A Friday & Dream

Well this is a good day. Off from work without a glance back. Morning Mass, a long bike ride, a nap, some reading.

My reading prompted me to recall a dream I had in January that I wish I had written down. It came just a week or two after the St. Petronius dream I described in my Jan. 13, 2012 posting. In it, I was walking among some houses on a hill and came to one being worked on or perhaps built. I think it was a reconstruction of sorts. I was suddenly in the company of several men and women who appeared to be somewhat or slightly challenged, perhaps with speech difficulties. A carpenter (wait for it) comes over to me and, showing me some tools, said "I think you are about ready to use these. You will work with these people." That's about it. I recall the sky was blue, it was spring. The house was Mediterranean style.

Yes, there was a carpenter. And not a skinny guy with stars in his eyes, but a pretty rugged fellow with a fair set of shoulders. But these people I was with - that confused me. What was going on here? Was I being asked to care more for challenged persons? Okay, I can do that. But I didn't want to write the dream down or blog it as I had just undergone the St. Petronius dream, which if you read it you will understand was enough to last me a while.

So it took until today to understand that the dreams were related. Whereas the St. Petronius dream cleared house, so to speak, the second dream was about setting down to one's task. If I had any doubt that the house was me and that my house is also of course that of the Lord, those doubts have been laid to rest.

Anyway, here is some more background in case you feel somewhat or are indeed RC challenged.

• We are separate individual members of one body (in Christ).
• We are are called separately and individually to serve. St. Paul covers the range of service options very nicely in I Corinthians 14 if you want to look. 
• So what do I do? Well, I am a lector (reader) at Mass and will likely help with RCIA Catechism and have been asked to join the pastoral council.
• But really, this is pretty embarrassing. I was concerned about what the dream meant in terms of the people around me, but it wasn't about them. They were there to help me to understand that the tool I have is that of communication. To read at Mass. To communicate.

Okay, I can do that. I can be myself in what I do and I can hope it is pleasing. The dream may really be addressing simply the reading, which I take very seriously and deliver with a lot of gusto. It's pretty intense, I can tell you, to be standing up there in front of a priest, a deacon, and a Pieta delivering some of the riper parts of the Old Testament or Letters. What it is of course is an incredible privilege. Short of being graced with having written the words themselves, I can't imagine how I could be brought closer to what I understand is love - pure and not-so-simple.

Thanks for reading.