Phil Berrigan

I remember that today is the day of remembering good old St. Nick, the forerunner of our Santa Claus. Also someone reminded me that today is the eighth anniversary of the death of Philip Berrigan, a great Catholic Worker and resister that had a great influence on many lives. The last time I saw Phil he encouraged me to work on the resistance to the military presence at Marquette, something I am trying to do. (See Marquette, Be Faithful to the Gospel, Close the base School of Army on campus.

Putting these two commemorations together and looking at my recent postings I think it is time to put more humor and spirituality into the Nonviolent Cow web page. The postings have become dark and tired.

Looking for humor and spirituality reminds me of one of the great spiritual writers of our time Father Anthony De Mello S.J., an Indian Jesuit priest who spoke spiritual truths by stories, parables and anecdotes, always with a sense of humor.

Here is one of my favorite stories:

There was a man who went to the priest and said, “Father, I want you to say a Mass for my dog”. The priest was indignant. “What do you mean, say a Mass for your dog”? “It’s my pet dog”, said the man. “I loved that dog and I’d like you to offer a Mass for him”.

The priest said, “We don’t offer Masses for dogs here. You might try the denomination down the street. Ask them if they might have a service for you”. As the man was leaving, he said to the priest, “Too bad. I really loved that dog. I was planning to offer a million-dollar stipend for the Mass”. And the priest said, “Wait a minute, you never told me your dog was Catholic”.

With the help of my wiki gnome Tegan, I put up a special page of Jokes. My main source of good jokes on the internet passed away this year so if you have a good, fun, brief, non-demeaning bit of humor sent it this way.

Speaking of jokes and spirituality I received news today about a new Catholic Worker blog called Daily Dynamite. It is a chance for Catholic Workers and others to share reflections on the daily scripture readings of the church. Check it out.

Spirituality and humor go well together. Gandhi, King, De Mello and Phil Berrigan and other spiritual mentors all had a good sense of humor.

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