Recently I remembered a story, told me as a joke when I was a student at Fordham, that I came to view as containing wise information.

It seems a Jesuit and a Dominican were on a retreat. The retreat master was a Franciscan. During free time when they could talk they both said they’d like to have a cigarette or two during the Meditation Hour, so they thought they should each seek the retreat master’s permission.

The next day during the Meditation Hour the Jesuit was smoking, but the Dominican wasn’t. Afterwards the Dominican asked the Jesuit how it was that he was smoking.

“Father gave me permission,” the Jesuit answered.

“How can that be?” the Dominican asked. “He wouldn’t give me permission.”

“What did you ask?”

“I asked whether I could smoke while meditating and the retreat master said he didn’t think that was such a good idea.

“What did you ask?” the Dominican wondered.

“I asked whether it was okay to mediate while smoking,” the Jesuit responded. “And Father said he thought that was a great idea.”