Dear Friends in Christ:
What are your dreams?
That’s a big question! I am always surprised at how many people find that question difficult to answer. For different reasons, people have difficulty in trying to express and articulate their dreams. Some people have a difficult time thinking beyond their current situation. They are relatively content, and all is well for today, so why dream? Others don’t have any big dreams because they are afraid to be let down. Still there are others who feel unworthy to dream about something different.
In my room, I have a needlepoint a friend gave me at my ordination. It reads: “More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of.” Prayer and dreams go together. I once met with a priest who was a new pastor. I asked him about his dreams for his new parish. He was hesitant to say anything, so I pushed him. When he started speaking, he was timid and almost apologetic. It was like he was embarrassed to have a dream for his parish. The first things he mentioned were a few small things about the parish, a few administrative and procedural items and that was about it. I stopped him and asked him to really think, let go and imagine something so big that he could never do it on his own. Dream BIG! He took a few more moments and then slowly a huge transformation took place. He slowly became animated and excited. He started describing a dream for his parish that was absolutely wonderful. It was not a description of the parish as it was that day and it probably will not be that way for some time, but as he was describing it, his enthusiasm was contagious. His dream was becoming my dream for his parish too!
What is your dream for yourself, your family? It will never come true unless we give it voice and then turn it over to God. Prayers and dreams go together. If it is good and it is God’s will, dreams can come true. Too often, we settle out of fear and sometimes laziness. When we do, we miss out on what God wants us to have. God always wants more for us than we want for ourselves. Now, this world is not heaven. There will always be suffering and trials in this life. If God did not spare his own Son from suffering and death, what makes us think we are going to be exempt? There are things that we might dream of that are in fact, never going to happen because they defy reason, or they are not truly good for us and they are against God’s will for us. But that leaves a lot of good that we can have in this life. Too often, we simply do not allow ourselves to dream of what God wants for us.
Life has its disappointments, not everything is perfect and not every dream comes true in the way that we might want or expect. But unless we dream, unless we have a vision and turn to God and ask Him what He wants from us and for us, we are pretty sure not to get any of it. God has a plan. God’s vision and His plan are for our eternal and perfect happiness with Him in heaven. God also has a plan and a vision for us here on this earth. To achieve this vision and fulfill this plan, He gives us a free will and an intellect. He enables us to dream and have a vision and work to bring them about with His grace and guidance. Our plans work best when we make God’s vision, our vision. When we dream, place our dreams before the Lord and then work to love God with all our minds, hearts, soul and strength, God help us make those dreams come true. At other times he helps us to refine our dreams to become even bigger and better realities than we could ever think of on our own. Proverbs 28:19 teaches us, “people without a vision perish.”
What are your dreams?
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy