He has had a great deal of
experience with an Order which began so amateurishly, if I may use
the word, that nobody could have imagined that it would grow to the
size and strength it has reached in ten years. The Bishop of
Alberta revealed much to us of our beginnings during his stay at
the Abbey, and after I had listened to him I felt how presumptuous
it was for me to criticize the central source of the religious life
we are hoping to spread. You see, Rector, I must have criticized it
implicitly in my letters to you, for your objections are simply the
expression of what I did not like to say, but what I managed to
convey through the medium of would-be humorous description. One
hears of the saving grace of humour, but I'm not sure that humour
is a saving grace. I rather wish that I had no sense of humour.
It's a destructive quality. All the great sceptics have been
humourists. Humour is really a device to secure human comfort. Take
me. I am inspired to become a preaching friar. I instantly perceive
the funny side of setting out to be a preaching friar. I tell
myself that other people will perceive the funny side of it, and
that consequently I shall do no good as a preaching friar.
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