A little black dog

I am an eucharistic minister volunteer at my church. An important portion of my duties includes distributing communion at a local assisted living facility about a mile from my church. I perform this service once a month, other members of our team handle the other weeks, allowing the residents the opportunity to receive this sacrament without ever having to leave the facility to attend mass. This is an important and vital ministry, since most of the residents of the facility are incapable of going to church, due to various ailments and infirmities. A van, provided by the facility, does allow some residents to attend mass on a weekly basis, and a priest from our parish regularly conducts mass at the facility about once a month. However, the weekly visits from our team are the most common way that a vast majority of those folks living in the facility receive holy communion. I consider it one of the most important services I perform, either at my job or with my volunteer activities. I always look forward to my scheduled week each and every month.

During one of my visits, about 6 months ago, I took communion to the facility and conducted the short service as I always do. There were about 12 residents in attendance and I distributed communion for all of them. The number of residents was a bit smaller than usual, due to some of the residents being out-of-town with relatives and others who had, unfortunately, been taken to local hospitals with ailments that required attention.

All eucharistic ministers at our parish are highly trained and all of us carry the consecrated host to our facilities in containers called a pyx, which we fill at the tabernacle within our church, prior to leaving for our assignments. As part of our training, we are instructed to immediately return the unused host to the tabernacle and I always faithfully follow these instructions. After all, we are transporting Jesus to the facility and we must take great care to properly ensure his return to the tabernacle. We would not be installed as eucharistic ministers if we did not adhered to proper procedures. All of us are devoted and meticulously follow our training very carefully.

I normally transport around 20 consecrated hosts to the facility and, as such, on that day, there was an unusually large number of hosts left after the service; since only 12 residents were in attendance that day. Following communion, I packed up my supplies, including the pyx, which I placed in my coat pocket. As I was leaving the room where we conduct the service, one of the residents started laughing and yelled to all of us that someone had brought a little black dog to the facility for a visit.

Animals are frequent visitors to this facility and I have often witnessed the positive affect they seem to always have on the residents. Smiles dominate and the wagging of tails seems to indicate that the animals seem to enjoy the encounters at least as much as the residents. This day was typical and most of the folks who had been in my service were now in the hallway, petting the dog and talking to him. His owner, a smiling young woman, who I had often seen in the building before, was struggling to contain her energetic pet as he rushed from resident to resident, wagging his tail and totally enjoying the attention he was receiving from everyone. I was the last person to leave our meeting room.

As I left the room, the little black dog began to energetically jump up and down, barking with excitement. He came rushing at me, still bounding up and down, yelping in joy as he rapidly ran to me. I reached down to pet him, yet he kept jumping, barking, turning in circles and displaying what appeared to be uncontrolled joy and happiness. His owner was now struggling to contain him on his leash. She apologized over and over again, stating that he has never behaved that way before and she wondered if I had a treat hidden somewhere. She thought his search for food might be causing his unusual behavior. I replied that I, unfortunately, had no food for him, but I did continue to pet him, rubbed him behind the ears in dog-honored tradition and soon left the facility to return to my church so I could return the host to the tabernacle. As I exited the facility, I could still hear that little black dog barking; his joy reaching all the way from inside the facility to the parking lot, about 50 yards away from where I last saw him.

I unlocked my car door, entered, sat down and reached into my coat pocket for my car keys. As I dug down deep into my coat pocket, my hand first touched the pyx and then my keys, which I had inadvertently placed in that pocket, most likely when the little black dog first began his antics. My heart skipped a beat at that moment. The pyx! It had been in my left pocket when I entered the hallway and the little black dog first started his jumping and barking routine. At that moment, I wondered to myself, “Could the dog have been responding to the presence of Christ in the eucharist?” Was his emotional response in any way related to the fact that I had an unusual abundance of hosts in that pyx? Had he sensed the true presence of Jesus? A chill suddenly ran rapidly up and down my spine.

We all understand that animals seem to sense things that we as humans, do not. How many of us have had the experience of our animals looking or staring away in the distance? What do they see that we cannot? How many of us have witnessed our pets displaying excited, greeting behaviors, long before a loved one returns from work or shopping? How many of us have been comforted by a dear pet  when we are sad or upset? Our pets just seem to know and feel things we, as their humans, do not. Could this have been one of those events?

In the half-year since that Sunday, I have often attempted to rationalize what I witnessed that day. Maybe the little black dog smelled the presence of my cats on that coat. My furry little creatures have often been known to sleep on coats, blankets, sweatshirts and other items that have mistakenly been left lying about. However, I almost always hang this particular coat up in the closet immediately upon returning home; so the likelihood of a cat having access to it was very remote. Other explanations are also possible. The dog could have sensed that an animal lover was entering his territory and he wanted to express his fondness for people who appreciated his kind. The words of his owner, however, keep coming back to me, “He never has behaved like that before.”  Those words are haunting.

Since the little black dog had never behaved that way before, why was he behaving like that now? I think there remains only one possible explanation. The little black dog was responding to the true presence of Jesus in the eucharist. He was completely excited, since the little black dog sensed and felt Him, something that humans may not always feel as intensely as our animal friends. That love was what the little black dog felt that special Sunday morning and he responded in the only way a dog could…..He jumped for joy!

I understand that many, more scientific readers, can offer a great number of other possible explanations for the odd behavior of that little black dog on that Sunday morning. After all, sometimes dogs just behave, well, like dogs. But, I was there, I witnessed uncontrolled joy and happiness that I have not seen in any other animal that has crossed my path in recent memory. That little black dog was simply so happy he could not contain himself and he seemed to be wondering why we humans were not as happy as he was at that very moment. He must have thought that we were the creatures behaving strangely.

I will visit that facility again next week, and, like every visit I have had since that remarkable Sunday morning, my thoughts will return to the little black dog. As I enter the meeting room to prepare for the service, I will pause at the doorway and wonder if everyone in that room today will experience the true unconstrained joy that the little black dog expressed almost half a year ago. I will offer a prayer that we all may, because I firmly believe that the little black dog knew something all of us should hope to experience….the true presence of Jesus in our midst. I believe that the little black dog sensed it so clearly and happily that crisp Sunday morning. I will pray that all of us can experience the same joy and happiness that the little black dog knew when he felt the presence of Jesus in his midst. May we all know that same joy in our lives….each and every day.