![\"An](\"https:\/\/stmarysparish.org\/pictures\/2020\/3\/FrMike-2.jpg\")
go to church, but no one\u2019s there.\u00a0 No one has lit the candles.\u00a0 No one has set the altar.\u00a0 Mass is about to start but not a soul is in the empty, echoing space.\u00a0 Oh, and we\u2019re about to turn on the livestream.<\/p>\nA few nights ago, I had one of my infamous recurring dreams.\u00a0 My \u201crecurring dream\u201d repertoire has a few oldies but goodies: the elevator that won\u2019t stop on any floor; not being able to get to a class I\u2019m supposed to teach; driving the car that mysteriously seems to lose its brake pedal. \u00a0And don\u2019t even get me started about the \u201cmy teeth are falling out!!!\u201d dreams!<\/p>\n
But, this dream sounds a new, even more tragic note.\u00a0 In this dream, I dream I go to church, but no one\u2019s there.\u00a0 No one has lit the candles.\u00a0 No one has set the altar.\u00a0 Mass is about to start but not a soul is in the empty, echoing space.\u00a0 Oh, and we\u2019re about to turn on the livestream.<\/p>\n
In my empty-church dream, I have to overcome a series of obstacles in order to prep the space (in this latest version I needed to climb up exaggeratedly high marble steps while holding a BIC<\/em> lighter in one hand and my 21.3 pound son in the other).<\/p>\n The symbolism in the dream (if you\u2019re in to that kind of stuff) is pretty clear, I think.\u00a0 I\u2019m in a sacred space in which worship is about to start, but it is empty and unprepared for celebration.\u00a0 I have a responsibility to complete, but literally have my hands full and feel ill-equipped to execute it (I really <\/em>don\u2019t like BIC lighters for candles!!!).\u00a0 And, the space which I\u2019m canvassing in confusion represents a conglomerate of about four parish communities I\u2019ve served and worshiped in over the course of my life.\u00a0 Emptyness is everywhere.<\/p>\n All this is to say, I, or at least my subconscious, is mightily struggling across this desert-sea of worship-less existence.<\/p>\n If we take a biblical look at dreams, though, dreams aren\u2019t meant to simply to tell us what we\u2019re thinking about when we\u2019re not thinking.\u00a0 Dreams may torment the unrighteous, or simply fade away, dismissed like shadows, upon waking.\u00a0 But dreams are also meant to communicate\u2014to tell us something about reality.\u00a0 To teach us where to go.\u00a0 To allow us to respond to the Holy One.<\/p>\n Does my ghostly church dream tell me anything about what I should do in the midst of our worship desert?<\/p>\n I suppose my dream is showing me that I have more control than I think I do.\u00a0 I\u2019m using the resources I have, be they sub-par (i.e., BIC<\/em> lighter), to prepare the In my dream, though I might feel encumbered by a small son I\u2019m carting about, maybe I should notice that I\u2019m not negotiating my struggle alone.\u00a0 The little child clinging to my shoulder, watching my every move, is coming with<\/em> me.\u00a0 Our family is blessed to be together, to keep each other company, and perhaps we\u2019re teaching our kids something by trying to interact with worship even when the odds are against us.<\/p>\n Finally, my dream wants me to respond to the needs of the community\u2014we\u2019re about to livestream Mass and the space isn\u2019t prepared!\u00a0 In my dream, I\u2019m brave and resourceful, and try to do something to help the faithful, even when I can\u2019t see them.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, it\u2019s not my dream that\u2019s important\u2014it\u2019s what I do in response to it.\u00a0 I am troubled, as you may be, with the state of the world and worship.\u00a0 Mass is re-opening in my own archdiocese, and worship is re- So what am I going to do about it?\u00a0 Can I model health and safety measures to my children, my students, and anyone I meet at a distance of 6 feet?\u00a0 Can I donate to my parish, to my archdiocese, or to national organizations which seek to help those ravaged by the virus and the havoc it has wreaked upon our economy?\u00a0 Can I take time to find joy in my children who love the ritual of lighting the evening (electronic) lamp, and dancing without reserve to the Gospel Acclamation?<\/p>\n I will try\u2014I will try to be brave, resourceful, and aware that my actions can do something to impact the community around me.\u00a0 What about you?\u00a0 What will you do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I, or at least my subconscious, is mightily struggling across this desert-sea of worship-less existence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":52542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3117,3405,285],"tags":[3391,3393,3428],"class_list":["post-52541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-scholarship-new-ws","category-theology","category-pastoral-theology","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-reopening"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Icon-corner-300x225.jpg\"){kind=icon}
space for the holy.\u00a0 And, in real life, while we don\u2019t drive to our parish with the kids, we do light a battery-operated candle (much to the delight of my 9-month-old) which we set in front of our icon corner for evening prayers.\u00a0 And, we do \u201ctune in\u201d to Mass each weekend, and my daughter dances with much enthusiasm to the Alleluia.<\/p>\n![\"Churches](\"https:\/\/bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com\/resizer\/jxlnJN5nbkGLoNMK-j_P1QAI2nU=\/1440x0\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/bostonglobe\/G4BAXUBHZI62AQSTYAYVGYOKBI.JPG\")
opening in places across the nation.\u00a0 Yet so many of us do not yet feel comfortable joining our beloved worship communities for reasons of health and safety.\u00a0 In fact, numbers of coronavirus cases are rising<\/a> in some places<\/a>.<\/p>\n