Dreams

I will pour out my spirit on everyone; your sons and daughters will proclaim my message, your old folk will have dreams, and your young folk will see visions; at that time I will pour out my spirit even on servants, both men and women. Joel 2: 28, 29

The Bible records dreams through which God spoke to individuals and sometimes to nations. Yet psychologists tell us that our dreams are nearly always about ourselves.

There were several centuries in the West when most people lost touch with the world of imagination, spirit and dreams. Towards the turn of the millenium that changed. However, much of the modern glut of material on ‘dream guidance’ is so full of symbols of our colliding egos that it leaves enquirers more confused and self-centred than when they started. In contrast, Celtic saints, like the biblical characters, sometimes had God-given clarity in their dreams. This was because the dreams came to people whose lives and ‘psyches’ were pure.

We have read of dreams that accompanied the births of some of the most holy Celtic Christians. St. Ita was given dreams from God throughout her life. Once she dreamed that an angel gave her three precious stones. The angel explained that these represented the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and said to her her: ‘Always in your sleep and vigils the angels of God and holy visions will come to you, for you are a temple of God, in body and soul’.

O Christ, Son of the living God,
May your holy angels guard our sleep.
May they watch over us as we rest
And hover around our beds.
Let them reveal to us in our dreams
Visions of your glorious truth,
O High Prince of the universe,
O High Priest of the mysteries