I WillSeeYou inHeaven
CAT LOVER’S EDITION!
Friar Jack Wintz
PARACLETE PRESS
BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS
2018 First Printing This Edition
I Will See You in Heaven (Cat Lover’s Edition)
Copyright © 2018 by Jack Wintz
ISBN: 978-1-55725-959-2
Unless otherwise noted all scriptural references are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scriptural references marked NAB are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Scriptural references marked NAB 1986 in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament © 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Scriptural references marked JB are taken from The Jerusalem Bible © 1966 by Darton Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday and Company Ltd. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the original edition of I Will See You in Heaven as follows:
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wintz, Jack. I will see you in heaven / Jack Wintz.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-55725-732-1
1. Animals—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Pets—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Future life—Christianity. I. Title. BT746.W55 2010
231.7—dc22 2009053415
The Paraclete Press name and logo (dove on cross) are trademarks of Paraclete Press, Inc.
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All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by Paraclete Press
Brewster, Massachusetts
Printed in China
This book is written for the millions of people who love their animal companions. All may find inspiration here.
This updated edition includes photographs and short memories of beloved animal companions, provided by our readers and others who have loved a pet as one of the family, supplementing the original text of Friar Jack.
I Will See You in Heaven: Cat Lover’s Edition! is also designed to help those who have recently lost a cat by keeping it in loving remembrance. You may want to use the following Presentation Page.
Presented to
By_____________________________
In Loving Remembrance of
On This Day
Jackson
Jackson recently passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer, and as much as I didn’t want to say goodbye I knew I couldn’t let him suffer. In this picture he is with his sister Bailey. I know he has crossed the Rainbow Bridge and has been restored to perfect health—having fun as he waits for me to hold and hug him.
Contents
FOR ANY ANIMAL, FISH, BIRD, OR OTHER CREATURE
3 Blessing the Animals
4 Noah, the Ark, and the Dove
5 Animals and God’s Will
6 Jonah and the Whale
7 Creatures Praise Our Creator
8 The Song of St. Francis
9 St. Francis and the Creatures
10 Jesus and the World of Creation
11 Praying with Creatures
12 The Soul of a Cat
13 The Afterlife
14 Conclusion
Introduction
We have a deep desire to know if we will see our pets again, and all the other lovely creatures alongside whom we now inhabit this planet. What will become of them after they die?
A friend of mine once told me the following story:
Jon lives in Vermont, where a few years ago he faced the difficult decisions and moments that come with attending to a close friend that is dying. That friend was Jon’s cat, Katana.
Katana was a Maine Coon mix Jon adopted from a co-worker. Larry and his wife, Julie, were leaving Vermont for a new job and home in Baltimore, and they were afraid to take a long car ride with a sensitive cat that scares easily.
“Would you mind taking our cat?” Larry asked Jon at the office one day. Jon thought back to the three cats he’d had before, remembering them fondly, and wondered if it was time once again to share his life with a feline friend.
“Yes, of course,” he said without much hesitation.
But from the moment that Katana came into Jon’s life, she was skittish. Larry had warned him.
“We got