When Thomas Merton was on his final journey he stopped off in Calcutta where he attended a conference and this meeting ended with a special closing prayer in which famously Merton said that we are all one in God. Appealing to those from different faiths and I would add those of none Merton I am sure would have included all living creatures in this. I don’t know if it’s to do with getting older but a couple of other people seem to be having the same experience. Perhaps it’s rather to do with the realisation of what we are losing – it’s a deepening appreciation of nature. Walking along the canal the other day it was deeply pleasurable seeing the kingfisher zooming past, the ducklings and two herons. All seemed to be so wonderful in their very existence.

At a recent talk on acknowledging that Christians are mammals too the speaker movingly spoke of a colony of eider ducks who whilst sitting on their nests were shot by a gunman. They were not taken for food just shot as literally sitting ducks. The speaker asked whether Christ was present in the suffering of the ducks as part of God’s creation. Over half those who were there thought that Christ would have wept and indeed does weep for the suffering of all God’s creatures. In other words love includes all of creation.

see what Bonaventure thought:

Christ has something in common with all creatures. With the stone he shares existence, with the plants he shares life, with the animals he shares sensation, and with the angels he shares intelligence. Thus all things are transformed in Christ since in the fullness of his nature he embraces some part of every creature. –Bonaventure

And after all love is more important than religion with its limited vision and thinking.