{"id":3311,"date":"2011-07-21T12:01:53","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T17:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=3311"},"modified":"2011-07-21T13:35:16","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T18:35:16","slug":"lighten-up-and-other-pithy-things-to-contemplate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/lighten-up-and-other-pithy-things-to-contemplate\/","title":{"rendered":"Lighten up! And other pithy things to contemplate."},"content":{"rendered":"

The road I\u2019ve travelled to a better understanding of the Catholic Faith has been filled with a lot of bumps, bruises and pendulum swinging. I drifted away from my faith, my heritage and cultural identity in my college years {though I wouldn\u2019t have thought of it that way at the time}. I figured, like all people with apathetic leanings, I was a good person. I was generally nice and I certainly wasn\u2019t out killing people. But, when you don\u2019t have a strong Catholic foundation, you lack the skills to discern between good and bad. That\u2019s the slippery slope of moral relativism. Without a baseline, you do small things that don\u2019t seem so bad and over time because you first learned to ignore your\u00a0 conscience, you then find yourself doing other things that are more obvious wrongs.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, this wasn\u2019t my experience. Even with all that apathy and a lack of a properly formed conscience, I never felt the need to defect from the Church. Praise God and can I get an Amen!! All that was lacking was the Spirit to be stirred in my soul. And that would come with time. In the meantime, I became the dutiful student of the Faith. That required a lot of time studying, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable…frequently uncomfortable. I started off just trying to make time to learn. And questions? Boy did I have questions. Loads of them. Oftentimes, God would answer my questions through homilies given by Father Jerome Fasano. His amazing homilies encouraged me to continue to learn each week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure where I got it in my head, but I came to the crazy conclusion that in the pursuit of true orthodoxy, I needed to give up my sense of humor. I did it for almost three years. I\u2019m not sure what<\/strong> I was thinking! I was the kid who was always doing crazy things for attention but not wanting attention. I was shy but still had enough spunk to try funny pranks. I was sort of the \u201cunder the radar\u201d class clown. If the teacher was gone, I was usually involved with a circle of friends who tortured the substitute. Sarcasm was in my arsenal and if properly used, got lots of grins. So, you can imagine how much I suffered when I gave up my sense of humor for what I thought at the time was the right path. Maybe at the time, it was<\/strong> the right path. God hadn\u2019t yet revealed to me the purpose of being devoid of humor other than to maybe appreciate being able to laugh more. It was not a time in my life where I would say I was very cheerful. I truly felt that to be a good Catholic, you honestly needed to leave joking and laughing to the side. All things were meant to be discussed seriously and with critical thought. There was no room to joke about anything Catholic. It was all serious business. SERIOUS!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what the turning point was, but it had to be when I decided I wanted to do more in my parish community vs. online learning, discussions, forums, e-mails, etc. I started attending Pastor\u2019s Talks when Father Joel McNeil was at St. William. I absolutely reveled in delight at his homilies and needed to hear more. I was super timid when I first attended the talks, but over time I opened up and was able to share insights I had learned over the years. I made a few friends and as I got involved in more ministries, I found that all that studying online might have an actual home in my local parish community. I was stoked!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Go for a chuckle!<\/p><\/div>\n

So, what about that sense of humor? Well, after spending a few years being \u201csoopah siweeus,\u201d I tossed it aside in favor of returning to my old self. I heard speakers and priests who joked. I reasoned it was possible to still be a good and faithful Catholic and still be funny. In fact, it is what loosens people up to hear the real message! Shew! Without those years of being serious, I wouldn\u2019t have the appreciation for being able to laugh {at myself mostly} and have a good time. I have since come to reason that the balance, the tradeoff if you will, is that for all the serious topics that are a necessity in defending or sharing the Faith in my evangelization efforts, I quite literally need<\/strong> to laugh to vent or blow off steam. The topics and current events of our Faith are important and deserving of the proper attention and demeanor. Without humor, I find that everything becomes serious. I don\u2019t want to live like that. I would feel pressured to wear serious clothing and make serious choices about the most mundane events in my daily life.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren, we need to discuss something serious. Now, don\u2019t rush to an answer, just think for a moment. Which would you prefer? Honey nut or plain Cheerios? Later we\u2019re going to google options for the best possible way to brush teeth and we\u2019ll contemplate whether we should use Zip-loc bags or a glass container for leftovers.\u201dHmm…what to do, what to do? Are you yawning? You should be. <<insert obligatory yawn>><\/p>\n

Your challenge this week is to do something different. If you are already a super star social geek, then this does not apply to you. Seek out a new person at church and if it\u2019s after Mass, ask them what ministries they are involved in. If it\u2019s at a church function, ask them what Mass they attend. Befriend them. See if you have any common friends. Be a part of an initiative that seeks to welcome others and encourage them to participate in your parish if they aren\u2019t already.<\/p>\n

I know you must be wondering if I <\/strong>really am<\/strong> funny. Yes. It\u2019s all entirely true. If you ever ask me to say something funny, in the interest of preservation of good humor, I will not perform. It\u2019s in my personal signed contract. To help break the ice, I will leave you with a few jokes for you to use on new friends at church. This is how you win friends and influence people. Through humor. Don\u2019t be afraid to use it.<\/p>\n

A man appeared before St. Peter at the pearly gates. “Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asked.<\/p>\n

“Well, I can think of one thing,” the man offered. “Once, on a trip to the Black Hills, out in South Dakota, I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman. I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen. So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker. I smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground, and told him, “Leave her alone now or you’ll answer to me.”<\/p>\n

St. Peter was very impressed. “When did this happen?”<\/p>\n

“Just a couple of minutes ago,” the man said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Jesus was walking along the street one day and saw a bunch of people about to stone a womanto death.\u00a0So Jesus tells them to stop and says, “Whoever is without sin may cast the first stone.” Suddenly a pebble comes flying over Jesus\u2019 shoulder. Jesus turns around and says, “Mom! I’m trying work here!”<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Lost on a rainy Friday night, a priest stumbles into a monastery and requests shelter there. Fortunately, he’s just in time for dinner and was treated to the best fish and chips he’s ever had.<\/p>\n

After dinner, he goes into the kitchen to thank the chefs. He is met by two brothers,<\/p>\n

“Hello, I’m Brother Michael, and this is Brother Francis.”<\/p>\n

“I’m very pleased to meet you. I just wanted to thank you for a wonderful dinner.<\/p>\n

The fish and chips were the best I’ve ever tasted. Out of curiosity, who cooked what?”<\/p>\n

Brother Charles replied, “Well, I’m the fish friar.”<\/p>\n

Father turns to the other brother and says, “Then you must be….”<\/p>\n

“Yes, I’m afraid I’m the chip monk…”<\/p>\n

\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

An old man was approaching death, and prayed begging God to let him take his hoard of wealth with him.<\/p>\n

He prayed and prayed until finally the Lord agreed to let him. So he changed all his wealth into<\/p>\n

gold bricks and packed them in a suitcase.<\/p>\n

After he died and arrived in heaven with his suitcase, St. Peter met him at the gate.<\/p>\n

“What’s in the suitcase?” asked St. Peter.<\/p>\n

“Take a look,” the man replied.<\/p>\n

St. Peter opened the suitcase, looked and said, “You brought pavement?”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The road I\u2019ve travelled to a better understanding of the Catholic Faith has been filled with a lot of bumps, bruises and pendulum swinging. I drifted away from my faith, my heritage and cultural identity in my college years {though I wouldn\u2019t have thought of it that way at the time}. I figured, like all… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,90],"tags":[187,51,184,185,186,188],"class_list":["post-3311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-blog","category-faith-blog","tag-apathy","tag-catholicism","tag-father-jerome-fasano","tag-father-joel-mcneil","tag-humor","tag-jokes","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32156,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/01\/theoddthings\/","url_meta":{"origin":3311,"position":0},"title":"The \u201cOdd\u201d Things of the Catholic Faith","author":"Rita Suva","date":"January 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I love our Catholic faith. There\u2019s beauty in it, there\u2019s wisdom in it, there\u2019s love in it, there\u2019s joy in it, there\u2019s an acceptance and reason for pain and suffering, there\u2019s forgiveness in it, there\u2019s purpose in the rites and rituals in it and there\u2019s so, so much more. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stain-Glass Window Cross","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/cross-100x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2722503,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/consecration-to-st-joseph-vi-st-joseph-most-faithful-pray-for-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":3311,"position":1},"title":"CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH VI: ST. JOSEPH MOST FAITHFUL, PRAY FOR US!","author":"Deacon Guadalupe Rodriguez","date":"October 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite sections in the book \u201cCONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH, THE WONDERS OF OUR SPIRITUAL FATHER\u201d by Fr. 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