The Silent Life of Animals

Animals are incredible creatures with a lot of love to share. But then you who have pets know this.  However, I have discovered over the years that you don’t have to own a pet in order to thoroughly enjoy animals.
 
I have also discovered from the stories of Saint Francis and Saint Anthony, as well as through my own experience that the animals understand much more than most of us think they do. 
 
A woman had come to visit us one day when we lived in the country, and she told us that there was a snake on our porch.  This was unusual, as the snakes usually didn’t come around the house area.  I told the snake that humans are often afraid of snakes, and so he had to leave so as not to frighten people.  After listening to me, he immediately left.

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A couple of days later I was talking with my granddaughter, Patience, with my back to the window in our kitchen when she said excitedly, “look grandma, that snake is trying to get your attention.”  The snake had lined the window with its body and was looking at us as if to talk with us.  I told the snake he had to leave.  He immediately dropped to the ground and left, never to be seen again.
 
There are stories both of St. Francis of Assisi and Saint Anthony of Padua about how schools of fish and flocks of birds would come to hear them talk about how much God loves them and how much they need to be grateful to Him.  They would listen to these great saints, and then wait until they received a blessing before they left.
 
I have many stories about my encounter with birds but my favorite is the story about Radar.  I was in the kitchen when I heard a thump on the sliding glass door in the living room.  When I went to see what it was, I saw a large, unusually intelligent, and beautiful bird wanting to come into the house.  He wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I opened the door and let him in.
 
Concerned that he might be hurt I called the animal shelter.  While I was on the phone he hopped up on our coffee table.  It was then that I saw that he had a band around his leg with a phone number. 
 
When I called the number, the man on the other end of the phone told me he was the overseer for the bird sanctuary about an hour away from us.  The bird was his own personal bird, a falcon named Radar, and that he had been looking for him for three days.
 
Radar was very interested in what I was saying, and whom I was talking with.  When I looked at him and called him by name, he looked so surprised, as if to say, “How did you know my name?”
 
When Radar saw his owner come through the door, watching the emotions of both the bird and the owner was amazing.  Radar immediately flew to him and was obviously thrilled to see him.
 
While my husband Greg and I walk by the lake each day we talk with the birds, the geese, and the ducks.  Evidently, the lone egret that lives at the lake enjoys our company.  She is a very beautiful, and an incredibly eloquent white bird.  I tell her how beautiful she is and that God loves her as we pass her on our walk.  Inevitably by the time we get to the other side of the lake she has flown over to greet us again. 
 
Yesterday I noticed that though we talked with her as we passed by her, we didn’t see her again on the other side of the lake like we normally do.  As I was talking with Greg about this, I looked over to where we first saw her on the lake.  At that moment I see her flying over toward us in all her majestic beauty, just in time to bid us farewell as we were leaving the park.
 
Children naturally talk with animals.  They don’t know they’re not supposed to be able to.  I can remember one day when my granddaughter Destany was four years old, we looked out the window and saw that our neighbor’s goats had gotten out of their shed and were devouring all of our grape vines that so beautifully lined our fence.  No matter how much I pleaded with them to go home they totally ignored me and kept on chomping the vines.
 
Finally with total confidence Destany said, “Its okay grandma, let me talk to them.  I know how to talk to the animals.”  With amazement I agreed.  At first as I watched her, she stood there quietly for a couple of minutes thinking and looking puzzled.  When I asked her what was wrong she said, “Grandma, I forgot how to talk to the animals.”  She told me she use to know how when she was two.
 
When Destany was two years old, my son and daughter-in-law lived in Pleasanton, California.  My daughter-in-law would get so frustrated, because whenever they would open the door the neighbors cat would zoom in and run right to Destany.
 
A friend of mine who was able to communicate with animals said the animals understand when you send them pictures in your mind about what you wish for them to know.  I figure that at two years old she was communicating through images, since she couldn’t speak yet.
 
One of the most fabulous animal stories I have heard was when my brother Robert called to tell me about his encounter with a mountain lion.  Robert lives deep in the forest in Northern California, and has always loved animals.  On that day he had called to tell me he had come home to find a beautiful, majestic mountain lion standing in his living room. 
 
When he saw her they had eye contact for a few moments, and he quietly told her, in his mind, that he wasn’t going to hurt her.  Gradually, she slowly walked out the door and disappeared into the forest.
 
So, my dear friends, the next time you see any animal please hold them in your heart and let them know that they are loved. 
 
Love and Peace,
Mary