Bad jokes, fresh hope

A snippet from community life in the monastery today on this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

As I mentioned last week, one of the monks here, Fr. Benedict, had to have his left leg amputated due to a chronic medical condition. Fr. Benedict, 83, has been recuperating from the surgery in the monastery infirmary the last several days, but is now starting to get out and about a little on his motorized scooter. A quiet man, almost always seen with a rosary in his hand and ready with a "God bless you," he also is a quick-draw when it comes to puns and bad jokes.

This afternoon he was tooling through the monastery calefactory, so I said hello and asked him how he was doing. Without missing a beat, he pulled up the blanket on his lap, pointed to where his left leg used to be, smiled, and said, "I'm a leg up on the resurrection!"

God bless him.