Holy Laughter

When people think of a Catholic saint, the first image that comes to mind is a sad, pale, thin figure, often tortured and in pain, or looking as if he was wearing a hair shirt.

Traditional Catholic art has reinforced this impression.

Recently I was looking for images of smiling or laughing monks. Hundreds of images popped up featuring Buddhist monks laughing, but I had trouble finding a handful of photos or paintings of joyful Catholic monks and priests. This is a quandary since Sacred Scriptures exhorts the people of God to trust and embrace joy.

kaw2816-she-laughs-adult-closeup-1200_a6943342-0f85-48ee-a873-ea4b9e5798bf_1024x1024

Nehemiah 8:10 Do not be grieved (sad, sorrowful), for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Somehow the average Catholic does not associate joy with holiness but believes holiness is synonymous with misery. Yes, before someone becomes outraged, redemptive suffering is a powerful vocation. Yet Catholics are more focused on the Passion than on Pentecost while Pentecostals are more focused on, well, Pentecost.

There are always more pins of the Crucified Christ than of the Resurrected Christ on Pinterest’s Catholic sites. However, what most Catholics experience, as they identify with Christ’s Passion, is far from redemptive because they are not completely one with Christ, nor are their difficulties lived out in a spirit of Divine Love.

she-knows-how-to-suffer-and-at-the-same-time-how-to-laugh-abebc6d6c0975a234761faa624bf36ca

The first time we became aware a Godly life was a joyful life was 30 years ago while my husband made a silent retreat at a Trappist monastery near Oka, Quebec. He was walking quietly down a hallway, trying to be quiet and unobtrusive when a tall, athletic-looking monk threw his head back and let lose a full-out belly laugh. It sparked joy in everyone who heard it. That’s what holy laughter does; it ignites the joy of the Lord in others.

Another Trappist, Thomas Merton, was asked if it was possible to tell if someone had truly undergone inner purification, becoming transformed into the image of Christ.

“It is very difficult to tell but usually it is accompanied by a wonderful sense of humour.”

Humour, the ability to laugh and not take ourselves too seriously, puts the grueling process of inner transformation into perspective. If I am self-centered instead of God-centered, everything becomes intense and dramatic. When I take my eyes off myself, my faith, my religious practices, my spiritual ‘progress’, my sins and rather look at my Saviour, everything comes back into the proper perspective. I am filled with joy, the joy of the Lord.

joydef-300x220

There are many amusing stories about the saints which illustrate their joy. While on a journey to visit one of her convents, a donkey dumped St. Teresa of Avila into a stream of freezing cold water. Standing in her water-logged, heavy habit, she yelled at God,

“If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few!”

Did you ever wonder how the plain, hard-working, celibate, 17th-century Shakers got their name? It is because they shook under the power of God and they danced with joy! One of their dancing songs is ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

No wonder they were persecuted and chased out of Europe; they scandalized staid, proper, miserable Christians. Just like when King David danced before the Lord with complete abandonment.

As Catholics, do we look on with scorn when we see anyone who is happy, moving and dancing in the Spirit? Remember how God reacted not only to David but to his wife Michal;

[2 Samuel 6:17-22] As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

David answered his wife , “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes….”

I am willing to wager that almost all religious, faithful Catholics would not model the joyful David but scowl along with his wife Michal at such a scene. Yet joy is not just for Pentecostals; joy is also for intelligent, sophisticated Catholics. As C.S. Lewis explains,

“Joy is the serious business of heaven”.

Even though icons and holy cards often depict the saints and the entire Holy Family looking miserable and weak with tears streaming down their pale faces, the truth is the saints lived in God’s Presence and in His joy. St. Francis of Assisi is the most famous, joyful saint. It is time to allow God to change our mentality and spirituality into one that embraces the Resurrection and Pentecost, not just the Passion.

connecting with theology is a verb and reconciled to you

8 thoughts on “Holy Laughter”

Melanie,
Could you help me out, please? When we read about joy in suffering, what does it actually mean? The saints seemed to have had it. I sure as hell don’t.

LikeLiked by 1 person

melanie jean juneau says:

August 31, 2018 at 11:49 am

If we allow Divine Love to pierce our hearts, if we receive this Love, even when we are in pain, joy bubbles up in our spirits, even while we are suffering.

Basically, we take our eyes off ourselves and look to God, rather than wallowing in our broken emotions. I am in the middle of such a crisis and manage moments of joy in the midst of it all.

Even if it starts with words that seem hollow- I choose to surrender, you are God and I am not, your will be done, all things work out for the good for those who trust in God…. I can’t see the big picture

– I am going to write an article about the how

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. caitlynnegrace says:
  
  August 31, 2018 at 8:54 pm
  
  Melanie, thank you so much for this. Moments of joy in the midst of it all explains it best for me. So, it’s not all tears and hurt all through. It means if we experience these pockets of sun, even the dark seems unyielding, we have allowed joy to come through.
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person