DREAMS

Dear Sisters,

I experienced an extremely vivid dream this morning.

I was in a shop. The shop had lovely things and beautiful displays.  I was dressed in a long dress and it was obvious that I was pregnant.  The shopkeeper wore a tall pointy hat, and was dressed in a heavy linen jacket and pants tucked into laced up boots.  He wore a tied short scarf around his neck. His clerks were 3 young women with long hair also in long dresses.

A commotion in the street just outside the shop startled all of us.  The shopkeeper immediately went to shutter the front doors and a clerk and I went to the back of the shop to secure a heavy wooden door with a large lock.  A face appeared in the wide crack between the door and the stone wall. There was no acknowledgment at all in the man's eyes that we were part of the human race.  His face was cold, his stare seemed to go right through us.  I screamed in terror as he reached his hand in through the crack to try and prevent us from locking the door.  At the last second the lock snapped into place and we ran back up the stairs into the shop.

The shopkeeper had opened a series of heavy doors leading down a long tunnel.  He planned to send us through and then face the maddened crowd when they eventually broke into the shop.  We begged him to come with us.  Who would lead us where we needed to go?  He looked back into the shop and with a sigh of resignation entered the tunnel, carefully sealing the doors behind us.  4 heavy doors in close proximity closed behind us.  Before us there were 3 more doors each spaced about 10 ft apart. As before the shopkeeper sealed the doors carefully as he rushed us through. Finally we came down into a hollowed out cave.  A narrow path next to a moving creek led toward an opening where we could see trees and shrubs. The shopkeeper bade us to "hurry, hurry" as we made our way carefully through the dark to the light.  I put my hand protectively on the precious mound that was perceptible at this phase of the pregnancy and pushed on,

Our group climbed up an embankment, each helping the others, our shopkeeper sometimes in front of us and at other times giving us hushed instructions from behind.  He knew exactly where to go as he led us to a large compound enclosed by tall stone walls.  The guards at the gate recognized the shopkeeper and let our weary group through.  For the first time we were able to take deep breaths. We were seized by trembling as our bodies released some of the adrenaline from the terror of the flight.

The shopkeeper had an audience with a personage of some stature.  He seemed to me to be a wealthy man.  The shopkeeper urged him to come with us as we searched for a safe harbor.  He shook his head regretfully and looked at each of us sadly, but with determination.  We were to leave the walled safety and keep moving away from the coming madness.  The shopkeeper embraced the wealthy man and it struck me that their relationship was a familial one.  I would have said a father and son relationship except for the fact that they were close in ages.

We were ushered up into a wagon pulled by two huge horses.  In the wagon were provisions for the journey.  I could see the wealthy man standing on a balcony as he watched us leave.  The concern for our safety was written clearly on his face.  I turned my head to the road ahead, put my hand on the resting babe within me and said a prayer.

Interpretation:
The shop with the lovely shiny things was a representation of the church with it's stained glass windows, lovely candles, gold ornamentation and statuary.  The shopkeeper was a priest.  The other ladies, represented all women; with their strength, loyalty and can-do attitude.  My pregnancy is representative of every christian that is pregnant with the love and truth of Christ.  We carry Him with us everywhere and we nurture His presence within us, clearly showing the world the evidence of our devotion.

The crowd outside the shop represented society.  They are outside the church, but they want to come in, not to love and adore the King of Kings, but to destroy all the Church offers and witnesses to.  The man at the back door crack was a representative of those that see no humanity in a fetus, a person in a coma or an elderly person in need.  The blank stare is cold and dead, not understanding that every moment of life is precious. The sacrament of marriage too was being sought for destruction and the priest knew that eventually the church would be breached and we needed to flee. Note that the other lady and I that went to close and lock the door had to go down to the street level but we climbed back up into the church.  Let us always climb up!

I am not sure what the heavy doors represented, but I have a sense that they were pillars of our church; the communion of saints, the sacraments, the catechism, and the like.  The doors kept us safe from those that would harm us.  The fear I felt wasn't only physical, but existential as we passed through the darkness.  My soul was at stake.  The dark is the times that are coming soon.  Our Church is sure to be persecuted and we'll have a difficult time seeing our way through the awful gloom.

The priest had a willingness to stay behind and sacrifice himself for our safety and to do what he could for the deadened society.  We pleaded for the priest to come with us, because he had knowledge of the journey and we needed his guidance so much. We urged him to move ahead of us and show us the way as we hurried along.  We needed him to lead, not just to whisper from behind.

The house the priest led us to was the bishop's stronghold.  The bishop provided what he could for our journey, giving us provisions-the sacraments and sacramentals that we needed to keep going.  He loved the priest and gave him his blessing to continue with us. He stayed behind, because his duty is to try with all his strength to preach the truth; the truth about life and the truth about marriage. God's truth. The crowd just wanted to destroy.  They not only will not accept the truths taught by the Church, they want the Church's utter destruction.

The wagon represents groups like Endow that give us the shelter and the means to escape the madness.  The women of course represented the feminine genius and spiritual motherhood that the world is so in need of.  As a woman brought sin into the world, another more perfect woman with her obedience righted that sin by giving an unqualified yes to God.  The women in the wagon represented women everywhere who are charged with bringing society back to God and to his church.

Sisters, a heavy burden has been placed on us by Almighty God.  He expects us to teach truth to our children and all of society is ours in our spiritual motherhood.  He expects us to live truth. To be a counter-culture of love in a society torn by hate.  He expects us to say YES to him every moment of every day.

Let's get on the wagon and arm in arm, with Jesus within us, witness His truth to the world!

Your sister in Christ,

Prayer Warrior