Perfect faith and trust

 

Saint Joseph is a man that we know little about, but today I was thinking about the importance of his role in salvation history.  He was entrusted with the Son of God to raise as his little child.  At first, he was confused and “troubled” about how Mary could have gotten pregnant, but upon receiving the words of the angel in a dream, he accepted this Child as his own and cared for Him with a father’s love [Matthew 1:18-25].

What is significant to me is that Saint Joseph embraced the Christ Child because of a dream.  But was it only a dream?  We all have many dreams and some of them are strange and nonsensical.  So why did Saint Joseph rely upon the authenticity of this dream?

The answer to this question is quite simple.  Even though the dream he had was just that – a dream, it was also accompanied by the gift of faith.  Joseph knew, with a certainty beyond human reason, that the voice of God had spoken to him; and he responded with generous faith.

We may not have dreams through which God speaks to us in the form of an angel, but God does speak to us all day long.  He speaks directly to our minds and hearts, and also through the care and mediation of countless hosts of angels in various ways.  The angels of God are constantly bringing us divine messages and inspirations.  The question is whether or not we’re listening.

In my late teens, I was questioning the existence of God, as I am sure most teenagers do.  I even stopped going to Mass on Sundays and praying the rosary!  After a while, I started having the same dream night after night of falling from great heights, and just before hitting the ground and certain death, I would wake up in a cold sweat from the nightmare I imagined death would be.  The last time I experienced the dream I was again falling, but this time an angel appeared next to me and told me to not be afraid, and to pray with him.  As we were saying the Lord's Prayer together, I remember thinking that we wouldn’t have time to finish before hitting the ground.  But we did.  Just as we said “Amen”, my angel lifted me up and we began to soar, and I woke up.  Instead of being afraid, I was sad the dream had ended!  It was such a revelation; I could almost feel the "scales fall from my eyes" [Acts 9:1-22]!  I never had that dream again—nor have I doubted the existence of God since. 

Listening to the voice of God, through the mediation of the angels, isn’t about us seeing or hearing the angels speak, literally.  Rather, it’s a matter of discerning this language of love spoken to us and calling us to faith.  I believe that in my own dream, God was letting me know that He is alive and well and waiting for me—I just have to remember to have faith and share that faith with others—maybe not in as grand a scale as Mary, St. Joseph, or St. Paul did, but in any way that I can.

My advice, after reflecting on Matthew’s gospel today is to listen in the silence of your heart (or in your dreams) and allow yourself to follow the glorious witness of Saint Joseph as he responded to our Lord’s will with perfect faith and trust.