{"id":15810,"date":"2015-10-10T20:56:52","date_gmt":"2015-10-10T09:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=15810"},"modified":"2015-10-10T20:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T09:56:52","slug":"blessing-good-samaritan-donkey-sanctuary-icu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2015\/10\/10\/blessing-good-samaritan-donkey-sanctuary-icu\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessing: Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary & ICU"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLESSING of 25th<\/sup> ANNIVERSARY and INTENSIVE CARE UNIT\u00a0of the
\n<\/strong>GOOD SAMARITAN DONKEY SANCTUARY Hunter Valley NSW 4 October 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

God of Life,
\nyou honoured donkeys with life giving labour and service to humanity.
\nDonkeys carried Mary and Jesus to Bethlehem for birth,
\nand then in escape from death to safety in Egypt.
\nJesus chose a donkey to ride into Jerusalem
\nby which to demonstrate that he came in peace.<\/p>\n

God of Life,
\nwe thank you for your blessing on the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary;
\nas we celebrate 25 years of devoted donkey care and rescue.<\/p>\n

On this day we especially ask your blessing on the Intensive Care Unit.
\nBless the donkeys who receive care here.
\nBless the workers with skill, persistence and joy in healing.
\nBless the donors who have generously provided this beautiful Intensive Care Unit.<\/p>\n

Bless these pastures, hills and river
\nwith seasonal weather, growth and safety
\nthat donkeys will be provided for in abundance.
\nBless these buildings, facilities and equipment
\nwith regular maintenance and wise usage
\nthat the donkeys receive loving care,
\nand the honour and respect due to them.<\/p>\n

As Jesus blessed the love of the Good Samaritan;
\nBless, we pray, the love of the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary.<\/p>\n

These blessings we ask in the name of Jesus Christ
\nwho honoured donkeys
\nboth through his teaching and by his actions. Amen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

*I wrote this Blessing at the request of the Founder of the Sanctuary, Jo-Anne Kokas, and took pleasure in praying it at this special\u00a0celebration on St Francis Day 2015.<\/p>\n

*I should add that a delightful touch was our former donkey, Petal, who was in the pen just behind me as I prayed. Petal nudged the gate with her muzzle throughout the Blessing seeking my attention! She lived in Tasmania on our property for some years\u00a0before returning to the Sanctuary for health reasons. Life was always an adventure with our Petal! One of Petal’s\u00a0many engagements in Tasmania involved the Easter March of witness and The Water Ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*For more information, see: Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLESSING of 25th ANNIVERSARY and INTENSIVE CARE UNIT\u00a0of the GOOD SAMARITAN DONKEY SANCTUARY Hunter Valley NSW 4 October 2015 God of Life, you honoured donkeys with life giving labour and service to humanity. Donkeys carried Mary and Jesus to Bethlehem … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15810"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15810"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15839,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15810\/revisions\/15839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}