Cultivating a Sense of Humor

Three blog posts in 3 days! I am on a roll...or actually, I am on retreat and have time to type up some posts that have been rolling around in my head...

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Have you checked your humor lately?

How is it doing?

Two things my spiritual director persistently (!) speaks about is my need to grow in humility and my need to develop a sense of humor.

This past Christmas we received a delightful gift from Sr. Cecilia Maria's grandmother that is helping me with the latter point, a book called Between Heaven and Mirth by Fr. James Martin, SJ. In this book Father assures us that God wants us to experience joy, to cultivate a sense of holy humor, and to laugh at life's absurdities - not to mention our own humanity.  I invite you to rediscover the importance of humor and laughter in your daily life...and so does Pope Benedict!

I believe [God] has a great sense of humor. Sometimes he gives you something like a nudge and says, 'Don't take yourself so seriously!' Humor is in fact an essential element in the mirth of creation. We can see how, in many matters in our lives, God wants to prod us into taking things a bit more lightly; to see the funny side of it; to get down off our pedestal and not to forget our sense of fun.

~Pope Benedict XVI - In God and the World

By the way, Anita (Grandmother!) recently came with Sr. Cecilia Maria's parents for a visit. They kept speaking of the physical resemblance between her and Sr. Mary Magdalen. You decide...

SMMagAnitablog2012

Do you like Anita's amber necklace? This "petrified tree sap" washes up on the shores of Denmark where Anita is from.