Every year churches across the world bless animals on the feast day of St. Francis. With the increasing developments in robotics – I believe that one day churches will regularly be offering a blessing of the bots.
This past week, like so many other churches across the world, the church I serve held our annual Blessing of the Animals. This is a tradition that dates back several centuries, but its origins are closely tied to the life and legacy of St. Francis of Assisi, who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries. St. Francis is remembered for his profound love for all of God’s creation, especially animals, which has led to the development of this practice.
According to tradition, St. Francis of Assisi is said to have preached to animals. These stories are part of the rich collection of legends and anecdotes about St. Francis’s deep connection to animals and nature, highlighting his belief that all creatures are part of God’s creation and deserving of love and respect.
The most famous story of St. Francis preaching to animals involves him delivering a sermon to a group of birds. It is said that while traveling with some companions, he came across a flock of birds and began to speak to them about God’s love for all creatures. The birds, according to the story, stayed still and attentively listened to his words. Afterward, St. Francis blessed them and continued on his journey. This story is often seen as a symbol of his reverence for all living beings and his desire to spread God’s message to every part of creation.
Though less widely known, there are also accounts of St. Francis preaching to fish. One version of this story comes from an early biography of St. Francis, written by St. Bonaventure in the 13th century. The account tells of a time when St. Francis went to a river and began speaking to the fish, encouraging them to praise God for their existence and the beauty of the water in which they lived. According to the story, the fish responded by gathering near him and listening intently, much like the birds had done.
While these stories likely symbolic, they are meant to convey St. Francis’s message of love, humility, and care for all creation. By preaching to animals, St. Francis demonstrated his belief that all creatures, not just humans, are part of God’s plan and deserving of spiritual attention. His actions also reflect his understanding that humans have a responsibility to care for and live in harmony with the natural world.
And while some may scoff at preaching to animals, I can relate to Francis, as I have had numerous encounters with animals where I spoke to them and blessed them and they responded as well. The most memorable was with a dolphin who was playing in the bay down the street from my house late one night. When I spoke to the dolphin it literally swam up to the ledge where I was sitting – no more than few feet from me and swam in place looking right at me for about 5 minutes straight while I spoke blessings upon him/her. When I formalized the blessing at the end – the dolphin returned to playing. Maybe all of that was a coincidence, but it didn’t seem like it at the time.
In a similar way, we live in an amazing time of technological development. In 2015, I had the privilege of being the first pastor to ever speak at the International Conference on Social Robotics. While I was there, I was introduced by my host Gabriele Trovato, to his then newly developed robot SanTO. Trovato, had built the robot, which was designed to look like a saint, and speak blessings upon people to support them in their faith journey. Trovato’s target audience was to serve those who were elderly or isolated. SanTo could lead people in prayer, recite scripture and, even the, had the potential to be upgraded to do much, much more.
Trovato was way ahead of his time even though most people back then weren’t as forward thinking as he was. Unfortunately, missional support for robotic design wasn’t a big draw in 2015. But that will soon be changing. Trovato’s vision of the robotic future is one that will one day become a reality for not just the church but the whole world.
We have seen rapid advancements happening already with companies like Boston Dynamics, Universal Robots, KUKA AG, and most notably with Tesla’s new Optimus robot. At the recent “We Robot” event, Elon Musk showed off the newest model of Optimus and claimed that the robots would eventually be available for around $30,000. Musk indicated the eventual goal of the Robots would be to performing a wide range of everyday tasks in and outside the home.
While tech influencers like Marques Brownlee quickly hypothesized and confirmed on X that the human size Optimus robots on display were teleoperated, the fact remains that Tesla has radically advanced their bot from just three years ago where they displayed a “prototype” that was actually just a person in a robot suit.
Regardless as to whether Optimus is teleoperated or just a person in a robot suit or whether Elon Musk is really just a robot in a human suit – the larger point still remains; Robots, and their creators, are going to be part of human regular life on rapidly advancing scale. The sooner that Christians accept this reality the sooner we can get to helping to form technologists and shape robotic design in ways that furthers the redemptive purposes of Jesus.
Much like St. Francis is remembered for his profound love for all of God’s creation, including animals, Christians should be known for our profound love of all of God’s creation, including robots and their designers. Because, like Francis influenced the animals around him, robots will be shaped by the people around them. And here is the kicker, we too will be increasingly formed by the robots we create.
So, we should start early. Intentionally appreciate your Roomba, Thank your Alexa regularly for providing assistance, and give praise for the blessings of your dishwasher! Form the habits that will make you and the tech around you better. Because every action that we take in Christ, forms us more into the Image of God that we know of through Jesus.
So as Christians, may we keep blessing the animals, and all Creation, including blessing the bots.
