{"id":48444,"date":"2015-10-31T20:31:36","date_gmt":"2015-11-01T00:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=48444"},"modified":"2015-11-01T10:22:56","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T15:22:56","slug":"deacon-at-work-blessing-the-hounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2015\/10\/deacon-at-work-blessing-the-hounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Deacon at work: blessing the hounds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"cwvDm9asA_Lw9YsGTQNy8vWzhgo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I grew up around horses\u00a0in\u00a0Maryland. My sister, Karen, loves them; we spent our family weekends heading off to horse shows, fox hunts, and pony club meetings. \u00a0The scents of my childhood were the intermingled perfume of horse sweat, leather saddle soap,\u00a0and freshly manufactured manure.<\/p>\n

Ah. Good times.<\/p>\n

Now retired, my sister spends her free time\u00a0following horses and horse lovers with a camera. \u00a0This weekend, she attended the opening day\u00a0for The Potomac Hunt<\/a> <\/strong>club in Maryland and snapped a couple hundred pictures of what appears to have been a glorious autumn day.<\/p>\n

\"cwvDm9asA_Lw9YsGTQNy8vWzhk4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"cwvDm9asA3Lw9bOGQfl5esWDJpA-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of the opening hunt traditionally includes the Blessing of the Hounds. My sister was excited to report that the person doing the blessing this year was a deacon: Deacon David Cahoon, from St. Mary\u2019s Catholic Church in Barnesville, Maryland. (Some may remember him\u00a0as the deacon who built the altar for the papal visit.)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"cwvDm9asA3Lw9bOGAfl5esWDJpQ\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"unnamed\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Catholic Book of Blessings has blessings for almost everything, but I couldn\u2019t find one explicitly for foxhounds.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, a little Googling turned up this elegant exhortation\u2014which, I suspect, may be Anglican:<\/p>\n

\n

May the Lord bless and protect all people and animals involved in these
\nhunts. May God\u2019s love keep every one from harm. May no one come to
\nserious harm from leap or fall, from rock or branch, from jump, stake,
\nor fence. Preserve us, O God, from our own rash judgments and the
\nexigencies of the chase, that you would maintain our health and safety,
\nand would restore us to our loved ones, our familiar friends, and our
\naccustomed places of duty in Your kingdom.<\/p>\n

May the \u201cDivine Huntsman of our Souls\u201d increase our love for others, our
\nconcern for the earth, and its creatures both wild and domestic, our
\nstewardship of the environment God created for our use.<\/p>\n

We thank Thee, O Thou Great Jehovah, for imparting to mankind the
\nability to train animals, to enhance those qualities You build into the
\nanimal kingdom at creation. Divine Father, we bless Thee for giving
\nmankind dominion over, and stewardly responsibility for, \u201cAll things
\nbright and beautiful, all creature great and small, all beasts wise and
\nwonderful, when You, O Lord, made them all.<\/p>\n

May Jehovah God bless these magnificent horses with strength to run
\nswiftly, stamina to go the distance, with courage of heart, with noble
\nbut felicitous spirits, with the requisite physical agility to conquer
\nevery impediment, with grace to surmount every obstacle.<\/p>\n

By Your grace, may these hounds increase in physical fortitude: may they
\ngrow wise in the wily ways of our most worthy quarry\u2019s to stay with the
\npack; obey the Master; and learn unerringly to follow Raynard\u2019s
\nspoor\/scent.<\/p>\n

Bless our worthy quarry, the illustrious fox, with physical speed and
\nendurance, with mental cunning, and with the heart to enjoy providing
\nthe best of sport for the hunt.<\/p>\n

In all these petitions, O Lord, we ask You to show Yourself sovereign,
\nto display Your glory, and to accomplish your Divine purpose through us
\nand in us. For the glory of your great Name, and the good of your
\npeople, we pray it, in the Name of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
\nOne God, Over all, Blessed forever, Amen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tally ho!<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019re looking for a great horse photographer, drop me a line! I have connections. \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n

\"cwvDm9asA3Lw9bOGQfl5esWDJpA-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All photos by Karen Kandra Wenzel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I grew up around horses\u00a0in\u00a0Maryland. My sister, Karen, loves them; we spent our family weekends heading off to horse shows, fox hunts, and pony club meetings. \u00a0The scents of my childhood were the intermingled perfume of horse sweat, leather saddle soap,\u00a0and freshly manufactured manure. Ah. Good times. Now retired, my sister spends her free time\u00a0following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":48458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-deacons"],"yoast_head":"\nDeacon at work: blessing the hounds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I grew up around horses\u00a0in\u00a0Maryland. 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