THE FOUR DREAMS OF SAINT JOSEPH

The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

Matthew 1:18-23

The Gospel of Matthew tells us of four dreams in which Joseph, the legal father of Jesus, is visited by an angel of the Lord and receives specific instructions and warnings of impending danger. All four dreams come from the period around the nativity of Jesus and his early life, between the onset of Mary's pregnancy and the family's return from the flight to Egypt. 

Like many of you these days, Saint Joseph, in each of his dreams, is a man with a heavy heart and a burdened mind. He does not know where to turn, but in each dream God tells him where to take his next step and shows him the way forward.

The birth of Jesus was for Saint Joseph one disaster after the other. All his life he dreamed of marrying some day and having a family. He is matched with a young virgin from Nazareth and he goes through the first two steps that would lead up to marriage, only to find out she was pregnant and he knew it was not his! I am sure he tossed and turned many nights wondering what to do – bouncing between anger, disappointment and fear. He knew that Mary was in danger of being stoned to death if that news got out. He decides to quietly end their marriage plans. Then he has his first dream in which an angel instructs him to proceed because the child is “of God,” not man.

When the time came for the birth of Jesus, the young couple were sent on a donkey-back trip to Bethlehem to register for a census mandated by the government. Out of town, with no place to stay, they end up in a barn delivery mess! If that was not bad enough, a crazy king sets out to kill Mary's new-born son. He could almost hear them coming when he went to sleep one night. In a dream, an angel warns him to get out of town NOW – not only out of town, but out of the country! He flees to a foreign country! To Egypt, for God’s sake!

After some time in Egypt, when the coast was clear and the crazy child-killer king was dead, Joseph has his third dream in which he is instructed to head back home!

In his fourth and final dream, Joseph is told not to go home to Judea, but to Galilee! I am sure Joseph wondered when his life would ever settle down again!

My friends, know this! The first Christmas was certainly not cutesy and sentimental like some Hallmark card! No, it was a hellish experience on many levels! It was one disaster after other! Those of you who are hurting have more in common with the first Christmas than all those who get to enjoy the warm, fuzzy and sentimental feelings of Christmas!

I can’t fix your problems for you! I can’t make your pain go away! I can’t stop your grieving, but I am going to do what I can! I am going to introduce you to one of Pope Francis’s favorite devotions – his devotion to the Sleeping Saint Joseph. Here is what he said about it on November 25, 2016.

To those who asked him what the secret is of his “serenity,” the Pope replied jokingly: “I do not take tranquilizers! I have had a very special experience of profound peace since I was elected. It does not abandon me. I live in peace. I cannot explain it. If there is a problem, I write a note to St. Joseph and put it under a statue that I have in my room. It is a statue of St. Joseph sleeping. And now he sleeps on a mattress of notes! That’s why I sleep well: it is the grace of God.”

Friends, whatever loss or problem you are facing this Christmas, write it down and put it under a statue of saint Joseph (or a picture of the sleeping Saint Joseph from the top of this blogpost or print one off the internet). Ask him to help remove the pain from for your heart too! After you have turned your confusion or grief over to Saint Joseph in this way, then go to bed each night and sleep in peace while you wait for clarity and guidance about the resolution of your issue to come to you!

God blessed Saint Joseph as he slept! God can bless all of you as you sleep, while Saint Joseph helps handle your problems. That way, you too can enjoy some peaceful sleep as you wait for clarity and direction about how to handle the issues that trouble you! Try it! I did and it is working yet again!