Master Dreamer

Here comes that master dreamer!

Pope Francis has given many homilies focused on hope.   He often urges us not to give any room to bitter, dark thoughts.   “If you are on the ground, get up!” he says.   “If you feel empty and demoralized, ask the Holy Spirit to fill your nothingness again.”   Most important, he says, “Don’t be afraid to dream!”

Joseph certainly wasn’t afraid to dream.   Neither was he afraid to share his dreams with his brothers.   The only problem was that Joseph’s dreams usually portrayed him being blessed and in a position of power over his brothers.   When they heard about these dreams, they became offended.   They looked on Joseph as a starry-eyed visionary and sarcastically called him a “master dreamer”.

Any one of us might react the same way.   Faced with someone else’s expectant hope, especially if it seems to be at our expense, we can feel irritable or offended.   Instead of encouraging the “Josephs” around us, we seek to bring them down to reality.   We would never entertain such lofty, unrealistic dreams.   And that’s too bad because the Holy Father’s message often includes an encouragement of the very same youthful hope that Joseph had.

Often enough, our resistance arises from our own experiences of hurt.   We carry the insecurity of our past failures or the sting of a difficult estrangement.   We conclude that hope-filled dreams are delusions—our own dreams or somebody else’s.   If this sounds familiar, here’s some good news.   God helped Joseph keep his hope alive.   During years of imprisonment and slavery, he kept sending Joseph dreams as promises of his goodness.   He wants to do the same for you.   He wants to open the door for you to increase your hope.

No matter your age, God wants to give you a young and hopeful heart.   So ask him for a heart that is free to dream and that helps other people dream.   Let him wash away any fear or bitterness that might quench your dreams or make you try to quench someone else’s dreams.

Remember, hope is a beautiful gift from God.   So the next time someone shares their dreams, say yes to that hope.   And feel free to do the same for yourself.

word among us