The love of the Father--shown through my cats

I’m a cat lady. I have three cats. They’re all furry. They’re all black-and-white. They’re the apples of my eye.

For years, I wanted a furry, black-and-white cat—a sweet, affectionate one at that…Now I have three! I joked that I “manifested” it…i.e. the oh so trendy Law of Attraction. The idea was that I wanted one so much for so many years, that I overabundantly manifested not one but three of the cats of my dreams.

But, since growing in my Catholic faith, I think the answer is different. I know Our Lord brought me these cats. Like a father buying his daughter the toy doll or the ice cream cone she wants, the Lord bringing me not one, but three of these cats, is the Lord above and beyond giving me the desires of my heart.

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? f you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:9-11 NRSVCE

I love my cats. I feel a tenderness toward them. As Catholics, we know per the Catechism (CCC 1766), that “To love is to will the good of another.” My cats do not have human souls, but in the everyday millennial sense, I “love” them. I care about them and they mean a lot to me.

I think this is the Lord compelling me to think about how much He loves me. If I feel this tenderness toward my cats, how much more tenderness must the Lord feel for each one of us as His individual children?

Sometimes while praying the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, the Finding at the Temple, I’ve thought about how anxious I feel when I can’t find one of my cats—typically that rascal Luigi! Then when I find Luigi….the joy, the gratitude, the relief I feel! It’s like the Lord breaking down Mary and Joseph’s experience of the Fifth Joyful Mystery into simple terms for me, a sinner, to understand.