Homily for the Feast of St. Lawrence, August 10.
“For the Lord loves a cheerful giver.” “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” . . . This last line runs almost like a joke!
Much humor arises from the perception of disproportion or absurdity. It’s an underlying principle that gives a comedian the basics of his toolkit. Changing the size of an object makes it funny—for instance a clown’s boat-sized shoes while riding a tiny tricycle. There is a disproportion between the nature and function of shoes and vehicles and their size in this particular instance. Reason is offended on a certain level, because the proportion between the forms of these shoes and vehicles and their purpose, is off. And so what is the reaction? We laugh at the absurdity.
Another example of humor: “What’s the difference between an outlaw and an in-law? The outlaw is wanted.” The humor results from the lack of proportion between the meaning of the word “wanted” in two different contexts—not to mention the absurdity based on an all-too-common experience of life with extended family in the picture.
Funnily enough, much of a comedian’s hilarity comes from simple truth-telling. In today’s world, there are some truths whose only platform for honest expression seems to be the stand-up stage. This is because there is a disproportion between what we have been socially conditioned to accept, and what we naturally intuit as true. Being a comedian takes good intuition and insight into reality. Hence, the saying in omni joco veritas: “there’s truth in every joke.”
Now—we live in a world that is fallen. There is a disproportion between the life of heaven, and the life of earth—between the Creator and His creatures. The more insight you gain through contemplating the Truth Who is God, the more of a sense of humor you will develop. Things you thought were important, or serious before—disputes, judgments, living in other people’s minds, trying to map out your spiritual program—eventually becomes quaint, absurd, downright laughable!
We have to lighten up. What we imagine to be serious in our own lives, even our spiritual lives, is far less important than we think—certainly far less important than focusing our attention on the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Our Lord is getting at this when he speaks about “hating the world.” We lose our lives in this world by keeping our minds fixed in a better world. As St. Paul says in Colossians: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Resting in Truth—there is hardly a better description of contemplation.
This is part of the reason why seminarians who enter St. Michael’s abbey are told “if you don’t enter religious life with a sense of humor, the abbey will give you one.” You can’t survive religious life without a sense of humor, or if you scrape by, you certainly won’t thrive. Religious life has many aspects to it that are simply laughable. We wear funny clothes, do funny activities, have a funny schedule, have funny talks with funny people. And all these are funny because there is something about heaven that doesn’t quite fit on earth. We give up our lives in this world that we may obtain a disproportionately better one.
There it is—a heavenly perspective gives you a sense of humor. What more laughable disproportion can exist than that between heaven and earth? After the resurrection, we’ll have perfect bodies that can move instantly at a mere thought. When we reach heaven, we’ll be saying: “Remember when we used to have to wake up—remember sleep?—dress—remember clothing?!—get in a car and drive—vehicles to get around!—and walk step by slow step across a parking lot in order to worship God in the divine liturgy?”
There will be no tears in heaven except perhaps tears of laughter.
St. Lawrence is the patron saint of comedians because of this heavenly perspective. When the procurator commanded him to hand over the treasures of the Church, he brought the poor and the lame and said “Behold the treasures of the Church!” This is the truth . . . and a joke!
When they were martyring St. Lawrence by roasting him on a gridiron, he famously said: “Turn me over, I’m done on this side.” Through the intercession of St. Lawrence, may we gain a heavenly perspective, and therefore a sense of humor, so that we might have insight into how laughable and absurd the world is, and so “lighten up,” and become the cheerful givers that God loves.
