I Had a Dream

An Impossible Dream to Be Sure, But Prophetic in a Sense

Last night, I went to bed as usual, and slept as usual, except about 4 am I had a dream, a most wonderful dream, from which I awoke joyful, and excited.  Eventually, I returned to a peaceful sleep, but the dream remains with me now.

For the past few weeks I have been praying a prayer with my prayer partners and on my own that Gus Lloyd received one morning from the Lord, called Drain Me of Me.  You can see it over to the left on my blog page, or read about it here.

The prayer asks God to remove all those parts of me (or you if you pray it) that separate me from Him, my pride, arrogance, ignorance, all those things that are not of Him.  I think the dream I had was somewhat of an answer to the prayer.

In the dream, I was a newly ordained and young priest (no grey hair, no wife), and I was to participate in my first daily mass since ordination.  I was with two other priests, one I did not know, and one I know very well, and admire, Father Michael Prieur of St. Peter's Seminary.  Father Prieur has been in my thoughts and prayers a lot lately, as of course are the other priests we know and pray for, but he holds a special place in my heart, since I have known him and his faithfulness for so many years.

Before Mass was to begin, one of the priests looked out to the congregation and explained the Eucharist to them with such clarity and power that that is what woke me up. 

Here is what was basically said in the dream:

Today, dear brothers and sisters, you will approach the table of Christ to receive the Eucharist which we celebrate this morning.  This Eucharist will have been consecrated at the hands of an unworthy but willing servant of God.  In mystery, this bread and wine will be transformed into the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

So, when you approach to receive the bread and wine, do not be fooled by your senses.  It will look just like bread and wine, as it did before the Consecration.  Yet, we know in our hearts that it has in fact been transformed into the Body and Blood of Our Dear Lord, who shed His Blood and gave up His Body at our hands on Calvary.  So, listen to your hearts, not your eyes, as you come forward.

In one of the prayers of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we pray: "Father, I offer you the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world."

What a seemingly arrogant statement to make.  How can I offer Jesus up to the Father?. . .   It is really quite simple.  Just as our elected officials when they do something such as permit abortion, it is the same as we ourselves doing it.  They are speaking for us and standing in for us, as we have elected them to do. So, too when we do not stand against any evil, we are at least unwittingly participating in that very evil.  And so it was with the Crucifixion of Our Dear Lord.  Our ancestors, who were guilty of sin, crucified He who was without sin, not only for their sins, but for all sins that would be committed ever in history.  They, in this act of terrible aggression against the Ruler of the World, unknowingly offered His Death up to God.  So, it then becomes very fitting for us to actually verbally make the same offer specifically to God the Father, joining our sins and ourselves with this terrible act, through which salvation came into the world.

So, when you approach the table of the Lord to receive Him, know that you are in fact receiving Him, and take Him tenderly into yourself.  Let His love for you, the love that died for you, enter you and nourish you, as you join with all the saints of God who have known this truth throughout the ages, and have cherished it and honoured it.

I do not know if I have done justice to what I heard in my dream.  But, I cannot hardly wait to go to Mass and receive Communion. 

I will never be an ordained priest, but I do not think that was the point of the dream.  All believers are members of the royal priesthood, and though that does not confer on us the ability to consecrate the Eucharist, it does confer on us the responsibility to bring the Good News of the Gospel of Salvation to our brothers and sisters here on the earth.  It is our solemn duty, and one we must not shirk.  So, let us all go forward and bring the Good News to one and all.  Let our actions speak of our love for Jesus, and let our words then support our actions.