DECEMBER 18 - DREAMERS

BY ARCHBISHOP SOC VILLEGAS

Joseph the dreamer in the Gospel of Saint Matthew is symbolic of Joseph the dreamer in the book of Exodus. In the Gospel of Saint Matthew, the annunciation of the birth of Jesus is given to Joseph not to Mary; not in an apparition but through a dream. Not all of us can be blessed with an apparition but all of us know what dreams are. To become a seer of an apparition is a gift for handful few. To dream dreams is a gift for all.
Saint Joseph is like us. He was a dreamer. Later on it will again be through a dream that the angel will command him to bring to child and mother to Egypt to escape death in the hands of Herod.
There is dreamer in all of us.
How can we make our beautiful dreams come true? When you dream alone, you can make a good splash and create ripples that eventually also disappear. We can have great individual talents and good individual energies but they soon wither and fade away. We are unable to sustain and make our dreams realties. What is needed?
“What you dream alone remains a dream. What you dream with others can become a reality,” said Edward Schillebeeckx. Therefore the key to making our dreams come true is to dream together. Without a community of dreamers, no dreams can come true.
Our dreams must be fully given over to a community, for dreams to become realities. Our individual dreams are like fireworks at the beginning of new year. They are fantastic to see. We say wow looking at the spectacle but after a few minutes, we return to the living room of the house with nothing changed.
Alone we can do our Christmas bazaars, gift giving, feeding and charity. We can use these Christmas customs unfortunately as ego boosters that we are better than the others. Alone we can distribute to the poor but these acts can even spark jealousy among Church groups. Alone we can watch the depressing evening news and alone get depressed and skeptical. Alone we are in fact helpless and can even be laden with guilt. We are helpless dreamers alone. Our power is in dreaming together. We cannot be larger than ourselves but we become giants when we reach out and unite as dreamers. No single dreamer can change the world. If we unite as a community of dreamers, we can make our dreams come true.

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