She was the beloved feline sister of Toni and Daisy, the much-loved kitty of my late father (d. 2019) and favorite feline friend of Jasmine Kitty. She is also greatly grieved by husband George and me.

On Saturday, October 5, my church St. Thomas & Grace Episcopal held a Blessing of the Animals prayer circle. Rev’d Nancy Ludwig blessed Willow Kitty in absentia. Willow’s spirit found freedom to fly home to our Lord in the hours shortly afterwards. Praise be.

Culling, Curfews and Caps: Australia ‘Declares War’ on Its Cat Problem

A departure from my usual posts here on liturgical harp. May we pray and seek to defend God’s creatures and His Creation from cruel and unnecessary predation by humankind, seeking in their own arrogance, to be as the Ruler Almighty and play at God Himself.

May I refer you to Nathan Winograd, prominent animal rights’ advocate and attorney’s recent writings on this issue: This Week in Animal Protection. See the September 2-14, 2023 edition after registering (it’s free). His thoughts echo mine exactly.

Creation Care Season is the special month we celebrate in the Episcopal Church from September 1st to October 4th (Feast of St. Francis). It is our collective awareness of climate change, environmental catastrophes and animal rights and abuses that are brought to light and examined in prayer and reflection.

We also have a Blessing of the Animals service where you may bring your dog (or cat! if they want to come!) to church and be blessed by a priest on St. Francis Day.

This is my favorite time of the liturgical year, when the leaves start to change color, the autumn cool arrives – hopefully – and my church friends and I laugh and talk about bringing Jasmine Kitty to church for a blessing and perhaps she may pluck her little harp for us! But perhaps she is a bit shy and after all, the animal hospital is right across the street, are we going there?!

As you can see, I love my kitties! The thought of any government, anywhere in the world, authorizing such violent abuse against one of God’s own, is chilling. Humans are not the only inhabitants of this planet, as we are quickly discovering and we are very dependent on Earth’s natural resources to even exist. Humility is a virtue.

Please join Nathan Winograd and others of like mind and heart this Creation Care Month in opposing heartless violence against animals in Australia and elsewhere, where it may be found.

Pax.

For comparison, here is the original hymn in four parts. I transposed it to F so it would work better on my harp.

Source: Hymnary.org

As you can see, I took just the top line (soprano), which is where the melody sits.

After you get comfortable playing the melody you can add in harmony, either from the original hymn or by ear.

I used MuseScore 3 to typeset, transpose and print the new version of the hymn.

Done!

Willow Kitty

Some housecleaning. Quite a few old posts taken down and some new ones on the way. More interesting stuff to come!

Still waiting on wire harp #3.

More later.