Reflective Moments with Angela
By Sister Michele Morek
As I listened to the political speeches this fall, I was alert to the candidates’ use of irony (making political points in a joking manner). While I did not always agree with the points they were making, I could admire the irony. In fact, I love it. “Irony” is a technical term from rhetoric, referring to a technique using contradictions to convey meaning. Recently I collected a new example of my own from personal experience.
Depiction of Saint Angela almost smiling.
I was looking up a favorite quote from Henry David Thoreau: “Beware all enterprises that require new clothes.” The internet took me to a Walden Pond site that offered me a new tee shirt with that exact quote on it, for only $24.95. Did they THINK about how ironic that was?
Another favorite (though sad!) experience of situational irony I collected was in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, where we parked for an outdoor play. We found ourselves right next to a rusty beat-up camper van. Tied to the back bumper with a heavy chain was a whimpering dog with pleading eyes, chained right under a bumper sticker that proclaimed, “Born Free!”
Right off the top of my head I could think of several places in the Gospel stories where Jesus used irony. Then I wondered about Saint Angela. Did she ever use humor or irony to make a point in her writings? I have always been impressed with how direct she was – she seemed to say what she meant and mean what she said.
I reviewed her writings again and found lots of colorful metaphors and similes. I could imagine her saying some things with a twinkle in her eye or tongue in cheek, but I could not find much overt humor or irony, at least not from my cultural perspective.
Please note that I am not upset about this, nor do I love her any less. After all, those were serious documents she was writing!
So English teachers or humor fans, your challenge for the month is to find some examples of irony in her writing. Or is there something you think is an example of her using humor to make a point? Let me know! I will write a retraction to this.