My Dream Is To Have A Dream

There is a great priest working in a tough Chicago neighborhood. Though he is pastor of a local parish.  In his publicity biography he is called a missionary. And he really is. His mission “territory” is among Latino gangs.

Recently, he shared an encountered with a young gang-banger who was struggling to find a different and maybe better way to live his life. The priest began his conversation with him this way:

“What is your dream?”

“I don’t have a dream.”

“You don’t have a dream???”

“My dream is to have a dream.”

Can you imagine not having a dream? May we don’t use that word “dream” a lot, but we all have something we want to live for. We have personal goals and professional goals. A goal is a dream. Maybe our dream is to be loved and married. Maybe our dream is to parent a child. I wanted to be a priest. Another kid in the neighborhood wanted to be a doctor. He is. Yet as a doc, he had another goal or dream: to serve the poor and those under-served by our society. He has worked at County Hospital, various clinics and as a doctor at the jail hospital. His dream had a dream.

Having a dream is like having a pair of shoes. We all have one. We all have many!

Did you ever stop and think that Jesus had a dream? Did you ever stop and think what His dream might be? Did you ever stop and think that our Catholic Religion, our Faith, is about having a dream?

During the 6 weeks (or 40 days) of Lent it becomes pretty clear what the dream of Jesus was all about. Hearing the words at His baptism, “This is my beloved Son,” he was led into the desert to be tested as to what it meant to be the beloved child of God. Once Jesus left that deserted place, He began His “public life.” It was now time for Him to reveal to the entire world His Father’s dream. Each Jesus story in the four Gospels is a revelation of that dream.

This Sunday we find Jesus sitting next to a well when a woman with a water jug comes there to draw water for the day. Jesus wants a drink. She has the jug. Men don’t converse with women; Jews do not speak to Samaritans. Jesus speaks to everybody. And He also wants to give her a drink… of living water. He wants everybody to drink some living water. His dream: “I have come that you may have life and life in abundance.” He wants to pour His Father’s life in abundance into her. He wants to give her a sense of being alive that reaches beyond all the restrictions of religion, gender, culture, habit, expectation and tradition.

Jesus’ dream is that she have a dream….God’s dream for her and for all people.

So many people seem to struggle with our religion because of all the rules and beliefs. So many never experience the dream of Christ or add that dream to their own.

How about you?

Do you see yourself as one who is trying to live out Christ’s dream for the world? Does being fully alive make more sense than “this is the way it will always be”? Does speaking “to everybody” make more sense than holding a grudge, playing favorites, judging, gossiping or always being right?

Lent is a great time to move deeper into yourself and see beyond your social, professional and personal goals or dreams.

Spiritually speaking, what is your dream?

Once we can answer that, then Lent is the time each year to work on making that dream real. We will have to let go of some behaviors, reign in some others and even create some new ways of living. This takes time and it can be hard work.

Is it worth it?

You bet your life it is.

Jesus did.

Father John Cusick, ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1970, is the Director of Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese. He is responsible for the Church’s outreach to women and men in their twenties and thirties, married and single. The Young Adult Ministry Office and his residence are at Old St. Patrick’s Church in downtown Chicago.