Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In this deeply personal and lyrical sermon, Dean Malcolm Clemens Young reflects on an encounter with a Spotted Owl in the misty redwoods above Healdsburg — an unexpected meeting that reveals the sacred bond between all living beings.
Drawing on St. Francis of Assisi, Jane Goodall, and the readings for St. Francis Sunday (Job 39:1–18, Psalm 121, Acts 4:32–35, Luke 12:13–21), this message explores what it means to bless animals, to see creation as holy, and to discover the presence of God in the natural world.
This is a meditation on wonder — on the ways our companions, wild and domestic, help us remember who we are and how we belong in creation.
🐾 Filmed during the annual Blessing of the Animals at Grace Cathedral, October 5, 2025.
📖 Scripture: Job 39:1–18 | Psalm 121 | Acts 4:32–35; 5:1–11 | Luke 12:13–21
🙏 “Why do we bless animals? Because they bless us.”
In this deeply personal and lyrical sermon, Dean Malcolm Clemens Young reflects on an encounter with a Spotted Owl in the misty redwoods above Healdsburg — an unexpected meeting that reveals the sacred bond between all living beings.
Drawing on St. Francis of Assisi, Jane Goodall, and the readings for St. Francis Sunday (Job 39:1–18, Psalm 121, Acts 4:32–35, Luke 12:13–21), this message explores what it means to bless animals, to see creation as holy, and to discover the presence of God in the natural world.
This is a meditation on wonder — on the ways our companions, wild and domestic, help us remember who we are and how we belong in creation.
🐾 Filmed during the annual Blessing of the Animals at Grace Cathedral, October 5, 2025.
📖 Scripture: Job 39:1–18 | Psalm 121 | Acts 4:32–35; 5:1–11 | Luke 12:13–21
🙏 “Why do we bless animals? Because they bless us.”
