The Blessing of the Horses |
Charlie was a regular visitor at the racetrack. One afternoon he noticed an unusual sight.
Right before the first race, a Catholic priest visited one of the horses in the stable
area and gave it a blessing. Charlie watched the horse race very carefully, and sure
enough the blessed horse came in first!
Charlie followed the priest before the next race, and again he
went to the stables and performed a similar procedure. Charlie played hunch and put a
couple of dollars on the blessed horse. Sure enough the blessed horse came in by two
lengths and Charlie won close to fifty bucks!
The priest continued the same procedure through the next few
races and Charlie won each time. He was now ahead $1000, so between races Charlie left the
track and went to the bank and withdraw his life's savings $20,000.
The biggest race of the day was the last one. Charlie followed
the priest and watched carefully which horse he blessed. He then went to the betting
window and put his whole $21,000 bundle of cash on that horse to win.
Then Charlie went out to watch the horses race. Down the stretch
they came, and as they crossed the finish line, the horse Charlie's fortune was bet on was
dead last!
Charlie was crushed. He located the priest and told him that he
had been watching him bless the horses all day, and they all became winners except the
last horse on which he had bet his life savings.Charlie then asked, "What happened to
the last horse which you blessed? Why didn't it win like the others?"
"That's the trouble with you Protestants," sighed the
priest. "You can never tell the difference between a blessing and the Last
Rites."
[From "Bill's Punch Line" at tcmrtalk@airmail.net]
