http://www.archive.org/stream/alphonsusworks15liguuoft/alphonsusworks15liguuoft_djvu.txt (Preaching by St. A. Liguori)
Humor in instruction
This one thing I know, that the saints, in their instructions, instead of exciting laughter, moved the people to tears. We read in the life of St. John Francis Regis, that the people wept throughout the catechetical instructions which he gave in the missions. I do not censure a jest which naturally arises from the subject treated; but to tell ridiculous stories, for the purpose of making the people laugh, is to turn the instruction into a farce, and is unbecoming the sanctity of the church, and the dignity of the pulpit from which the word of God is announced, and in which the instructor fulfils the office of an ambassador of Jesus Christ. For Christ therefore, says St. Paul, we are ambassadors. The people certainly take delight in hearing and laughing at such trifles; but what profit do they draw from it? After the laughter, the hearers will be so distracted, that it will be very difficult afterwards to compose their thoughts; and instead of listening to the moral (which our witty catechist will find rather hard to adduce from his jokes, and at the same time avoid appearing to be a quack), if nothing worse happens they will continue to revolve in their minds the witty expressions and ridiculous incidents which they have heard. Such a catechist may acquire the character of a facetious and pleasing instructor, but he will not be considered a man of sanctity and zeal, and therefore will produce but little fruit in the hearts of his hearers. It is a mistake to imagine that without jests of this sort the people will not come to the catechism, nor be attentive to it. I say that greater numbers will come to the church, and will pay more attention to the instruction, when they find that they draw fruit and devotion from it, and that their time is not spent unprofitably.
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