglier wound. Then, she gave me some medicine to give him orally and told me to clean his wound daily and never let any dry skin cover it.
It seemed that the kind doctor was ready to let me go but I refused to believe that she was going to send me away without any ointment or even a bandage to cover that horrible wound. That’s when I interrupted her, “Doctor… are you not going to give me some medicine to put on that wound or at least a medicated bandage? That looks horrible.” She said, “No. You will not put anything on that wound not even a band-aid. Keep it uncovered, clean and give the cat the medicine I gave you. Healing comes from inside.”
In a few days the wound was completely healed. The doctor was right. Healing came from inside. No ointments. No band-aids.
One of the most beautiful and touching experiences of my life as Pastor in the USA was to baptize and welcome adults into the Catholic Church. The preparation would take two years. Scrutinies during Lent used to be one of the highest moments of their journey. The key words for the Scrutinies ceremony were: “to uncover” and “to heal”. The candidates are invited to uncover what is bad and sinful in them in order to get the healing they needed.
All of us are wounded and hurt. You and I deserve to be healed. The temptation is to cover with band-aids but my cat’s vet was right. Healing comes from inside.
God loves you and so do I,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade