When Your Dog is a (or the Only) Face of God

Kasey and Annie in 2005 on vacation in Oregon

I did not think I could do spiritual direction without my dog.

She had been there from the beginning with her soulful eyes.  She knew when to sit on a directee's lap, cuddle up beside them, or stay on my lap looking and listening.  ​Her presence and gaze was the topic of conversation during many spiritual direction appointments. 

"It's like she's looking into my soul!" one young seminary student exclaimed. 

"In my vision, it was your dog that helped me have courage and assured me that I would not fall into darkness; how did she know to come sit with me at just that moment?!" a stay-at-home mom said with wonder-filled eyes. 

​When asked to sum up what God had been offering him through spiritual direction, the aerospace engineer who cultivated a Zen garden in his backyard, replied, "The image is Annie, your dog. God has shown me grace through her." 

My miniature dachshund and I were partners.  So when faced with sitting with people by myself, I did not think I had what it took.  I was convinced it would not be as powerful of an experience for people.  I relayed my fears to Father Carl Arico while on a Contemplative Outreach retreat in Sewanee, Tennessee.  And while he believed I would be just fine, he suggested I set out a photo so that she would continue to be with me during the time of spiritual direction. 

It was then that I understood how God had companioned me through her during my beginning stages of being a spiritual director.  She had modeled ways of listening and discernment, showing me it was not about what I knew, or about any kind of performance, but how I was with people that mattered most.  Through her, God had been present to me.       

Countless times since then I have met with people whose best (& many times only) experience of the unconditional love of God has come through their dogs.  Because of my own experience of how a dog can be a vessel of the Divine, I pay special attention to the relationship people have with their pets.  And I integrate this relationship into prayers and spiritual practices, because the love they give counts.

So maybe you are one of the people who need to hear that the way your dog loves you is God loving you through your dog.  If that's the case, a spiritual practice for you is spending more time with your dog! 

I know a woman who has three precious dogs, I call them her visible Trinity.  Being with them is so life-giving, filling her with such love, that she is able to be in the world and interact with people differently than before the time with them.  Her dogs usher her into the mind of Christ and is that not what the best spiritual practices do for us?    

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