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According to a recent study, the average four-year-old laughs 300 times a day. The average forty-year-old? Only four.
I wonder why. Do we adults take life too seriously? Are we too stressed? Overwhelmed? Or have we simply lost our child-like innocence?
Imagine how joyful our lives would be if every adult we knew laughed as many times as a four-year-old.
Maybe we’d get nothing done.
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(That was a joke…did you smile?)
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Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Philip Neri, the patron saint of joy and humor.
He was a man who laughed constantly. He saw laughter as a way to counteract his pride, and as a way to brighten other people’s days.
Philip was known on occasion to walk around Rome with his clothes turned inside out; with extra-large shoes; or with his beard half-shaved.
When he’d walk into a church for the first time, he’d jump up and down and shout for joy.
Oddly enough, the more comical he was, the holier he was perceived to be.
He found a way to balance his sense of humor with intense periods of prayer, love of God, and service to his neighbor.
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Would that we’d all learn from Philip’s example. In his honor, can you make someone laugh today?
You’ll both feel better for it.
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Image credits: (1) Eat Sleep Work Repeat (2) The Seattle Times