Oh, How I Hope

Nobody knows for sure whether animals have souls.

Nobody knows whether we who love our animal companions will in fact be reunited with them after we die.

There is no proof that the Rainbow Bridge actually exists. It is based on a couple of poems written in the 1980s. Doesn't it make sense that a love as pure as that given by our animal friends won't end with the death of an animal's body?

But many believe that this special bridge is where grieving people and their beloved animal companions are reunited, cross the bridge together and are together forever. This mythical bridge connects heaven and earth. It is a place where the old, infirm and ill animals are made whole again. Blind dogs and cats can see once again. The lame can run and play. The abused are healed. If an animal died without being part of a human family, there is an abundance of rescuers who will reunite with the animals they helped to save. Body and spirit are healed.

Believing in the Rainbow Bridge is a source of comfort for many humans who mourn the loss of a beloved animal companion. It gives us hope that saying goodbye to our animals is merely a temporary separation, and that we will be reunited again. It helps in some small way to ease the pain and make it just a bit more bearable. 

Many humans mourn the loss of a beloved dog, cat, horse, rabbit or other animal just as much as some people mourn the loss of a human, and sometimes more deeply. There is nothing wrong with that. Animals can be wonderful sources of love and companionship, without the judgment that sometimes accompanies human relationships. Animal love is pure.

Believing in the Rainbow Bridge requires a leap of faith that this unknown and ultimately unprovable thing is in fact real. But religion is in large part also based on a leap of faith that the god or gods are real. No one has proven that heaven and hell exist, but billions of people believe they do. The same is true of the Rainbow Bridge. Religious authorities are divided about the question of whether animals have souls. Those of us who love animals believe there is no doubt they do. The Jains definitely believe that animals have souls.

Pope Paul VI was said to have once told a distraught boy whose dog had died: “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures."  Pope Francis has seemed to suggest that there is a place in heaven for animals: “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design [an afterlife] also affects everything around us.”

So yes, I hope that the Rainbow Bridge is real. I have adopted 13 dogs over the course of my life. What a joyous reunion it will be to see all of them rushing toward me when I arrive at the Bridge.