The other night, I had a most curious dream. Now, I highly doubt it was of divine origin (unless I have another dream in which I am told otherwise, or something like that.) Still, it was interesting and I think it has a metaphor for the current state of affairs and something that I, at least, will ponder.
But to the dream itself. In it, I was a priest in the middle of offering Mass in the extraordinary form. However, there were some oddities. The missal at the altar was in English, rather than Latin, like the interim Roman Missal of 1965. The host, rather than being pure wheat, was a weird multigrain cracker-thing (I know, a very grave abuse; one which I never will perpetrate should it be God's will that I enter His priesthood!). I was also very worried that everybody would be confused and bothered, because even though the missal was in English, I needed to offer Holy Mass in Latin! So here I am, the dream-me priest, translating the canon back into Latin as I go along! Then, my brain skipped ahead a little bit to the fracture of the Host. I broke It in half and small fragments flew everywhere and It fell apart in my hands.
At that point, I woke up and was very concerned. I'd offered an invalid Mass!!! Then I remembered: I'm not a priest. So my second concern was I'd impersonated a priest!!! But I eventually woke up enough to realize that, yes, it was just a dream.
Still, it makes me thoughtful. Could this be a nudge to begin considering the priesthood more fully? It has been on my mind somewhat recently. I served at the extraordinary form Mass for the first time recently and it was mind-boggling. So is that two points pushing me in that direction? Much to ponder.
The metaphor to which I alluded above is twofold. First, the nature of the host may have been a commentary on the current nature of the Body of Christ, that is, the souls of the Church Militant. That it was multigrain (seeds, weird flours and flavorings, etc) speaks, I think, to the fact that many in the Church, rather than maintaining the integrity of the Faith, have taken on so much of the world that they've lost what gives them their essential identity as Catholics, in the same way that when a bread is not pure wheat it cannot be the true Body of Christ.
Second, the fracture and disintegration of the Host, which may be "saying" that there's a division within the Body of Christ: those that hold to the entirety of the teachings of Christ and His Church, and those that would capitulate to the demands of the world simply so they can be on "the right side of history." The scattering of fragments echoes losing fragments of the Body of Christ, i.e., souls, because of this discord. The disintegration echoes the splintering of the Body of Christ into different battling factions as the division continues.
Of course, it was just a dream anyway; most likely a product of my imagination, thus, nothing to which to pay any attention. My "interpretation" is a bit of a stretch, anyway! And the Church is in this realm; what truly matters is what happens in the here-and-now, and this is where we must pray and work to have things unfold according to God's will, insomuch as we are able.
But to the dream itself. In it, I was a priest in the middle of offering Mass in the extraordinary form. However, there were some oddities. The missal at the altar was in English, rather than Latin, like the interim Roman Missal of 1965. The host, rather than being pure wheat, was a weird multigrain cracker-thing (I know, a very grave abuse; one which I never will perpetrate should it be God's will that I enter His priesthood!). I was also very worried that everybody would be confused and bothered, because even though the missal was in English, I needed to offer Holy Mass in Latin! So here I am, the dream-me priest, translating the canon back into Latin as I go along! Then, my brain skipped ahead a little bit to the fracture of the Host. I broke It in half and small fragments flew everywhere and It fell apart in my hands.
At that point, I woke up and was very concerned. I'd offered an invalid Mass!!! Then I remembered: I'm not a priest. So my second concern was I'd impersonated a priest!!! But I eventually woke up enough to realize that, yes, it was just a dream.
Still, it makes me thoughtful. Could this be a nudge to begin considering the priesthood more fully? It has been on my mind somewhat recently. I served at the extraordinary form Mass for the first time recently and it was mind-boggling. So is that two points pushing me in that direction? Much to ponder.
The metaphor to which I alluded above is twofold. First, the nature of the host may have been a commentary on the current nature of the Body of Christ, that is, the souls of the Church Militant. That it was multigrain (seeds, weird flours and flavorings, etc) speaks, I think, to the fact that many in the Church, rather than maintaining the integrity of the Faith, have taken on so much of the world that they've lost what gives them their essential identity as Catholics, in the same way that when a bread is not pure wheat it cannot be the true Body of Christ.
Second, the fracture and disintegration of the Host, which may be "saying" that there's a division within the Body of Christ: those that hold to the entirety of the teachings of Christ and His Church, and those that would capitulate to the demands of the world simply so they can be on "the right side of history." The scattering of fragments echoes losing fragments of the Body of Christ, i.e., souls, because of this discord. The disintegration echoes the splintering of the Body of Christ into different battling factions as the division continues.
Of course, it was just a dream anyway; most likely a product of my imagination, thus, nothing to which to pay any attention. My "interpretation" is a bit of a stretch, anyway! And the Church is in this realm; what truly matters is what happens in the here-and-now, and this is where we must pray and work to have things unfold according to God's will, insomuch as we are able.
