Marian Helper • Summer 2022 • Marian.org 25 powerfully witnessed in the leaven of the loving experience of communio shared by the various helpers who work alongside the families coming for assistance. More than any other religion, Christianity profoundly speaks to the truth that God loves to work and speak through “earthy” stuff. Jesus spits in the dirt and makes mud to smear on the blind man’s eyes to heal him. Jesus takes bread and wine at a Passover meal in order to feed His disciples with His very Body and Blood. Jesus’ first night in Bethlehem was spent slumbering in an animal feeding trough. And His dirty sweat, blood, and tears pouring forth from His Crucified Body became the very means by which Satan’s dark kingdom was overthrown. Call of love Because God entered and joined Himself to the very stuff of creation, all of creation is now “charged with the grandeur of God,” as G. M. Hopkins would write. But where can we learn to hear His call of love within creation? I have learned to hear and see His smile in an unexpected place: within the world of horses. For some, a horse is a large scary animal. For others, it is a stoic fixture in the field. But for those who have been drawn in, the horse speaks to wounded souls the love of God. Horses have one of the deepest emotional intelligences within the animal kingdom. They have an innate ability to read the emotions of humans, and can match our emotions with a mysterious presence that says: “You are not alone. You have worth. You are loved.” This is one of the reasons horses are used in a variety of areas of therapeutic health. Mini-horses visit veterans’ homes, hospitals and nursing homes. Horses have been known to bring forth the first words of children and adults who have been non-verbal their whole lives by the mere touch of fur to hand. These noble creatures receive our emotions and awaken beautiful responses of healing within us. Deeper communion As powerful as these healing properties of horses are, there is one characteristic that rises to the top: Horses are magnets for drawing people into deeper communion with one another. I have personally experienced this reality, discovering shortly after beginning my riding lessons that to be part of a therapeutic riding community is to become family in a very real sense. One finds himself immersed in a mutual environment of joyful giving. The disabled child who pours out a gleeful cry of thanks — after having his horse help move the muscles he could never feel within his wheelchair — sends forth a shock wave of love within his parents and his instructors as, in time, they see this same child begin to walk for the first time! I have found spending time as a fellow rider quite powerful in opening conversation that leads to Christ. When I focus first on building a real relationship and authentic friendship with individuals who come and have, as Pope Francis mentioned, the smell of the sheep (or the horse!), our conversations will naturally move to questions about God, and sometimes will lead to a blessing, a prayer, or even a confession for that person on the horse trail. But my own words can’t capture the beautiful descriptions many of the Equine Dreams family has shared with me about their own experiences of love, mercy, healing, and community that are “beyond the work of human engineering.” As one instructor explained, “God teaches charity through the simple power of the horse … Equine Dreams is a place open to God’s back-door approach to the heart bearing gifts for the soul.” Father Andy Davy, MIC, is pastor of St. Mary Parish in Plano, Illinois. Visit EquineDreams.org for more information.
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