St John Bosco

When when St. John Bosco was only nine years old, he had a dream in which he rushed into a group of children who were cursing and tried to stop their misbehavior by fighting with them. Failing to help them he look up and saw a man clothed in white who told him that the only way to change the children was through kindness and gentleness. John resisted the message for a long as he could, but the dreams kept coming.

Though many told him to ignore his dreams and others tried to have him committed to an institution for the mentally ill, John listened and began to develop skills like juggling and and magic in order to draw young troubled young boys to God. Kindness and gentleness, he learned, were much more effective than harsh words. Eventually, his dreams, confirmed by Pope Pius IX, led him to found the Salesians who continue to minister to wayward boys all over the world.

It can be very challenging and confusing to listen to our dreams, despite the evidence we find in scripture that God often uses dreams to attract, warn and instruct us. Who can forget Joseph's task in the book of Genesis? When Pharaoh was troubled by his dream and none of his wise men could interpret it, he sent for Joseph who told Pharaoh to put aside food during the years of plenty because a great famine was about to come upon Egypt. Because Pharaoh accepted Joseph's interpretation of his dream, the Egyptians avoided starving during the years of famine. While not every dream we have is important, some of them may be.  Paying attention to our dreams and talking about them with a trusted friend or director can help us discern God's will for us.

Today, listen to your dreams.