I’m recuperating right now. After my third surgery for back tumors, I’m a sight to
behold. I’m wearing an Elizabethan collar to keep me from getting to the stitches and
pulling them out. After the surgery, I suffered a pretty bad infection. Ma’m and I were at the animal hospital late one night and then back to my vet the next day. (If any of you out there know how to help fight non-malignant, but very big tumors in dogs, please let me know.)

Ma’m says I’m a very good patient, especially when she’s around. Wouldn’t you know it but Ma’m is a poor sight also! The other evening she was doing her power-walk (without me) and her knee snapped. Pop! Just like that! A Rice Krispies snap, crackle, and pop! So, H had to take her to the emergency room and now she is wearing a leg brace and is on pain killers ‘til we see if she needs surgery.

Unlike me, Ma’m is a poor patient. But I’ve been staying at her side. We are a sorry-
looking pair. Elizabethan collar on me; leg brace on her. I’m bumping into everything
and she is hobbling noisily around the house. When we take the stairs to our bedroom,
I’m clashing against the stairway banister and she is thumping her crutch on the floor. If the other two housemates are sleeping, well, too bad.

Ma’m told me last night, during our prayer time, that she appreciates my loyalty and
dedication when she is not well. I simply won’t let her out of my sight. And she watches
over me as well when I’m infirm -as I am now. Ma’m says H and A are wonderful aunts because they take care of me when Ma’ m is at work. They never say, ‘enough is enough’.

So I asked Ma’m, ‘when is enough, enough? Can I ever say, I’ve done enough for
someone? I’ve done my share?’

‘Hoppy, you are such a good dog; you and all your canine buddies never stop giving to
your human companions. You never say, ‘I’ve done enough.’  Ma’m says that humans
can learn from us. Bravo! I’m doing a Snoopy whirl at this point and my collar knocks
over Ma’ m’ s candle stick.

Ma’m says that to claim I’ve done enough is to put a circle around one’s love, to limit it
and keep it confined. It also says we judge others whom we think have not done as much as we have. God’s love is endless; no limits-God cannot do enough.

We humans can learn plenty from dogs says Ma’m.

“To whom much is given, much will be expected,” said the Lord. Not half-way
measures, not what one determines as the ‘fair share” in relation to others. But the deep, loving, giving, giving, giving.

We’re watching the opening of the Olympics and we catch the wonderful skit of the
Royal Security getting the Queen to the helicopter and her famous Corgies walking with her to the copter and saying goodbye. Ma’m and I look at each other.

See what I mean Hopscotch?  Loyalty, love, doing more for another.

We snuggle and my collar knocks over her crutch which hits the lamp that tumbles to the floor and we burst out laughing. You can’t have enough love!

The post Hopscotch Blog #4: I’ve Done My Share -Selfish or Generous Thinking? appeared first on Jesuit Retreat House of Cleveland.

I have to admit the heat has gotten to me!

I never was good in the heat (being a fair-haired, princess-like, temperamental pooch—I prefer snow for fun).  However, I beg Ma’m to take me out on hot days and she is very circumspect about it.  A short visit to the park and all the water she can carry in our thermos bottles and my bowl in our insulated lunch bag and we trek to a nearby place only to stay no more than 20 minutes—and that’s in the cool of either the morning or evening!  For such a short time, we still look like we’re taking on the Appalachian Trail!

Princess that I am, I also have a kiddie pool which Ma’m fills slightly to get my paws cooled off at least.  At times she gets  me to sit in it while she splashes cool water over me.  Oh, the life of a regal pet and security dog!  Please don’t forget my security responsibilities.  

Ma’m and I do her errands together and I love this.  One day we were mailing something at the post office mail box when a Boston Terrier circled us barking and trying to terrorize me, of course.  I was in the car barking back at him but I noticed that Ma’m was upset with me.

“Hopscoth, we have to help that little guy.  He has a collar on and is apparently lost.  He must have skipped away from his owner and ended up here.”

She reaches inside the car for the doggie treats we carry to lure dogs and hold them until she calls the animal warden on her cell phone.  This is always an explosive event, mostly because I think it is dangerous and Ma’m doesn’t.  She doesn’t know dogs like I do.  Especially an obviously spoiled one like this little Bostie!

Eventually, the animal warden comes and by the looks of him he is ‘running- impaired’ shall we say?!  With quite a bit of heft to carry, he cannot grab the Bostie who has lurched free of Ma’m when he saw the warden.  Ah, freedom!  The great escape artist makes the warden impatient who gruffly tells Ma’m to get in the car, shut me up, and go home!!  (Sort of like that but not his exact words.) Obviously, the Bostie thought the warden’s net was a weapon.  He was not about to be captured.  My bark became conciliatory.  Now I was cheering the Bostie on. 

“You go boy! Challenge the law!  Dogs rule!  Even Boston Terriers!”

Later that night Ma’m sat me down again. 

“Hopscotch, never, ever resist helping another being who is lost.  Sometimes, we don’t even know who is lost.  We look at people and animals and think they’re fine—maybe just a little shy or lonely.  And we back away.  So, it’s best to have appositive attitude toward everyone we meet.  Let them know you, at least, are caring and welcoming.  As scripture says, “Do not neglect to show hospitalithy, for by that means, some have entertained angels without knowing it.”  (Hebrews, 13:2.)

“Even Bosties?”

“Even Boston Terriers, like the cute little guy who was lost today.”   

Secretly, however, I just can’t picture that Bostie as an angel!

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You might remember from blog #1 that I’m the security professional in our community: big bark, little badge, no bite! I’m the one who warns the Sisters that trouble may be brewing somewhere on our property. I bark up a storm for anything. I’m not big enough to be a watchdog, not fierce enough to be a guard dog, just cantankerous enough to be a barker. Since I just turned 13 years old, I’m losing my hearing. But my vision is excellent, better than Ma’m’s, my alpha companion.

The objective of my blog is to share with other canines, and their human companions, whatever the Spirit inspires me to say from a spiritual perspective. Living with a spiritual director makes this sort of easy and I get a treat, a real milk bone, when I listen to her. Maybe your human companions will do the same for you if you get ‘the spirituality bug’!

Someone asked Ma’m why I’m writing this blog. Imagine that! I perk up my pretty, dangling cocker ears and say: why not?! There’s Molly, an English Bulldog in London who has her own radio show, and Dinky, an Australian Dingo, who is a pianist and entertainer. (Ma’m does harp that these two make money and I don’t!) So, I’m the writer-dog. I’m given more to reflection, imagination, creativity, and intellectual pursuits, like most illustrious cockers.

But as a cocker, I have my shadow side as well. In fact, the shadow side is really the dominant side. Figure that out Mr. Jung! I love to do what all cockers love to do: ride in the car with my head out the window and my ears flopping; roll in high grass and run after any animal smaller than me. I love to eat anything anywhere and cannot control the urge to empty our wastebaskets when no one is home.

I do not like the groomer, the veterinarian, the letter carrier, the neighbor who visits us over the backyard fence.

The saddest part of my day? When Ma’m leaves for work in the morning. I run to the window, cock my head, and put on my saddest look, meaning drooping eyes and sagging mouth. I really feel sad. But when I was younger, I would then trot around the house, emptying wastebaskets, hiding socks, and chewing pine cones and acorns I had stashed behind the sofa.

The best part of my day? When Ma’m comes home. She says I rival the talent on Cirque de Solle because I can turn in mid-air. No kidding. I jump up smiling and barking and whip around all four paws off the ground. Then I run to all the rooms on the first floor and slide into Ma’m. We plan our evening which includes eating, walking, exploring in all kinds of weather. We are both avid lovers of the outdoors.

The other night Ma’m finished her prayer time and sat me down for another lesson. “Hopscotch, when I come home you are always so welcoming and so happy. I know this is because you love me and you anticipate being with me, doing things together. It’s sad if a dog does not have such a joy to look forward to.” In one way, she said, it is like our loving Creator waiting for us to come home. Dissolving the distance that keeps love from growing between two beings is simple. Just show up. Go to the person who waits for you. Go to the God who waits for you. It doesn’t matter how long or far away you have been. It’s the reunion that matters. Like the story of the Prodigal Son in the Christian Scriptures. Check it out: Luke, 15: 11-31.

Ma’m says when we welcome people we are welcoming as God would. Yes, even if we welcome stray animals. As she put it, the act of welcoming is a sure sign of God’s presence. And, if one has been ‘away’ for a while, one should not be too timid to ‘show up’ and let God do the welcoming.

God has feelings, says, Ma’m, and God is ecstatic when we come home.

How’s that for a cheerful end to a mighty lesson? Demands a milk bone, I think.

The post Hopscotch’s Re-Treats #2 What It’s Like Coming Home appeared first on Jesuit Retreat House of Cleveland.

Let me tell you, I have the best canine life possible. I’ve lived here for 12 of my 13 years and I could not have been happier!

There’s Sr. A, and Sr. H, and my best buddy, human companion, alpha-of-the-pack, “Ma’m.” Sr. A and Sr. H (I’ll call them A and H from now on) are like doting aunts; they take care of me when Ma’m is not around.

When the Sisters needed a watch dog, they took me because I was available. I have been in charge of the security around here since my first day, but truthfully, my bark is louder than my bite. Fact is, I’ve never bitten anyone and after I bark at someone coming on our property, I usually hide behind whoever opens the door to inquire of the visitor.

Ma’m and I do everything together—when she’s home. She works every day at a retreat house and I get to learn about things spiritual from her. So I thought I’d share what I learn with any alert and interested canines out there and, perhaps, even their human companions.

Every night Ma’m prays in her room and I usually sit at her feet. Lately, I’ve been drowsing off – you know how it is when you get older. Ma’m says it’s ok to get tired when praying and even when worshipping during church or when trying to meditate. Sometimes God just wants us to rest in God’s arms. The key is to put aside the time and put one’s heart and mind in God’s hands. This settles the hurt soul, the angry soul, the seeking soul.

Ah, the seeking soul! My ears perk up, my eyes widen. Like the souls that seek birds and squirrels and rabbits on our property? Ma’m says, “…well, ok. But do not harm them. Seek passionately to know God’s will, but do it in kindness and love.”

I’m back to nodding off. Nice words but I’d like to give that big, taunting woodchuck outside a piece of my mind.

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