Our dreams, sweet dreams?

Rembrandt: Joseph’s Dream in the Stable

Have you dreamed lately?

What do you think about your dreams?

For centuries in the ‘West’ most people have ignored dreams and simply dismissed them as absurd. In many other cultures people have regarded dreams more significantly.

My own experience of dreams is that at some difficult times working on understanding my dreams has helped me through. Several years ago I worked with a friend who was a Jungian psychotherapist and began to see dreams as often, but not always, expressing truths and ‘speaking’ to me.

A simple beginning to uncovering something about our dreams is to talk about them. Why are there certain features, what do they mean, what do we think is being said? Sometimes it helps to write the dream down.

The Statue of St Joseph in St Chrysostom’s Church

St Joseph (feast day 19th March, transferred to March 20th in 2017) was a dreamer. St Matthew’s Gospel tells us of three highly significant dreams he had. An angel, in a dream, guides him to take Mary as his wife, despite her being already pregnant. After the wise men have visited Bethlehem Joseph is warned, in a dream, to flee for refuge to an alien land with Mary and Jesus, away from the cruel intentions of Herod. Then, years later, again in a dream, Joseph is guided to return to his homeland. Joseph takes his dreams very seriously and acts upon them, and his life takes major changes of direction.

Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Joseph was an upright man, a Jewish man of principle. We can take this to mean he lived his faith seriously and was a man of prayer and integrity. Within this integrity and faith dreams were significant to him. This, perhaps, is a key for us. Our dreams may well have significance if understood within the context of an integrated life of faith and prayer.

Fr Ian

For other reflections on St Joseph, migrant click here and Joseph, specially chosen,click here.

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