When I arranged my books this morning, I found a beautiful book, “Laughing Christ: Collected Reflections of Joseph Galdon, SJ. I fondly remember Father Galdon in his Mustard Seed reflections on living and loving. Well, I recall that I bought this book because it was a collection of his writings by people who were touched by his loving presence and inspired by his teachings. Like his Mustard Seed, this book is all about being human and being alive. In pages 164-168, he provided us, believers and non-believers, three important keys to be truly human. I wanted to snip some thoughts that highlight his message but I finally decided to reproduce the full-text because I want you to listen to this man of God, a brother among us, talking to us the secret of happiness, the secret of a laughing Christ!
Father Galdon said:
Keep on Tinking!
Luving!
Laffing!
Luving!
Laffing!
Keep well…
--oOo--
TRULY HUMAN
On retreats and counseling sessions, people are always asking me how to
solve their problems, how to be happier and how to be better human beings.
Philosophers have been talking about that for centuries and in more recent
years, the psychologists, too, have been trying to find the answer to those
vital questions. There are thousands of books that try to explain happiness and
humanity. I am no expert, of course - neither in Philosophy nor Psychology –
only a very interested amateur, but over the years I have experienced that the
answers to the questions of humanity and happiness are all related to Thinking,
to Loving, and to Smiling! All real living is Thinking, Loving and Smiling!
USE YOUR HEAD!
In the classroom, I always tell my students that they have to “TINK”.
During all my seminars for teachers, I emphasize the point that the main
function of the teacher is not to transmit knowledge – the kids can find that
in books, in the library, and on TV! – but to teach the students how to “TINK!”
I deliberately misspell the word when I write it on the board and mispronounce
it, so that my hearers will be forced to “TINK” why I am misspelling the word.
I always tell them: “Use your head and you will solve ninety percent of the
problems in your life! Most of our problems aren’t solved because we don’t know
how to TINK! So, use your head!”
A human being is the only creature of God that knows how to think! That
is what makes us different from all the other animals in the world. They have
instinct. Some of them have emotions. But only human beings know how to TINK.
And when we don’t TINK, we really aren’t very human. We are no better than the
animals. The human mind is God’s greatest gift to us. It is sad and so inhuman
if we do not use God’s gift of the mind, or even throw it away.
Rabbi Abraham Herschel was asked in a TV interview just before his
death: “What is the essence of being? What does it mean to be human being?” He
answered: “The greatness of man is that he asks questions and handles problems.
I judge a person by how many deep problems and questions he is concerned with.
A person who has no questions and handles no problems is an idiot!”
THINK IN ORDER TO LOVE
My second point is that being human means loving. St. Thomas Aquinas
summed it up well: “There are two ways of using your mind and desiring
knowledge. One way is to desire knowledge as a perfection of myself as a human
being. That is the way philosophers often desire to use their brains. The other
way of desiring knowledge is to desire it, not merely as a perfection of myself
and as something to show of and be proud of, but because I can use that
knowledge to come close to the one I love. That is the way saints want to use
their knowledge and their minds.”
The point is that I am most human when I am unselfish, when I go out of
myself, when I share not only what I have, but also who I am “for others”. My
life is genuinely human, only to the extent that it reflects the being of God.
We are made in God’s image! To be truly alive and human, my existence should be
Godward and Manward – turned totally to God and God’s image on earth. That is
what it means to love! We are not in love – nor are we human – if our horizons
are narrow. If our arms do not reach out beyond ourselves. We are not in love
if we hang on defensively to what we have gained, and if we build a fence of
selfishness around our house and our possessions, our dear ones and the spirit
of love. The gut issue is: Whose hand can we touch in love? Answer that
question and we will know how human we really are. Whose hand can we think
about and touch in love?
LAUGH WITH ME!
My third point may seem very strange – to be alive, to be truly human,
is to laugh and smile. Yet it follows inescapably from the first two points. If
you think and you love, if you respond to the world and are turned to total
love for others, then you will be happy, and you will certainly smile and even
laugh. This thinking and loving laughter is not hysterical laughter. It is not
primarily a belly explosion over a vulgar joke. This laughter is really “joy in
living.” Therefore, it is splendidly human and utterly Christian. It is sad
that much of the human race is less than human because it cannot find joy in
its living, because that living is less than human.
Eugene O’Neill (one of my favorite American dramatists) wrote a play
with a splendid insight. It was a play about the life of Lazarus after Jesus
summoned him from the grave. O’Neill called the play “Lazarus Laughed.” In the
play, O’Neil tells us: “Lazarus began to laugh, softy at first, then
full-throated – a laugh so full of a complete acceptance of life, a profound
assertion of joy in living, and so devoid of fear, that it was infectious with
love.” Lazarus’ laughter was so infectious that, despite themselves, his
listeners were caught by it and carried away. There’s an old refrain that
summarizes O’Neill’s insight very well. It is as though Lazarus (and Christ,
too) were saying: “Laugh with me! Death is dead! Fear is no more! There is only
life now! There is only laughter!”
THE SMILING CHRIST
In the Abbey of Lerins, on an island off the southeast coast of France,
there is a very unusual sculpture that goes back to the 12th century. It is
called “Christ Souriant” – “The smiling Christ.” In the sculpture, Jesus is
hanging on the cross. His head is leaning to the right. His eyes are closed – in
death, I think – but on his lips there is a soft, serene smile, a smile of
happiness and contentment. I know why Christ is smiling in the sculpture, even
though he is suffering on the cross. He is smiling because he was certainly a
profound thinker and the world’s greatest lover!
You know my favorite theme – “Mahirap ang Buhay!” Life is terrible.
There are so many problems and so many worries! But we can still smile. We can
still laugh and take joy in living. Why? Because we are really human, really
alive! In all our problems we can still discover love. That famous Jesuit said
one time: “You say that you are human beings. And you say that you are
Christians! Then where is your joy? Where is your smile? Why aren’t you
laughing?” Maybe we are not LAFFING because we are not LUVING. Maybe we are not
LUVING because we are not TINKING!
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