Our sleep is accompanied by dreams, more or less tranquil. They allow us to free up our subconscious from negative experiences or to satisfy hidden desires. Frames of our past occur in them.
We also dream with open eyes about our projects for the future and anticipate the joy of success. Dreams can also border on fantasies to escape, although only for a few moments, from the depressing reality that worries us.
The Bible speaks of a third kind of dream, the dreams of the Lord. Unlike the dreams of man, the dreams of God are not about the past, nor about the future, but about “the now”—the present. They are the mysterious plans of God’s love revealed to people in the starry nights—as happened to Abraham (Genesis 15:5)—or in the endless night of struggle with God, as happened to Jacob (Genesis 32:23-33).
The Book of Job has an explanation for dreams: “God gives a warning in a dream, in a night vision, when deep sleep falls on people, while they slumber in their beds, it is then he opens their ears” (Job 33:14-16). Drowsiness in the Bible is the condition of those who are not able to put up obstacles to the projects of the Lord because the wisdom of this world—which is foolishness in God’s sight— is dormant in them.
Joseph, the husband of Mary, came into this “slumber.” Detached from himself and from his projects, he is available at all times, like the patriarchs, to accept the will of the Lord. God made him a partaker of his dreams. Unlike Mary or even Zachariah, the husband of Elizabeth, Joseph had no visions; he only had dreams! In reflection and prayer, he discovered the heavenly dreams about his family. He understood being called to serve a sublime mission: to convey to Mary and the child of God who took his first steps in this world, the will of the Father who is in heaven.
Joseph, the husband of Mary, is a descendant of David according to the flesh, but that’s not what makes him great, but rather his faith. Like his ancestor Abraham, Joseph too receives the announcement of the extraordinary birth of a child. He does not yet clearly see what will be the dream of God. However, he trusts, believes and is willing to carry out the Lord’s plans. Thus, Joseph also becomes the son of Abraham by faith.
In our lives there are dark moments: they are the nights of pain, of abandonment, of loneliness, of disappointment, of defeat, of old age without any prospects and sometimes with regrets or troubled by remorse. They are the nights when we see our projects and our expectations collapsing, perhaps because of our unfaithfulness. These are the moments in which we are asked to continue to believe—like Abraham and like Joseph—that God still will accomplish his dreams, not for our own merits, but because of his unconditional loyalty to his word.
“Joseph, teach us to make God’s dreams our own.”
