laughter

They say laughter is the best medicine. Sometimes I think laughter is the best prayer too. I’ve always had the feeling that some of what got left out in the gospels (Jesus did much more than is written, John tells us) were some of the lighter moments. I just know Jesus had a wicked sense of humor and I have a suspicion he may have been a practical jokester too. God certainly has an amusing sense of humor in my own life – after all, I am entering the novitiate this fall!

So the world is too wonderful and life is sometimes too funny not to laugh. Then again, I’ve been known to laugh at inappropriate moments …. quite often during mass. This probably stems from sitting between my very funny brothers at mass as a kid – they always made me laugh. It’s always a relief when the homily is funny because then I KNOW it’s ok to laugh. But then there was the time when a favorite priest friend of mine misspoke the Eucharistic prayer and told us that Jesus broke the cup. I couldn’t help but laugh – probably should have just laughed INSIDE!

And then there was last night. I managed to laugh inside. It was during the memorial acclimation. What’s so funny about that you ask? Nothing, except that not two hours earlier my friend Susie had called to tell me that her daughter (my two year old goddaughter) was singing in the back seat of the car. What was she singing you ask??? “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” So when we got to that part of the mass, I just had to smile on the outside and laugh deep down inside.

I think God gets the joke.