Is There a Place For Humor In Catholicism?

[Realcatholicgk]

**Hi Posters,

On threads, several of us have been talking abour Humor, and God.

I know the pope’s position on humor: “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.” —Pope Benedict XVI

When you think about some of the animals he made and you realize God also has a sense of humor! I didn’t say your relatives I said animals!

Before we start this thread, Let us pray “Give me a sense of humor, Lord, so I will know a joke when it is told to me. Amen!”

I know that there are many good wholesome jokes that can brighten our day and lighten our load a little.

I saw no place here that would be exactly the best placefor humor and jokes, but being a Traditional Catholic, I said what the heck.

Please feel free to post “clean” jokes that do not offend the religious, other denominations, (It is OK to poke fun, just not mean jokes!) Post jokes that you would not feel ashamed of telling to your Priest, Minister Mother or a member of the group you tell the joke about and it should be acceptable. If a Joke offend you please feel free to express why. We might all learn from that also.

God Bless.

First Joke

  A few minutes before Mass started, the towns people were sitting in their pews and talking. Suddenly, Satan appeared at the front of the church. Everyone started screaming and running for the front entrance, trampling each other in a frantic effort to get away from evil incarnate.

 Soon everyone had exited the church except for one elderly gentleman who sat calmly in his pew without moving, seeming oblivious to the fact that God's ultimate enemy was in his presence. So Satan walked up to the old man and said, "Don't you know who I am?"

The man replied, “Yep, sure do.”

“Aren’t you afraid of me?” Satan asked.

“Nope, sure ain’t,” said the man.

“Don’t you realize I can kill you with a word?” asked Satan.

“Don’t doubt it for a minute,” returned the old man, in an even tone.

“Did you know that I could cause you profound, horrifying, physical AGONY… for all eternity?” persisted Satan.

“Yep,” was the calm reply.

“And you’re still not afraid?” asked Satan.

“Nope.”

More than a little perturbed, Satan asked, “Well, why aren’t you afraid of me?”

The man calmly replied, “Don’t you recognize me? I have been married to your sister for the last 40 years.”

Do not attempt to blackmail me. My wife knows I tell this joke about her!**

 

[SisterSnowflake]

ABSOLUTELY!! Without it, we would surely wither and die.

However, with that being said, I must mention that I cringe every time the priest uses his homily as a joke-fest…if I wanted to be entertained, I would not go to Mass to seek my entertainment…I feel that the Mass and Christ Himself are degraded/mocked when the homily is used for jokes. OF COURSE, that was not what your original post was asking about, but it has ben on my mind a lot lately because I have been seeing it entirely too much. Rant over!

Back to your question…yep…humor is good…we need it daily!

 

[Realcatholicgk]

ABSOLUTELY!! Without it, we would surely wither and die.

However, with that being said, I must mention that I cringe every time the priest uses his homily as a joke-fest…if I wanted to be entertained, I would not go to Mass to seek my entertainment…I feel that the Mass and Christ Himself are degraded/mocked when the homily is used for jokes. OF COURSE, that was not what your original post was asking about, but it has ben on my mind a lot lately because I have been seeing it entirely too much. Rant over!

Back to your question…yep…humor is good…we need it daily!

**Hi Sister,

I have also noticed that more and more in the past several years. I expect the homily to instruct and inform me not entertain me!

I actually remember the first time I ever hear a priest make a joke from the alter. It was on 8 December 1976 It was the feast.of the Immaculate Conception. After the gospel the priest started his homily. He was talking about the woman that committed adultry and the people wanting Jesus to tell them what to do to her. He explained about Jesus writing in the dirt, etc. I actually thought that he was drunk! It had nothing to do with the gospel at all, or so I thought. And way he concluded with “Jesus look up and said let you who are without sin, cast the first stone!” At that exact moment Jesus got hit in the head with a rock, He turned around and said “Mom, what are you doing here?”
Believe me it got a really large laugh and he went on to explain about more about Mary and the gift God gave her.
The priest’s humor helped to make me remember that event even 32 years later. I actually can’t tell you what Father’s homily was this last week:blush:

God Bless **

 

[po18guy]

ABSOLUTELY!! Without it, we would surely wither and die.

However, with that being said, I must mention that I cringe every time the priest uses his homily as a joke-fest…if I wanted to be entertained, I would not go to Mass to seek my entertainment…I feel that the Mass and Christ Himself are degraded/mocked when the homily is used for jokes. OF COURSE, that was not what your original post was asking about, but it has ben on my mind a lot lately because I have been seeing it entirely too much. Rant over!

Back to your question…yep…humor is good…we need it daily!

Preach it, sister! Mass is deadly serious. Fatal sins. Calvary. Life. Suffering. Death. Resurrection. I see room only for the nervous laugh of the evil one.

Christ’s peace.

 

[Eucharisted]

Here’s an old thread I started on Saintly Humor.

Some humor in the Bible:

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, eating the Passover meal
• Jesus holding Himself in His hands at Passover
• Jesus using His friend Lazarus in a parable (Lazarus and the rich man)
• Jesus, the Savior, being saved from death when His family fled to Egypt
• God conquering death with death on a cross
• The Israelites being too afraid to speak to God, telling Moses: “You talk to Him for us, else we die!”
• Saint Paul, once a vicious enemy of the Church, converting to Christianity and becoming an apostle to the Gentiles
• All the Beautitudes
• Jesus’ reply to Saint Paul: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
• The pharoh continuing to tell Moses he could let his people go, just so the plague would stop

 

[Arclight]

Here’s an old thread I started on Saintly Humor.

Some humor in the Bible:

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, eating the Passover meal
• Jesus holding Himself in His hands at Passover
• Jesus using His friend Lazarus in a parable (Lazarus and the rich man)
• Jesus, the Savior, being saved from death when His family fled to Egypt
• God conquering death with death on a cross
• The Israelites being too afraid to speak to God, telling Moses: “You talk to Him for us, else we die!”
• Saint Paul, once a vicious enemy of the Church, converting to Christianity and becoming an apostle to the Gentiles
• All the Beautitudes
• Jesus’ reply to Saint Paul: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
• The pharoh continuing to tell Moses he could let his people go, just so the plague would stop

I just don’t see any of those making Letterman’s Top 10 List anytime soon.

in Humberto Eco’s Name of the rose, doesn’t one of the characters repeatedly rant on about how Jesus never laughed and that all laughter is the mark of Satan?

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I can’t imagine that Jesus survived three years with the Apostles without a rich sense of humor.

 

[Arclight]

I can’t imagine that Jesus survived three years with the Apostles without a rich sense of humor.

You’d think so. Personally, i think He pulled a few practical jokes, laughed when Peter tumbled out of boat, wouldn’t have been above giving Andrew a hotfoot. After all, he was Human too.

 

[Realcatholicgk]

Here’s an old thread I started on Saintly Humor.

Some humor in the Bible:

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, eating the Passover meal
• Jesus holding Himself in His hands at Passover
• Jesus using His friend Lazarus in a parable (Lazarus and the rich man)
• Jesus, the Savior, being saved from death when His family fled to Egypt
• God conquering death with death on a cross
• The Israelites being too afraid to speak to God, telling Moses: “You talk to Him for us, else we die!”
• Saint Paul, once a vicious enemy of the Church, converting to Christianity and becoming an apostle to the Gentiles
• All the Beautitudes
• Jesus’ reply to Saint Paul: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
• The pharoh continuing to tell Moses he could let his people go, just so the plague would stop

**

Hi Eucharisted,

Boy, those sure are knee slappers!

Old Joke

A good woman died and went to Heaven. When she arrived at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter offered to take her on a tour of the facilities. As they walked past the halo depository, she noticed a sort of fence off in the distance

Intrigued, she asked St. Peter if they could look at it. “What’s a fence doing up here?” she asked. “Oh, that’s not exactly a fence,” he replied. “It’s a balcony railing. You see, some folks arrive here and find that certain friends or loved ones aren’t here, and realize they must have gone to Hell. So we have an arrangement with the Adversary whereby our folks can stand at the railing and look down and find their loved ones.”

So they approached the railing, and the woman looked down. She
spotted a group of people wailing and tearing out their hair while demons poked them with pitchforks. “What’s the matter with that group?” she asked. St. Peter took a look. “Ah,” he said. “Those are Southern Baptists who went to dances.”

Then she noticed another group, screaming while they walked on red-hot coals. “What are they being punished for?” she asked the saint. He looked and replied, “Those are old-style Catholics who ate meat on Friday.”

Another group caught her attention. They were being whipped with scorpion tails, and screaming. “And their sin?” she asked. St. Peter looked and said, “Oh, those are Episcopalians who used the wrong fork.”

**

 

[wanner47]

A Catholic priest was visiting a cannibal king as part of a missions trip. The cannibal king showed him all around the camp, including his own personal two-story hut. Inside the hut was a majestic throne made of wood. The priest commented on its beauty, and the cannibal king replied, “Yes, I have a new one made every week.”

“What do you do with the old ones?” the priest inquired.

“I store them in the upper room,” the king answered.

Just then, there was a terrible crash as the weight of the retained thrones caused the hut to collapse.

The priest turned to the king and said solemnly, “People who live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones.”

 

[jmcrae]

Here’s an old thread I started on Saintly Humor.

Some humor in the Bible:

• Jesus, the Lamb of God, eating the Passover meal
• Jesus holding Himself in His hands at Passover
• Jesus using His friend Lazarus in a parable (Lazarus and the rich man)
• Jesus, the Savior, being saved from death when His family fled to Egypt
• God conquering death with death on a cross
• The Israelites being too afraid to speak to God, telling Moses: “You talk to Him for us, else we die!”
• Saint Paul, once a vicious enemy of the Church, converting to Christianity and becoming an apostle to the Gentiles
• All the Beautitudes
• Jesus’ reply to Saint Paul: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
• The pharoh continuing to tell Moses he could let his people go, just so the plague would stop

Jacob Israel on his death-bed, blessing the wrong twin. On purpose! (Genesis 48:17)

The shepherd who lost the 99 sheep in the wilderness, while looking for the one. (And what, exactly, did they eat at that celebration of his, anyway?)

The woman who spent her other 9 coins on a party to celebrate finding the coin that was lost.

 

[Realcatholicgk]

**Hi Folks,

In the 50s, when I was a child, we would watch Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on TV. His series is now available on VCR and DVDs. He started every show with a joke and when things got too heavy would interject a joke. I think he will become a saint and probably become the Patron saint of comedians replacing St. Vitus the Patron Saint of Comedians & Dancers. He is one of my personal heros: Her are a few of his zinners. I will post more later:

“There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.”

A heckler asked Bishop Sheen a question about someone who had died. The Bishop replied, “I will ask him when I get to heaven.” The heckler replied, "What if he isn’t in Heaven?"The Bishop replied, “Well then you ask him.”

A man told Bishop Sheen he did not believe in hell. The Bishop replied, “You will when you get there.”

“Did you know that, in Heaven, an angel is a no-body?”

“The best definition of an adult that was ever given is one who has stopped growing at both ends and has begun to grow in the middle.”**

 

[Arclight]

they’re all much funnier in latin.

 

[Mattapoisett64]

Nope. It’s a slippery slope: open the door to a little humor in Catholicism, and the next thing you know, you have clown Masses. You don’t have to accept his theology, but read Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, and tell me there’s room for humor in your spiritual life.

 

[Arclight]

Nope. It’s a slippery slope: open the door to a little humor in Catholicism, and the next thing you know, you have clown Masses. You don’t have to accept his theology, but read Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, and tell me there’s room for humor in your spiritual life.

(emphasis added)

a slippery slope is a flaw in reasoning, illustrated well here.

I think its a tossup as to who is more humorless, Catholics or Scottish Presbyterians. but here’s Jonny:


Fire. Brimstone..

 

[OnlyAmbrose]

Nope. It’s a slippery slope: open the door to a little humor in Catholicism, and the next thing you know, you have clown Masses. You don’t have to accept his theology, but read Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, and tell me there’s room for humor in your spiritual life.

Excluding all humor from your spiritual life is a pretty slippery slope as well. Ask the people in Afghanistan.

 

[Realcatholicgk]

A Catholic priest was visiting a cannibal king as part of a missions trip. The cannibal king showed him all around the camp, including his own personal two-story hut. Inside the hut was a majestic throne made of wood. The priest commented on its beauty, and the cannibal king replied, “Yes, I have a new one made every week.”

“What do you do with the old ones?” the priest inquired.

“I store them in the upper room,” the king answered.

Just then, there was a terrible crash as the weight of the retained thrones caused the hut to collapse.

The priest turned to the king and said solemnly, “People who live in grass houses shouldn’t stow thrones.”

**
Hi wanner,

Puns are said to be the truest form of humor. I read somewhere, that the first recorded pun involved a court Jester and a King. * The King got tired of the Jester’s puns and said that if he said one more pun the King would have him Hung! When the Jester heard that it is rumored that he said “No noose, is good noose!” ***

 

[Realcatholicgk]

**Hi folks,

Hmmm, I wonder who voted NO? I do not think there is room in “worship” for Humor. But in my personal life is a different thing. Why respond to my question and indicate that “Humor In Catholicism” equates to “spiritual”?. As the OP, I assure you, I was not referring to anyone’s spiritual life!

A friend was in front of me coming out of church Christmas day, and Father was standing at the door as he always is to shake hands. He grabbed my friend by the hand and pulled him aside.

Father said to him, “You need to join the Army of the Lord!”

My friend replied, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord,Father.”

Father questioned, “How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?”

He whispered back, "I’m in the secret service.

**

 

[Bruno_Schulz]

Thanks po18guy for guiding me here

Christians who are not humorous didn’t get the true sense of Christianity yet. Christianity is joy - not sadness.
As you and I hardly can stand humourless people, I don’t think they are to the delight of God either.

Of course continuous laughing of some, nervs and sux a lot and I avoid such people, for it’s not humour, but daftness. Surely Jesus himself showed humour to his people too. Humour isn’t flat joking all the time, but a live enwrought with fine - still humour.

But just in spite of quietness - here’s my joke then, as a good laugh is healing too:

**An old married couple died on accident same time; finds themselves in heaven and both are enthusiastic: Luxury everywhere. Magnificent food. Superb placement. All extraordinary magnificent.
So he turns around to her and sasses: We could have had all this 30 years earlier! You and your blasted pills!
**

However: This thread is much related to that one here:
Believe in God; - joyful or burdensome?
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=4731170&posted=1#post4731170

 

[IrishDude45]

There is always a place for humor in Catholicism. I’m laughing all the time.

I think though some aspects of our Faith should be taken with all sobriety.

I have two words for humor: Father Ted!!!

Dougal: Hello there Len.
Bishop Brennan: Don’t call me Len, you prick. Refer to me as ‘Bishop Brennan’!
Dougal: Ah right you are there Len.

Dougal: God, I’ve heard about those cults Ted. People dressing up in black and saying Our Lord’s going to come back and save us all.
Ted: No, Dougal, that’s us. That’s Catholicism.
Dougal: Oh right.