The 10th Day of Christmas. Tending your dreams

Incense and Light intermingle at a Christmas Eve service in downtown Munich, Germany. (photo: A Furchert)

Dear fellow pilgrim,

It is odd, but much of enlightened society and religion has lost its connection to dreams. Not that people don’t dream anymore; research shows we dream for more than an hour every night in what is called REM sleep. And we know that dreams often relate to the themes of our day and to larger themes in our lives.

But still, there is no agreement if our dreams mean anything, and if any serious person should pay attention to her dream life.

“And an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream...”

— Matthew 1

But Lo and behold! Dreams are right in the Christmas story! (Though we often skim over them without giving them any deeper thought. ) As the story has it, Joseph has at least 2 significant, life changing and life saving dreams. The first not to leave Mary despite her mysterious pregnancy, and the second to go home another way, tricking Herod and saving the child. But they did…