Mark Katrick faith column: Like Dr. Doolittle, animals chats can boost spiritual health

On Sunday morning, after feeding them their wet food breakfast, I look at my cats and say, “It’s church day, kitties!”

Then, while smacking their lips and cleaning themselves with their paws, they look at me with deep knowingness and say back, “I know, I know. Now can we go back to bed, since you can’t?”

That’s how I talk to the animals — in plain everyday language, so they can understand my intentions, thoughts and feelings. I do truly appreciate being talked to/with by creatures and people in the same manner.

Here’s a quick movie quiz for you: Which show featured the Oscar-winning song, “Talk to the Animals?” It’s from the 1976 musical “Dr. Doolittle” and performed “by Rex Harrison in his signature talk-singing style,” according to Genius.com.

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Harrison goes on to say/sing, “(If) I’d confer with our furry friends and animals/ Think of the amazing repartee/ If I could walk with the animals, talk with the animals/ Grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals/ And they could talk to me.”

Well, as a dedicated cat dad, I truly believe they can. The Creator who created all persons, creatures and things, molded, shaped and formed that kind of connection between the ones with two legs and the ones with four.

It’s no divine accident that our pets know very well what the words “help, hurts, eat, drink, sleep and play” mean. And they’re equally good at expressing the sets of feelings that go with each of these, just like you and me.

You can start, continue and end an entire conversation with your cat or dog, simply by looking into its eyes. If you’re feeling happy, there will be tears of happiness in them. If you’re feeling sad, there will be tears of sadness.

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If you’re looking for a lesson in empathy and understanding, let your forever friend sit in your lap for an hour and be the teacher. Then get out there and put into practice what you’ve learned. It will make your home, your classroom, your place of employment and your house of worship a more caring, responsive and understanding place.

One of my favorite devotional books is Christine Valters Paintner’s wonderfully nurturing “Breath Prayers (an ancient practice for the EVERYDAY SACRED).” It’s the perfect companion to “Holding a Dog or Cat in You Lap.”

In this particular practice, “you are invited to make time each day to sit and breathe with them and feel the profundity of this human-animal connection, and to feel yourself connected to the wider creation through them.”

Just begin by saying these words: Breathe in: “I watch your belly;” Breathe out: “Rise and fall;” Breathe in: “The breathing together;” Breathe out: “Of all things.”

Then commence to talking with the animals, and they will talk with you.

Mark Katrick is a pastor and spiritual guide.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Katrick: Like Dr. Doolittle, animal chats can boost spiritual health