Last week, October 7, the Feast of St. Francis was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  This is held in honor of St. Francis and his love of all God’s creatures.  The service is to honor all living things, to help build peace in the world, and to help build love in our hearts.

I almost didn’t make it to the celebration.  I eventually arrived very, very late.  

Since it was raining, there weren’t a lot of people standing outside and I was able to get a spot up in the front to take pictures.  Yay!  Now, the trick was to balance my umbrella in one hand and manage to take photos with the other hand AND protect my camera from getting wet.

This baby kangaroo was one of the last animals to proceed inside the cathedral and one of the first ones to exit. 

He was very antsy and his handler seemed to have a hard time with him, but they both did well.

This is the baby kangaroo going inside.  I don’t think he cared for the rain.   Someone, a tourist, I assume, quipped behind me, "I had to come all the way to New York City to see a kangaroo."   I thought to myself, "Yes, you can see it all in New York City.  Yes, indeed!" 

Notice the turtle in the lower right-hand corner?   Remember him from last year.

In another post, I described the day as "rainy" and D. commented, "I love how “rainy” it is. People in Scotland would laugh out loud, truly – and just walk about, not thinking anything was going on whatsoever."  LOL!   I guess some of us here are wimpy about the rain.   It’s a good thing we didn’t melt.  

The only folks who didn’t seem to mind the rain were the folks in the photo above and below.

These folks seemed to enjoy the sights, as much as the ones holding umbrellas.  

After the last animal entered the sanctuary, This gentleman and another one not seen here closed the door.

 After the service, a few of the animals in the procession came back outside and hung around for a little while.

"Lord make me an instrument of thy peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love."

~ St. Francis of Assisi

I remember this lady and her dog from last year.

"Love of God, love for each other and love of creation"

~ The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski

Paul Winter, a renowned musician performed during the service and afterwards.

We all had fun Okay, I had fun dancing to the beat of this drummer.  Cute!

Actually, everyone really did have fun listening and moving to the music. 

Is this a baboon or orangatan, I wonder?

Some very white birds. Not sure if they’re doves. 

A very calm dog being blessed. 

Normally, after the service, the blessing of the animals is held here in this garden but since it was raining, it was moved indoors. 

Abandoned chairs in the rain.

All the chairs had puddles.

The  rain finally stopped.  These two seem to be resting on the finally quiet steps.

Perhaps he was reading a message from someone he was supposed to meet on the steps of the Cathedral?