Christmas Dreams

Some people say that they go to bed at night thinking about a problem or issue they could not resolve during the day and wake up with a solution. Some may call it a super natural revelation, others may call it a dream. Many modern scientists believe that dreams can be revelatory. Several studies have reported that dreams appear to be a side effect of the process of memory consolidation that takes place during sleep (Oxford Journal, January 2006). This process seems to edit the thoughts and impressions we already have and consolidates them into a more coherent narrative or story. As it inputs the data in the visual cortex, auditory cortex, and in the motor cortex, it also activates these parts of the brain in a way that an internal movie pattern is generated. Neuroscience has established that such events need not be seen as diminishing their potential revelatory function.

Joseph, the man betrothed to Mary had a problem that worried him and he went to bed thinking about it and then he had a dream. When Joseph found out that Mary, to whom he was betrothed, but not yet married, was carrying a baby, he knew that he was not the father of Mary’s unborn child. Being a good man, as Matthew describes him, Joseph did not want to hurt Mary either. He planned to cope with the situation as compassionately as possible and decided to divorce her quietly. He went to sleep on it and woke up with a clear solution and a changed mission. Instead of leaving Mary, he took her as his wife. Joseph was accepting the foundation of the hope of a savior that the prophet Isaiah foretold 700 years before, that Jesus will be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). Then he had at least three more dreams. The first dream of Joseph is recorded in chapter 1 of Matthew's gospel and the other three are lised in chapter 2.

He decided to follow the message he got from the dream. The path was not easy since then. He had to take Mary to Bethlehem, deal with the unexpected birth of the baby in a manger, take the baby and mother to Egypt and then return. But because of Joseph following the revelations of the dreams, we have Christmas. In the dream, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is conceived by the Holy Spirit. And you are to name the child Jesus because he will save God’s people from their sins.” Joseph followed the message in the dream that led to new possibilities for him and for the world. It is about opening his eyes to the fact that there are possibilities beyond human thoughts.

Joseph acted in a new way that was a departure from what he had planned. He was awakened to an entirely new way of acting out his faith. Joseph was still a good and righteous man, no doubt. But now, instead of making choices out of honor and cultural code, he chose to act out of faith. He acted out of his confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of the message that he received. He acted on his secure belief in God with a trusting acceptance of God’s will. Until then Joseph was a just man, a righteous man before the law; now he is also a faithful man before God. And because of this, he was changed. He was transformed, not just on the inside, but also on the outside. His heart changed and then his world changed. His spirit was opened up to accept a truth that hadn’t been revealed to him before. He found himself awakened to new possibilities. Yes, it is the dream that this baby, born in a stable in Bethlehem really is Emmanuel, God with us. It is the dream of the kind of world that Jesus came to make manifest as a reality for all.

In 1928, A young girl of 18 named Agnes in Albania had a dream. In that dream she felt like God was asking her to go to Ireleand and join the missionaries of Sisters of Loreto in Dublin. She followed the call to Ireland where she took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. A year later, Sister Mary Teresa traveled on to Darjeeling, India, for a training. From there she was assigned as a missionary teacher to Calcutta to teach in a very poor area. In May 1931, she took on the name 'Mother Theresa' and started her work. On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa was travelling in a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat. She said Christ spoke to her while she was in the train and told her to abandon her teaching mission and to go to work in the slums of Calcutta. She saw the needs of the city's poorest and sickest people and started bringing them to her place to care for them. Many volunteers joined in her work and the mission began to grow. Over the course of two decades a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string of mobile health clinics were opened. By the time of her death in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity numbered more than 4,000 nuns—in addition to thousands of lay volunteers—with 610 foundations in 123 countries around the world. In a country of over 90 percent of Hindus, she was awarded the honor "Jewel of India", the highest honor bestowed on Indian civilians. It was all due to one simple girl who followed the revelations of her dreams.

The celebration of Christmas is not about a distant memory or dream. Just like it was for Joseph, Christmas today is our awakening story. It awakens us to possibilities beyond our own. We are awakened by dreams and revelations on a regular basis. Christmas allows us to open our eyes to what is possible with God. It is our chance to act as if this dream of God in the world, Emmanuel, is real—so real that it causes us to change our lives, move in a different direction, and transform the world into a place of peace, hope, faith, and love for all people.

Blessings