Is there such a thing as a theology of humor? I don’t mean the pious ‘joy’ that lies buried beneath layers of ecclesiastical platitudes. I mean the robust joy that a sense of humor begets, the joy that God transmits through music, art, literature, poetry, good companions, flowers, children, good food, warm summer breezes, snow white snow on mountainous mountain sides, shared experiences, resonant communities. I mean the joys that make us feel good, joys that stir those emotions that make us humans, joys that tell us that this world God has made and the life that he has placed in it, is a good thing and is exactly where we are meant to be in our personal ‘now’.
I wonder about such non-religious joy. I wonder especially about the kind of joy that springs from ‘humor’, not jokes and wisecracks, but ‘a SENSE of humor”. Where does our sense of humor come from? The rectory? The chancery? The Vatican? What is its purpose? Why does it seem to make some folks feel too good to feel bad and others too guilty to feel good? Why is it almost never discussed at any length, if at all, in the context of faith? Why is humor so completely ignored by formal religion? The word ‘humor’ does not appear in scripture or in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Pope has never issued a statement on it. I doubt if it is mentioned in Canon Law.
Isn’t it a valid charism? Wouldn’t it be nice if the Magisterium taught us something about the salvitic aspects of ‘felt’ joy and humor? Of course, they might have to sub-contract the writing of the syllabus, or develop a sense of humor. . .
/bob demers
