The least of our brothers includes a little frightened kitten

It happened, as it often does, that one of God’s creatures, stray and frightened, crosses our path. We had been with friends for a few hours in the country and it was time to go home.  The kids headed outside and heard the sound first of a soft meow, then growing louder.  Meanwhile, several other cats had gathered around the back of our vehicle.  We discovered that this was a cry of a kitten in distress and it was more likely stuck up under the spare tire. Searching with a flashlight, each took a turn tracking down this kitten until my husband got underneath the van and after several minutes located the little kitten above the muffler.  It probably took him a good 45 minutes finding and capturing this little creature.  Finally, he crawled out carrying a very small white and tortoise-colored kitten.  It was very frightened, hissing and swatting randomly at us and smelling of auto grease.

We could have been home and getting the kids to bed in that time, but as our friend remarked waiting while my husband scrambled from wheel to wheel in chase, “You reap what you sow, I always say.”  “Yeah,” I agreed, “What you do to the least of your brothers.”  That got me thinking, what does the Church say about these situations?

At home and the kids in bed, I checked the Catechism to see what is taught about the care of animals.  Here’s what I found, tied in with the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shall not steal,” in section 2416 it says:

Animals are God’s creatures.  He surrounds them with His providential care.  By their mere existence they bless Him and give Him glory.  Thus men owe them kindness.  We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

God put us in charge here on earth, meaning we must care for, showing mercy to the least or more helpless of creatures, is our task.  “It is contrary to human dignity,” the catechism continues in section 2418, “to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.”

Our children were not very happy when I took the kitten to the vet the next morning and gave it to the vet’s assistant to foster, but it turned out that the poor thing had several health issues that we weren’t prepared to finance.  Our youngest even volunteered her savings to the cause.  With tears in her eyes and mine, too, I explained to her that, “If we are going to be animal rescuers, we need to learn how to let them go, too.”