I'VE GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN MY HANDS (COME ON - SING ALONG!)

You will have to forgive me. I'm on retreat. This happens when I am on retreat.

I

It is one of the mysteries of being that the inside of the human heart is much larger than the outside. The heart can easily be held in the palm of your hand, but inside is the vastness of love, the caverns of hope, the depths of wisdom, the hallways of God.

Even more incredible is the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament itself can be held on the tip of your tongue or in the hollow of your hand. But within is the vastness of God.

II

God did not create the universe –

- and then walk away only to return when we cry out for help.

Rather God continually makes the universe. Or perhaps a better way to figure it is that He holds the universe in being much like we keep an image present in our thoughts. Therefore everything that is participates in God and is therefore good.

All that is in the universe was made through the Word and nothing that is, seen and unseen, was made apart from Him. All that is, is NOT God and NOT worthy of worship, but it is all contained within God - all participating in God.

As a priest when you concelebrate Mass you typically receive Our Lord in the hand, receiving Him after the main celebrant. So you have a few moments to contemplate Him resting on your palm. This is Jesus the bridegroom through Whom all things are made and in Whom all that is, is somehow contained. In that mysterious way then, isn’t it an ironic bending of reality that the whole universe is held in your hand? That within the tiny tabernacle on the altar is contained the whole of the universe including the very tabernacle that contains it? Within the Eucharist is the entire breadth, and width, and height of God and every corner of the cosmos. And weak as I am I lift the Blessed Sacrament with my hand and bring Him within myself by His very invitation and power.

What god is there as generous as our God? He is no sparce giver. He is both love and lover and too excess. That is why the Eucharist seems like hyperbole. But that is what love does – it gives to excess.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CLXLCVI

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “The Eucharist sounds like hyperbole. But that’s what love does, it gives to excess.” Fr. Benedict Groeschel CFR

QUOTE II: “You can go to confession and not put any money in a box, and you don’t have to buy the holy water.” ibid

IN OTHER NEWS:

I am on retreat this week at Trinity Retreat House in New York. Post may be late, sporadic, or just plain missing this week.

Attention doctors, nurses, social workers, priests, deacons, religious, chaplains, pastoral care educators, and hospice, nursing home, and hospital management and staff, there will be five workshops in Bioethics in Clinical Care for BUSY HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS on Wednesdays, February 16th through March 23rd at the Center for Pastoral Leadership, 28700 Euclid Avenue, Wickliffe, OH 44092. “Workshops . . . Dinner . . . CMEs/CEUs provided . . . Case Studies . . . Updates . . . Best Practices.” The presenter is Dr. Andrew Trew, Cleveland Clinic IRB and professor of Bioethics at St. Mary Seminary. To register or for more information call (440) 943-7474.

Here are two versions of almost the same view from Snyder Park. I recognize the dog but don't know who the bald guy is. Thanks Allan and Karen.

Here's exciting news! Our Holy Father has appointed a priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, Neal Buckon, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese for Military Service assigning him the Titular See of Vissalsa. (The arch bishop is also from Cleveland!) I can say I remember when . . . for we were in the seminary at the same time. He would occasionally come down to my room with a fellow seminarian who played the guitar and we would have a bottle of wine (allowed in those days) and sing - his favorite song being, "Waltzing Matilda" which informed me was a backpack. CONGRATULATIONS NEAL.

Need a heart warmer? Russ sent this video in. Thanks again Russ.

The Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter reports, "With the calendar year coming to a close, the time has come to remember the voyage of 2010 for the Church. Benedict XVI has faced his share of troubles, but has endured daunting challenges with remarkable resiliency. He enters the new year perhaps all the stronger for his battles. Here's a look back at 2010." Read more here.

Fr. D. wrote in: "Not sure if you know much about Mark Wahlberg or not, but, he's a former pop star turned actor who used to go by the name "Marky Mark" back in the early 90's. He fell away from his faith for a while, but recently has made his way back to the Church - I've even read that he's a daily Mass goer. Anyway, the best baby names of celebrity children was published recently, and Mark Wahlberg's daughter's name was voted #1. Her name will bring a smile to your face. Check it out."

MONDAY DIARY: FEELING BITTER

Fr. Pfeiffer’s four o’clock Christmas homily (which he did admirably) mentioned Sebastian (my dog) and I thought it would be nice to be outside at the end of Mass with Sebastian to wish people a Merry Christmas. Then I looked at his leg. He had a bloody spot on it that I have been fighting for a spell and thought better of it. It was not a nice sight.

I tried everything that the internet suggested to do to get him to stop licking this sore and last week I finally threw in the towel and went to the vet. We went through the list of things to try to which I would answer, “Tried it. Tried it. Tried it.”

“There is only one thing left to do,” he said.

“What’s that doctor?”

And in an ominous voice he said, “The Cone of Shame.”

One thing people always said about Sebastian is that he is a noble looking dog. I think he knows it. Even when he relieves himself we have come to say, “N. P.” otherwise known as “noble pee.” He just looks noble no matter what he is doing. So you can give the cone any name you want, dress it up and call it an Elizabethan Collar “I barkest at thee” but it is without a doubt the Cone of Shame and he would be completely humiliated.

We went to the pet store together for him to be fitted. He looked like he was having the time of his life but that is because he has no idea about what is coming. Then the store manager said, “Wait. Before you resort to that, try this spray. It is the worst tasting stuff in the world and it just might work before you resort to the cone.”

“We tried all the sprays. They worked in the past but they are not working this time. First we tried hot sauce and now he begs me for it. Then we tried bitter apple he just laughs at me.”

“Just try this,” he said with a knowing wink. I wonder if he got a commission off the $9 bottle I bought.

This is how I know how the stuff works. We went to the farm on my day away and took off for a long walk in the woods. He ran with reckless abandon and by the time we were heading across the last field back to the barn there were blood marks in the snow from the sore on his leg.

In the barn my farmer friend and I put antibiotics on Sebastian’s leg, bandaged it, and then sprayed it with the stuff I got from the pet store. The problem was that I did not make sure that the spray hole was pointed AWAY from me and TOWARD Sebastian. I hit myself squarely in the mouth. School lunches, boy scout camping meals, seminary cooking, even my own cooking did not prepare me for how bad something could taste. After I screamed I went around saying, “Blah, blah, blah,” and rubbing my mouth with snow.

I finally got it mostly under control, got into my car to go to my sister’s house. But they don’t call mustaches “flavor catchers” for nothing. Driving down the highway some of it would make its way back to my lips again and I would try to spit and wipe it off with the T-shirt I was wearing. That stuff is as hard to get off of your skin as it is to scrub ugly off of an ape.

Almost to my sister’s house it was mostly under control until I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. BIG mistake. Apparently I got it on my shirt sleeve too thereby reapplying the awful tasting stuff to my lips. I ran into the house (I don’t know how Sebastian made it in) and put straight liquid soap on my mouth, scrubbed, and rinsed over and over and over. Everything went into the wash and I took a shower.

My sister came home and we went out to eat. I insisted on Chinese food. We went and I ordered General Tso’s Chicken “as hot as you can possibly make it with hotter sauce on the side.” Anything to kill the taste.

Half way through dinner (which was working by the way) I got a call on my cell. It was my friend at the farm. “Wow!” he said, “That stuff you sprayed on the dog really works!”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“We were having soup for dinner and I licked my fingers afterwards and some of that stuff must have made it onto my fingers! I’ve been blahing around for two hours!”

All I can say is that this better work.

N. B. I am away on retreat this week. I may or may not post. We shall see!

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: WOULD YOU LIKE TO SWING ON A STAR?

The Star of David is for many people a symbol of Judaism in much the same way that the Cross is a symbol of Christianity. Much to my surprise however it is a relatively new innovation (and by that I mean no more ancient than the Medieval Period) and not necessarily universally accepted.

The term Star of David was originally the Shield of David and was not first used in association with the six sided star. Later they became synonymous and the term cemented into the Star instead of Shield of David. Though in use in many different ways since that time, it did not become a general symbol of Judaism until the 17th century and only recognized internationally in the 19th century as symbolizing the Jewish people in both religiously and secularly.

That being said, some Orthodox Jews refuse to use the symbol because of its early use in magic. Spanish and Portuguese Jews tend not to use the symbol either.

ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS

My father was a jack of all trades, master of none. Well, almost none. But home improvements were not one of the ones he mastered. That caused my mother do develop the habit of saying, “If anywhere following the declaration ‘it’s fixed’ the words, ‘all you gotta do is . . .’ are said, it’s not fixed.” The dryer was “fixed.” All you had to do was hit the start button, manually start the tumbler and then slam the door shut. It was not working as it should.

If this sounds odd it oughtn’t. It is certainly a mentality very prevalent in our society today. There is less emphasis on living life the way we were designed to live it and more on helping people live the life they want to live supported by medications, surgical procedures, and devices that will either allow a person to do as they will or erase the consequences of their actions. Do you want lose weight but you don’t want to give up the foods you love or exorcise? Then ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS take this pill and everything will be just fine. Want to have multiple partners, use this device so that the natural consequences of our actions are frustrated allowing you to live as you wish.

As Catholics we have a call to try to live as naturally as possible within some amount of reason. Chances are that unless something is wrong with you, living the Catholic life fully would render half of the economy, not the part trying to get you hooked into some kind of behavior but the part that is either helping your body cope, rid or recover from it, dead. The focus is not with what is wrong with you but what is right, and how can we neuter or rid ourselves of that so that I can live I wish.

Is that any way to live? Can true happiness really be found living in a fashion directly opposed to one’s nature? If you are a banana and you keep trying to be a plum, the only thing you’ll end up being is a second rate banana.

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S QUIZ

1. INRI - IESVS•NAZARENVS•REX•IVDÆORVM or Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews
2. JMJ - Jesus Mary and Joseph (a blessing.)
3. AU – Alpha and Omega – I am the alpha and the omega
4. IC XC NIKA – Jesus Christ Conquers
5. AMDG - Ad majorem Dei gloriam or for the greater glory of God
6. BVM – Blessed Virgin Mary
7. DNJC - Dominus Noster Jesus Christus ("Our Lord Jesus Christ
8. IC - Jesus (first and third letters of His name in Greek
9. HIS – Darn spell check! This should have been IHS or the first three letters of JESUS in Greek
10. RIP - Requiescat In Pace ("May he rest in peace")
11. VRSNSMV – SMQLIVB – from the Benedictine medal Vade retro Satana! Nunquam suade mihi vana! Sunt mala quae libas. Ipse venena bibas! (Begone Satan! Never tempt me with your vanities! What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself!)

A QUIZ FOR MY BFFs

OMG, people think that they R so modern with TXTing. LOL! The Church has been using this system 4 centuries! See if you can name what these abbreviations stand for (or at least their English equivalent. This is just a small fraction of the ones used by the Church but I think them the most common.

1. INRI
2. JMJ
3. AU
4. IC XC NIKA
5. AMDG
6. BVM
7. DNJC
8. IC
9. HIS
10. RIP
11. VRSNSMV - SMQLIVB

Answers tomorrow.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CLXLCV

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “It is in some ways more troublesome to track down and swat an evasive wasp than it is to shoot at close range a wild elephant. But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.” from C. S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters”

ROSEMARY SENT IN QUOTE II: “If, as Herod, we fill our lives with things, and again with things; if we consider ourselves so unimportant that we must fill every moment of our lives with actions, when will we have the time to make the long, slow journey across the desert as did the Magi? Or sit and watch the stars as did the shepherds? Or brood over the coming of the child as did Mary? For each one of us, there is a desert to travel. A star to discover. And a being within ourselves to bring to life." ~Author Unknown

IN OTHER NEWS:

I rather enjoyed being where I was for the Christmas. There are those who were of course away from home and loved ones. Frank sent this site in from Xerox where you can sent a message to our soldiers.

My sister sent these in:


Bishop Lennon's "Website blog."

Dave sent in another gorilla Messiah. This one is in Cleveland.

MONDAY DIARY - OR THE CONTINUING SAGA OF DISCOVERING HOW OLD YOU ARE.

PIPE DREAMS

Achk! Christmas Eve is tomorrow!

And in a completely irresponsible way I blew off part of Tuesday on a fun errand. The reason for the trip will be explained in the New Years Eve bulletin for the parish. (You can go here to read bulletins, read about the parish, hear our homilies, etc. . .)

I was window shopping the way someone who doesn’t really need a car goes and looks at cars. I was invited by the Schantz organ company to come look at their facility. As I left St. Sebastian I said, “Shucks, I forgot my camera,” and the first thing they said when we got there was, “Take as many pictures as you like.” I wanted to share the trip with you pictorially but . . .

According to the documents of Vatican II, Musicam Sacram, para 62, “The pipe organ (my note: notice, not the electric organ that sounds like a pipe organ) is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, since it is the traditional instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church’s ceremonies and powerfully lift up men’s minds to God and higher things.

“The use of other instruments may also be admitted . . .” Clearly the pipe organ (after the human voice) is the first among equals. And wonderfully so. One person like a spider at the center of a giant web can, by using every available limb, mimic the sound of an entire orchestra. And unlike its electric counterpart, worthy as it may be and helpful when the means to obtain a pipe organ are not available, it is more earthy, more organic. It just doesn’t SOUND like what it is supposed to be, it IS what it is supposed to be. Air is pumped into a giant pressurized lung, and when the organist pulls out a certain stop (or channel) for the air and then presses a key, the air rushes through tubes until it reaches a pipe of metal or wood, blows across an opening or vibrates a reed which starts the pipe resonating sending a sound out into the nave of the church.

The technology for making organs, like making stained glass windows, has not changed much over the centuries. The organ company makes their own metal by combining lead and tin in different proportions depending on the sound they desire and pours them out in sheets. Someone then cuts out the parts of a pipe (there are more than you might think) so that they are laid out in flat pieces much like they might look if you cut them out of construction paper before assembling them.

They are then rolled and soldered, their constituate parts added, then they are brought to the sounding room where they are set up on a work organ so that they may be tuned with all of their brothers and sisters. They are then cleaned and stored.

While this is going on, the carpentry shop is making the wooden pipes as well as the console and the other wooden components. The whole thing is then assembled in the assembly room before it is taken apart again to be ready for shipping. We saw part of one being constructed. It would contain about one quarter of the pipes of a gigantic organ that the company was working on for a Jesuit parish somewhere on the east coast. This piece was three stories high and big enough for a small family to live in.

During all this time another department is making the blowers that supply the wind to the instrument. This is of course a major step forward from the days when some altar boys would have to spend the Mass pumping giant bellows to make the instrument sound. Then there is the pipe – like steam pipes in your house for heat, that take the pressured air to the instrument from a separate room (it would be too loud to have in the Church) to the organ and all of the separate notes in as complicated on a very large scale as a computer chip board is on a tiny one.

Finally the whole thing is shipped out to its home where it is installed and every pipe and note must be tested again for tuning and proper air pressure to make sure it blends will not only within its rank, but the overall organ as well as the space in which it will live.

Quite an undertaking! Quite an instrument! Quite a lot of talent and old word craftsmanship!

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CLXLXIV (ON WEDNESDAY)

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “People are losing the ability to enjoy Christmas by indentifying it with enjoyment. When once they lose sight of the old suggestion that it is all about something, they naturally fall into blank pauses of wondering what it is all about. To be told to rejoice on Christmas day is reasonable and intelligible if you understand the name, or even look at the world. To be told to rejoice on the twenty-fifth of December is like being told to rejoice at quarter past eleven on Thursday week. You cannot suddenly be frivolous unless you believe there is a serious reason for being frivolous.” from G. K. Chesterton’s, “The New War on Christmas.”

IN OTHER NEWS:

Sorry for the late post – Tuesday being posted on Wednesday yet! Well, Christmas is almost upon us and I had an all day meeting yesterday that I thought was only going to be an hour. Sorry. I’ll try to post over the next two days but no guarantees!

FURTHER NEWS:

Some of you asked for a better picture of the rug mentioned on Monday. Apparently this picture was not sufficient:
Here is the actual rug as it appears in the chapel of the rectory:
Thanks to Miss Linda here is a some Christmas cheer:



A friend of Fr. Pf's was flying over the parish in the Goodyear blimp and took this picture of St. Sebastian Parish.

From the Diocese of Cleveland Enewsletter: "The Diocese of Cleveland, Department of Communications has assembled the following TV Mass schedule for the Christmas and New Year season." Read more here.

From the same source: "Did you know, you only have one more month to experience the "Treasures of Heaven" exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art? This exhibit of Medieval European religious art is open now through Monday, Janaury 17, 2011" Read more here.

And I'll end it there so that you get a post today!

MONDAY DIARY: THE EVILS OF POOR PENMANSHIP

This is the story of how this past Friday I obtained the second most expensive object that I own.
This is the most expensive thing that I own. I told you this story a couple of years ago.

The story of how I obtained the second most expensive thing that I own began about half a year ago. There are people in my parish who sing in the Akron Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Occasionally they give me one of their complimentary tickets. Sometimes my parochial vicar goes with me, sometimes my sister, and sometimes I go all by myself. So at one of these concerts that I attended all by myself I was standing in the lobby at intermission and trying to stay out of the way. Somehow that place was in front of a table selling raffle tickets to raise funds for the chorus.

“This is a very nice rug isn’t it?” I turned around and looked at the rug and it was indeed a very nice rug. It was $4,000.00 worth of nice rug and so I said, "Yes, it is a very nice rug."

“Would you like to buy a ticket?” I did until he said that they were twenty dollars. “It sure would be swell of you. Tickets sales have been a little slow lately.”

Well what was I going to do? I got in for free for heaven’s sake and I do like to promote the arts. So I got out my twenty dollars, said goodbye to it and exchanged it for a ticket stub that promised fame and fortune if I should be so lucky.

Jump ahead six months to Friday last. I am at the Christmas pops concert and enjoying it immensely until I look at the program. The second half involves a sing-a-long.

I loathe sing-a-longs.

If I wanted to sing along, I would join the chorus. So I decided that I would quietly sneak out at intermission but ran into so many parishioners that by the time I could escape it was time for the second half to begin so I stayed.

To kick off the second half they brought out representatives of the corporate sponsors (one of which was my bank! Good going bank!) And just before they walked off they said, “We have one more bit of business to which we need to attend. Mr. Bank Person, would you please draw the winning ticket of the $4,000.00 rug?”

He did and handed to the speaker who said, “And the winner is . . . I knew this would happen. I can’t read it. Can you read it?”

Nobody wore their glasses so one person gave it their best shot. “Jooooooooooooooooohn Vaaaaaaaaalenskull. Anyway, it’s number 44. Please come to the table after the concert.”

“John Valenskull”? That’s almost “John Valencheck.” And I DID buy a ticket in the mid forties. And I DO have very poor penmanship (especially when I think the effort futile). I think I just won! Should I clap or make a Woohoo noise?

And then I thought, “Now there is the possibility that there really IS a John Valenskull who bought a ticket in the mid-forties. That could be very awkward.”

So I kept quiet.

But I DID sing with much gusto at the sing-a-long.

After the concert I went to the table and said, “I bought a ticket in the mid-forties, I have VERY poor penmanship, AND my name is John ValenCHECK, not SKULL. I would like to check and see if I am the winner.”

They produced the ticket and there indeed was my name: Rev. John Valencheck. There were congratulations all around and apologies: My apologies for not writing more neatly and their apologies for not having the foresight to have at least one person on stage with their glasses on.

So I walked through E. J. Thomas Hall with a giant rug on my shoulder. People would call out, “Hey! It’s number 44! Valenskull! Congratulations.” Most people were happy save for those that I accidently whapped with the rug.

I carried it half way across the University of Akron campus and stuffed into my car. At home Fr. Pfeiffer helped me put it down in the rectory chapel were nobody would walk on it. Nobody is going to walk on the second most expensive thing that I own even if it is a rug.

And that is the story of how I obtained the second most expensive thing that I own.

THE END

FRIDAY POTPOURRI: O YOU BEAUTIFUL DOLL . . .

Happy December 17th! Every year the Church switches the emphasis of advent from preparing for Jesus’ second coming to His immanent coming in the manger at Bethlehem. Today we begin the “O” Antiphons. These antiphons are the one sentence introductions (and conclusions) to the Gospel Canticle that is part of evening prayer or vespers, in turn part of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayers of the Church. Each day they proclaim one of the titles that the Old Testament uses for the coming Messiah. Tonight’s will be “O Sapientia,” or “Oh Wisdom.” You know these from the advent song, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” The proper verse for today would be, “O come now wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily . . .”

DON'T SETTLE FOR WARMED OVER STEW

A friend of mine has a pond. In midsummer we looked out and saw these gigantic fish. “See those fish,” he asked me, “when we got them they were quite small. You put them in your pond and they eat the ‘seaweed’ that grows in there. As little tykes they eat voraciously, but when they get that big they barely eat at all because they are not growing like they were. So they lazily swim around all day not accomplishing much of anything.”

That can happen in the faith life too – personally, on a parish level, even in religious communities. Grand goal being met the individual or the institution enjoys the beauty it has created but with no new goals being developed become “fat and lazy” spiritually. Many a pastor has contemplated burning down the parish church to get people motivated toward a cause once again. (Not that I recommend that – there are more constructive things to do!)

Are you excited about Christmas for a “birth of the Savior” standpoint or is it an established ritual that you go through without much thought? Don’t settle for anything less than being excited. It is glorious. Don’t let it be something you get used to. Set a new goal, achieve something wonderful. Bring life and a new understanding to Christmas.

A DOG WILL LOOK UP TO YOU, A CAT WILL LOOK DOWN ON YOU, BUT A PIG WILL LOOK YOU IN THE EYE AND TREAT YOU LIKE AN EQUAL

Sorry, computer problems made today's post late!

At the last Chesterton meeting we came across this line from his essay entitled Dogs, “If the dog is loved he is loved as a dog; not as a fellow-citizen, or an idol, or a pet, or a product of evolution.” I am not entirely sure that this is a universally accepted statement. In fact, I know that it is not.

Two of my favorite people in the world have a couple of dogs that they love all out of proportion, at least according to Chesterton. I was invited to a birthday party for the dogs once and the mother of the people with the dogs gave me some tips about attending. 1) They are not to be referred to as “the dogs” but “the boys.” 2) Do not show up without a wrapped present. 3) And most importantly, do not say anything about this being the least bit strange.

Being a good Catholic boy I followed the rules flawlessly and must say that I had a very good time. The boys went to play in the backyard with their new toys (including my boy that I brought with me) and the adults sat in the living room and drank human drinks out of human glasses held in hands. To tell the truth I did not mind this a bit. The “parents” are lovely people and they perform their parental role with just enough tongue in cheek to let you know, “We know this is a tad over the top,” and just enough tongue out of the cheek to say, “but don’t ruin it.”

There are those however who with tongue entirely out of cheek and flapping quite wildly who believe that dogs, and indeed all animals are on par with humans – or even somehow superior. They have taken a noble and even godly position of caring for the welfare of animals to an extreme desiring animals to have the rights under the Constitution as do human beings.

Not only is this not good for animals, I dare say that it is not good for human beings either. If we are going to give animals such recognition, it also requires something back from them, something they are not capable of giving. Sure, they are affectionate, helpful, and beneficial to human beings in many ways, but in the end they remain animals and to expect more of them is to put undue pressure and expectations on them. I hardly thing an bear that makes its way into a downtown area can be expected to be good citizen or that geese will start observing hygienic laws around city parks.

To lose the essence of what animals are is to lose an understanding of who we are. If a snake (an animal like any other) should crawl up to a baby, I will not have a debate about which has a better right to be there. I will take my shovel and beat the snake senseless. And if the baby were going hungry I would have no qualms about serving up snake-kabobs. A human being is, after all, a being with a unique and superior dignity.

But the opposite is also a huge blunder. The mal-treatment of animals is below our human dignity and the dignity of the animals that God gave us. When He handed Eden over to Adam it was not to do with as he pleased, but to tend it and nurture it

C. S. Lewis said, “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” If we understand that humans have a superior dignity, then that does not mean that animals may then be treated willy-nilly. It means that man has a greater responsibility in tending to the welfare of these beings because we have a greater capacity for it. Understanding nature and the proper order of things will allow us to love animals as they should be loved – not as superior beings completely incapable of sustaining such a lofty position, nor as nothing more than objects to be used as we will. When we act like animals or gods, it is the animals that suffer and in turn, so does our human dignity.