How do you answer a child’s question about his or her pet? All of us who have given life to a little one sooner or later are faced with this question. And, if we have been good Christian parents, we have taught our ducklings (err children) about heaven. We have taught them that there is a life after this one, a life that will be better than this one. Particularly if grampa or granma has died, we have had long talks with our children about how they are waiting for us.
Father Orthoduck’s ducklings are all grown and he even has granducklings. But, I can remember having that question come up after the death of a pet. And, it was not an easy question to answer. The theology of it all was not the difficulty. It was watching a duckling deal with the pain of death, sometimes for the first time. One would think that with all the death that a duckling sees on TV, even in a household that tightly controls the TV, that a duckling would not be hit so hard. But, often, a pet’s death may be the very first time that the heart of the duckling has been touched by the dark reality of death. And, as a parent, one aches with the thought that their duckling is finally being hit with a glimmering of what happened to us as a result of Adam’s and Eve.
So, how did you answer your ducklings when they asked you that awful question? And, did your heart ache also?
Most theology I learned says no. On the other hand, Scripture does not directly address this question, and I don’t think Holy Tradition does either (correct me on this if necessary).
I love the answer “We don’t know.We will find out for sure in heaven.”
I suspect that part of the reason that Holy Tradition does not address it is that pets were not anywhere near as common as they are nowadays. LOL. And, I learned the same as you on this subject.
Hi Father, after 6 kids and dozens of pets, Orthodoxy has given me a way to deal with it. We lost two dearly beloved dogs a couple years ago (and several cats…but I wasn’t so fond of them as my kids were). I tell them, what we love goes with us into heaven. Jesus didn’t just redeem human beings, He redeemed ALL of creation and everything is “summed up in Christ” Eph. 1 and Col. 1, that includes our animals. We always bury our pets in our cemetary in our back yard and I read the Psalm of Vespers at the funeral. It is fitting.
That is a very good point! He came to redeem all of creation. Thanks!
You’re welcome. Theologically this is what separates Orthodoxy from most western traditions that focus on “the salvation of our souls”. If “all creation groans until the revelation of the sons of God” (Rom.
and man is the microcosm of the spiritual and physical world, and OUR redemption is the redemption of the world, then necessarily that includes the animals, plants and all the created order. In that sense it does not matter if the animals or plants or dirt has a “soul” or not, it was created in love by God and if we love it as God loves it, it is a good thing. Hence, our pets will be with us eternally because we loved them like God loves His creation and died to redeem it. I LOVE our faith…it makes sense to a child. 
True dat! BTW, looking at your icon photo, are you on the “Upon This Rock” CD or is that someone else?
Yes, Father, I was on the DVD, Steve Robinson of “Our Life in Christ” and “Steve the Builder”podcasts. Since then I’ve gone “Russian” and grew the beard out.