Prayer for a Sense of Good Humor

By Saint Thomas More

(Saint Thomas More / 1478-1535 / was secretary and advisor to King Henry VIII. He was beheaded because of his fidelity to the Catholic Church. Canonized in 1935, he was made the patron saint of government statesmen and politicians by Pope St. John Paul II in the year 2000. St. Thomas More’s prayer good humor follows):

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.

Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it.

Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.

Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I”.

Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor.

Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.

(From the May/June/July 2018 issue of the journal MICHAEL)