Paws

Paws And Frideswide: Their Spiritualities Compared Frideswide was a white blue-eyed Persian cat, who was impeccably groomed. Around her neck she wore a richly jewelled cross. She was very quietly spoken and modest, carefully avoiding the company of male cats. She was trained to be an ascetic, and devoted much time to prayer. This kind of spiritual formation gave her a depth which the other church cats did not possess and she was greatly revered for it. She lived an austere monastic existence and kept the strictest Christian discipline. For Lent she always abstained from her favourite beef and bacon treats, and, during Holy Week, subsisted on nothing but skim milk. She was not thin, but trim, and her elegant figure was admired by all. Paws, however, whose main weakness was self-indulgence, thought that her own full figure, which she described as "mature" (rather than "fat") was equally attractive. At least her visitors always enjoyed it when she rolled on her back, revealing her warm, round stomach which she delighted to have rubbed. Paws justified her enjoyment of sense pleasures as a "Catholic love of life" which rejoiced in creation which God had pronounced "good." She rejoiced in nature and affirmed every atom of her being. She did not believe that there was a gulf between the sacred and the secular. She did not repress herself but exulted in her "catness," certain that God would perfect her as she was, without having to deny her true being. The Anglican Church Cats Paws was a very zealous extroverted cat and joined most of the church organizations. An avid mouser, she belonged to "Anglican Church Cats," an organization of female cats, whose purpose was to reduce the church mouse population. These female cats were much better mousers than the males, so they excluded the latter from their organization. (The males were rather a lazy lot anyway. They spent most of the church coffee hour stuffing themselves with kibbles and slurping warm milk, disputing the latest theological issues of the day.) Naturally, the A.C.C. had a mission statement. It read: "We, the Anglican Church Cats hereby vow to devote ourselves with all our hearts and minds to killing mice and other philanthropic endeavours." The president of the A.C.C. was Frideswide, the clergy house cat. She was unassuming, yet had great dignity. She had been president for some time and no one ever thought of challenging her leadership. The A.C.C. had one evening meeting a month, which started off with a short prayer, after which they would recite their mission statement together. Then they gathered in the parish hall where Paws had prepared the most delicious treats. There they would engage in parish gossip: "Did you know that Felice just had quintuplets?" "How wonderful!" "Did you hear that Floyd left Martha for Abigail?" "Oh, how awful! What did he ever see in her?" "Did you see Ethel's new rhinestone collar?" "What's that? Isn't that a little high-faluting for an alley-cat like her?" Others shared pictures of their kittens and great-grandkittens. During this conversation Frideswide kept a decorous silence. She did not indulge in gossip, and was particularly uninterested in domestic matters. She sat quietly, her paws folded, saying the "Jesus Prayer" silently.