Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 17, 2016

     Every week, as I write this column, I try to come up with something that will inform or inspire you – well, almost every week. But here we are in the middle of summer, when we are supposed to be a little more relaxed. So I thought that instead of giving you some deep thoughts, I would simply try to offer something to bring a smile to your face. Toward that end, I offer some excerpts from a newsletter that I receive periodically called The Joyful Noiseletter. It is a publication of “The Fellowship of Merry Christians,” a non-denominational group dedicated to helping Christ’s followers to be ever joyful and to see humor in their lives. They allow members to reprint their items in church bulletins, so I thought I would share a few examples.

“A pastor friend put sanitary hot-air hand dryers in the restrooms of his church. But after two weeks, he removed them. I asked him why and he confessed that they worked fine, but one day when he went into the restroom, he saw a sign above the dryer that said, ‘For a sample of this week’s sermon, push the button.’” (Fr. John Trimbur, St. Joseph Parish, Austintown, Ohio.)

Rev. Harry Mahoney (from Dedham, MA) wrote of an elderly woman who loved the movie The Wizard of Oz so much that she requested a song from the show be played at her funeral. When the time came for her funeral, someone arranged to have a CD with the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” But the person in control hit the wrong button at first, and the congregation heard “The Wicked Witch is Dead.”

The same member writes that a little boy heard the minister talking about the Ten Commandments and said that his mommy had already taught him three of them: “Settle down,” “Act your age” and “Take that out of your mouth.”

A few years ago The Joyful Newsletter published one of my own contributions. I had been traveling one summer when I went to a fairly new parish that was raising money to purchase hymnals. In the meantime, they were printing the lyrics to each week’s hymns in the bulletin of that Sunday. The weekend I was there, the mass ended with the hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns.” We didn’t make it through the second verse though. The line “All Christians come and sing to Him Who set us free” had been mistyped. The entire congregation began laughing when they sang the advice, “All Christians, come and sin.”

I also had one other submission printed. The late Fr. Walter Mahler, a Pittsburgh priest and long-time navy chaplain, would occasionally begin a meal with the following prayer: “Good of goodness, bless this food. Keep us in a pleasant mood. Bless the cooks and those who serve us. And from indigestion, Lord, preserve us.”

C. S. Lewis wrote, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” G. K. Chesterton tells us, “Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly,” and also adds, “Satan fell through force of gravity.” So I hope that these brief notes bring a smile to your faith and to remember St. Paul’s advice to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice.”
                                       
                                                                                           Father H