I think this quote from Mitch Hedberg sums up how I feel about dreams:

“I hate dreaming because when you want to sleep, you want to sleep. Dreaming is work. Next thing you know, I have to build a go-cart with my ex-landlord.”

I often wake myself (and wife) up by screaming during dreams in which ghosts are attacking me.  The funny thing is that they never actually harm me in the dreams.  I’m frustrated in the dream by not being able to scream at them until I finally get a little scream out, which is the one that wakes me up.  Some of these dreams involve me waking my wife because I’m actually making the ghost sounds myself.  Either way, I hate those dreams because they scare the crap out of me.

I do not attempt to analyze dreams.  In fact I think that trying to interpret dreams is a very very very sticky business and best left alone.  Everyone wants to know what their dreams mean but most of the time they mean nothing.  Scientists say its simply a biological function to maintain mental equilibrium (by working out stress) so I say great, the mind is doing its work, and that’s that.  I don’t ask my kids their dreams because I don’t want them to worry about them or try to figure them out.  Of course if it’s a nightmare that is upsetting them and I comfort them but I try not to focus on what happened in the dream.  If God wants to talk to someone in a dream I am sure He will make it very clear it is Him.  Most of us will not experience such a supernatural event.  So I don’t pay much attention to dreams and that approach alone has saved me from a lot of stress.

I very rarely dream, or at least I almost never remember a dream.  I’m going to need some help with trying to figure out what that says about me.

I have a persistent dream that my husband and I get a really nice house for free.  It is always at the same address, but every time I go there it looks different.  Not sure what that means.  I always like this dream.

If someone is dreaming about having their teeth pulled, they may simply be suffering from TMJ and are grinding their teeth while asleep - I know this from firsthand experience.  Physical causes should be investgated along with psychological and divine causes.

A couple of days after Gerald Ford died, I dreamed that I met him. He was wearing a suit but no shoes and sitting on a rug on the floor of a dimly-lit small sitting room, meeting with visitors one by one to chat. They were all lined up outside the door. It was almost like a “reconciliation room” at a thoroughly modern parish. We had a very interesting conversation about our views on history and its significance for the present.  The further removed I am from that dream, the harder it is to remember that we never really met. This was all the more bizarre as I was born some years after he left office and had not thought much of him before his death.

More recently I dreamed that I was Barack Obama’s chauffeur but I’m glad to say we didn’t get along and I may have been fired shortly before I woke up?

Marc, So creepy and bizarro!  If I had persistant dreams like that, I would definitely take Simcha’s advice and try to figure out what’s bothering me and bless my bedroom with Holy Water and go to confession.  Your poor wife. ;)

Interesting Simcha.  I have stayed away from overly thinking about dreams but I think you are right about the emotions you are feeling in your dream and trying to consciously work on it.  I rarely/never dream.  I have apnea, maybe I’m not really sleeping??

since we’re all sharing, I once dreamed that I was standing in the middle of a city and planes were crashing down into the buildings. I asked the firefighters if I could help and they said there was nothing I could do. I woke up from the dream on the morning of September 11, 2001.  not kidding.

When I was 7, I lost my jump rope. I spent weeks looking for it, with absolutely no success. It was like it had disappeared into thin air. One night, I dreamed about finding it in the pouch on the back of my mom’s bicycle. I woke up in the morning, remembered the dream, realized that I actually had, sometime that summer, stored it there on a bike trip to the park or someplace, ran and checked, and sure enough, found it right there. Ever since, I’ve been rather confident in the ability of the mind to point things out to you in your dreams, in a completely un-supernatural way. (And about, sometimes, the least supernatural of subjects!)

Simcha, could you kindly tell us when did you left the protestant church?

I am in my “retirement” years and keep dreaming about being in my family home as a kid of different ages. My parents are there, but I never see them because they are in another room, but I occasionally see my siblings. I think this means I miss my deceased parents and wish I could be with the sibs more often, as they live several states away.

I have a recurring anxiety dreams-one involves me and my family trying to escape an enormous tidal wave or tsunami-we always end up just escaping it, but it’s scary! The other recurring dream happens only when I’m pregnant and can either be happy and hopeful or worrying. I’m in a hospital, in labor and I fall asleep right in between contractions,so that when it’s time to push I’m really surprised. I always figure that my subconscious, assisted by any extra wisdom from the Almighty, is trying to shed light on what’s really troubling me. Then there have also been the spiritual warfare dreams. These usually involve my brother, particularly when he was involved in some bad stuff. The weird thing was that two scantily clad girls, one dark, one blond, were in all of them, and I would be shouting the St. Michael prayer throughout the dream. I told my mom and sisters about it and they had all had the same dream involving the same skanky girls. My brother’s doing fine, now, by the way. And no skanky girls in sight.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve occasionally had what I call my “giant toothpick” dream: I see something small and insignificant in the distance, but then it starts to move closer and get larger, and larger until I wake up when it’s almost on top of me.  This usually happens at times of great stress, or when I’m feeling overwhelmed.  Sometimes the dream is accompanied by feelings of dizziness, or spinning.  Whenever I have this dream, I take it as a sign that I need to de-stress and relax.

Posted by Minty on Tuesday, Aug 21, 2012 9:12 AM (EST):

Simcha, could you kindly tell us when did you left the protestant church?

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Minty, this is the third time you’ve asked this question, which I answered immediately, the first time you asked it.  I was received into the Catholic Church in 1978, when I was four.  Is there some other question you’d like to ask me? 

I have a recurring dream where I am trying to reach someone by telephone.  I don’t know who I’m trying to call, but I know it’s really important that I reach them and I keep dialing the number wrong.  Sometimes I’ll get to the last digit and then hit the wrong number and start all over again.  I’ll dial over and over again and never get it right.

On the other hand, one of my friends from college drifted away into dabbling with Buddhism until he started having dreams which he interpreted as a warning from God about the company he was entertaining; in the dreams he saw what he only describes as “a face of pure evil”. 

Later, he and his wife (who was not a believer at the time) had a son with Down Syndrome.  He had to work very hard to convince her not to abort the child, and after he was born, she refused to bond with the baby.  Then one night she dreamed that she was at a party trying to avoid some menacing figure; he finally cornered her and said, “I’ll give you back your old life in exchange for his,” and she saw a tiny coffin.  As she was screaming, “No! no!” all the other people at the party turned to face her: and they were all demons.  That dream converted her from being “pro-choice” to pro-life, and she began to be a real mother to the baby.

Finally, about a year before I entered RCIA I had a very emotionally powerful dream in which I was in Heaven, and it was revealed to me that I never would have made it except that all the Popes throughout all history had been praying for me.  When I awoke, I was very disappointed to still be alive, astonished to still be Protestant, and I knew that the part about the Popes praying for me was true.  They pray for everybody.

Wow, you got my dream exactly right! That was 25 years ago. You can tell I’d been reading a lot of C. S. Lewis.

I find that my dreams are a way for my brain to work through stressful situations I’m in. I usually know why I dreamed about a particular scenario, person, or place. Sometimes I come to conclusions while I’m dreaming that help me heal from a bad experience. Maybe just the intensity of the dreams is an outlet for all the emotions rattling around inside me. I find dreaming to be healing for me. The exception to that rule is nightmares, which are the only other types of dreams I have. I don’t have memorable dreams unless I’m going through something trying.

I absolutely believe what matters is the emotion I the dream.  My almost 7 year old was having dreams that I was getting locked away in jail, or hurt, or disappearing at the very same time that she was experiencing huge leaps in her independence.  I think the dreams were her way of processing that she was growing further away from us in some ways.

This is a great post, and a beautiful and Catholic way to look at dreams.  I do this myself, as they are great tools for getting at different layers of what is going on, that you might not even realize exist.  Perplexing as their language can be, it certainly doesn’t have to be reduced to occult-status and never touched.  In fact, I find that the more you try to ignore things from the deep (as in from your own sub- or unconsciousness, things in your own psyche that are asking for help), the more they’ll get you from behind eventually because they know you’re not looking. 

Thanks for this great, balanced approach to dreams, Simcha.

Okay, please fess up people, skip the embarrassment please.  Does anyone else actually see things at night, when their eyes are open?  I finally worked up the courage to describe some of these things to a priest and he told me that my mind was creating these images.  Some of these things are heavenly, some clearly and horrendously demonic.  I thought about it for a second, and then replied, “well, if that is true, then the terrible reality is that modern psychology can explain away what saints have seen.”  To which he replied, “but you’re not a saint.”  I laughed in complete agreement, and went with that explanation, but I know what I’ve seen, and I’m pretty sure I’m not crazy.

@Curious - one explanation is that you’re hallucinating.  Many people have extremely vivid hallucinations while they’re between waking and sleep, and if you’re a person who spends a lot of time ruminating about spiritual things, then it seems likely that your mind would access these ideas and turn them into images.  But if some of them seem demonic, I would absolutely grab a priest and politely insist that he perform a rite of exorcism on the house.  Of course you can bless the house or room yourself with holy water.  I would take this pretty seriously.

I’ve always thought this is the best answer regarding dreams:                                                        “Divination, omens and dreams all are unreal; what you already expect, the mind depicts. Unless it be a vision specially sent by the Most High, fix not your heart on it; For dreams have led many astray, and those who believed in them have perished.  [SIRACH 34:5-7]”.

curious ,
That’s a whole different subject & might be an interesting discussion but I bet you’d get some pretty weird tales.
Sure, there’s more than the material world,our faith teaches that.But one has to be very, very careful,prudent & discerning.Talking to a priest is wise.

The two most vivid dreams of my life occurred while I was in high school. Literally - in class. In one (during a few seconds of a history lecture) I dreamt that it was after my dad’s funeral, and I was wandering around my parents’ back yard trying to get my head around the “new normal” of life with no dad. (My parents are both still living, though no longer in that house…). In the other (during a minute or so of a Latin class), I (who had no boyfriend, no prospect of one, & had never been kissed) dreamt that I’d just found out that I was pregnant. And the overwhelming rush of horror and knowledge that things would never be the same and desire to make it go away and for no one to have to find out gave me a sympathy for those contemplating abortion, as well as an understanding of the consequences of sex that was more effective - and ultimately protective - than any sex-ed curriculum. (Still wonder what my face looked like when I jolted awake from that dream…)

The most harrowing dream image I ever had was when I dreamt I bent my infant son’s thumb so far back that I broke it. And when I awoke in horror, I saw him standing in the light of our bedroom. I hugged him and put him back to bed. I have had dreams in which my children passed away and I was helpless to save them and - the weirdest, hands down, was when my ex-wife’s disembodied head told me in her most sarcastic voice that my sister had died. My ex-wife wouldn’t, and my sister didn’t.

Joseph, I think what the author of Sirach is warning us against is assuming that dreams are messages from outside of ourselves, and it’s an important warning. He puts “dreams” in the same thought as omens and divination. It’s a whole different kind of dream interpretation he’s warning us against.
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Using dreams to better understand your own emotions is not divination as long as you realize that’s all you’re doing. For example, I dreamed last night that I had married the wrong man, and I was kicking myself, thinking, “How could I have made this stupid mistake? And now it’s too late.” I woke up and realized that I needed to rethink a recent decision about a (much smaller!) commitment. In other words, the only thing I learned is that _I_ was uneasier than I’d been admitting to myself about the decision. I didn’t learn anything about God’s mind, but I did learn something about my own.

curious ,
PS-You might also want to get a medical & vision check up.Some conditions can cause visual disturbances, probably not quite like what you’ve described, but thought I’d just mention it.

I have a recurring dream that I am married to someone other than my husband (an ex boyfriend, a friend from high school) but I’m really in love with my husband. Because I understand the Church’s teaching on divorce, there is nothing I can do and I’m stuck being in love with, but not married to, my real husband for the rest of my life.

Although it’s a very sad dream, I always wake up happy thinking “my worst nightmare is not being married to the man sleeping next to me. Life is good.”

Pregnant here with #6. Keep dreaming I’ve had the baby, but misplaced it or forgotten it somewhere.

Oh dreams. I don’t often remember my dreams unless I’m pregnant - then I have very vivid and detailed dreams that I can recall very easily. Nightmares, on the other hand, I have always struggled with. From when I was very young I had a variety of different recurring nightmares, and even went through a period of frequent night terrors and sleep paralysis throughout high school and college. Like Curious, I would see things when I woke up - though mine tended to be more along the lines of spiders and other creepy crawlies. I have many memories of jumping out of bed and hitting things with my pillows that turned out to be my imagination. And the sleep paralysis was terrifying, not being able to move and feeling sure that there was something evil coming for me. Those both went away when I got married. But I still do have nightmares, and they often keep me up at night because they are so emotionally charged with dread. I’ve had dreams where my kids die, dreams where I watch someone be tortured, and your standard can’t run away types. I recently learned about lucid dreaming, in which you train yourself to realize when you are dreaming so you can either wake up, take control of your dream, or ask questions of your subconscious, but I’m afraid that would open up doors to unwelcome spiritual visitors. But I’d love to know where some of these nightmares are coming from. Others are easier to interpret - I had a dream once that my bestie from high school had a pet boa constrictor that tried to eat my toddler. I managed to pull her out, and I realized when I woke up that I thought my former bestie had become rather irresponsible. Great subject, Simcha. Dreams are interesting things.

Since this is somewhat off topic, but also seems clearly associated with the dream state, I brought this up.  I don’t really want to give it much “oxygen” however, as I am a firm believer in the fact that saying “the devil, the devil” is a waste of breath, when we can say “God! God!”  I guess I just took the opportunity to ask if this happens to anyone else.  One thing I can say, is that for almost half of my life, I never saw such things.  The very first time it ever happened I could hardly stop screaming in terror.  My husband and I said our rosary on our knees in the middle of the night.  Over the years I learned not to fear so much, I used holy water and prayed that I not be bothered, but early on I realized that what was evil, clearly had no power over me.  In fact, as disconcerting as it remained(s) I knew I, as a daughter of God, have the upper hand. I have ordered them away in the names of Jesus and Mary and they had to leave. The last time I discussed this with a trusted priest, I told him that whether or not his prayers were successful, evil still loses, because I offer it up for those who ARE in bondage.  It hasn’t happened in over a year and a half, so I’m obviously grateful.  What is interesting though is that I have never felt that the evil was associated with a particular location. It simply occupies a different kind of “plane”(?). As I tried to explain it to the priest, it was more like everyday reality was “peeled back” so to speak, and I could suddenly perceive something about the spiritual realm that is a simple reality, as disconcerting as it was in the moments that I could perceive it, that exists on this earth practically everywhere.  In fact, once, one of the most frightening “apparitions” seemed like it was allowed by God.  I believe that I was allowed to see it, in order to understand a certain kind of evil.  Strange, I know.  I never bring this stuff up.  Why dwell on it?  There are so many bigger and better realities to dwell on.

@Kathleen2—Back when I was in high school, I proved that, in analogy to the Pythagorean Theorem, if you have a tetrahedron (4-sided pyramid) made of 3 right triangles with their right angles all at the same corner (like would happen if you sawed a corner off of a cube and saved that corner), the sum of the squares of the areas of the right triangles = the square of the area of the triangle opposite the right angles.  Furthermore, a similar generalization exists in any number of dimensions.  I was writing this theorem up for a science fair the next day, but I forgot my justification for one of the steps and went to bed worrying about it.  However, in the middle of the night I woke up, knew exactly what the missing justification was, wrote it up and went back to sleep.  I don’t think I’ve ever solved a problem like that in my sleep since then, though.

Whenever I get extremely stressed, I have dreams about tornadoes.  Usually I’m in a building that has lots of windows, or I’m trying to get to a safe place and can’t.  Most of the time there are lots of those little skinny tornadoes.

I’ve also had recurring dreams about planes crashing and being seperated from my family (also a stress kind of dream).

And I have had soem amazing flying dreams.  The feeling of being successful and soaring above the mundane was amazing.

And then, of course, there are the pregnancy dreams.  But those are not to be spoken of in mixed company.

Those dream books are funny. You find stuff like “a blank cat = death; a white cat = money; death = your oak tree will live.” I always wonder what happens when someone dream of tabby cats killing oak trees.

Most of my uncontrolled dreams (I can control most of them) involve being chased/attacked in dark, foreign or even post-apocalyptic surroundings. I can usually figure out I’m dreaming though and change the way things are going to some extent. Although my scariest dream was where I realized I was dreaming, turned on my attacker and charged them. The person ran from me and I followed into a shadow only to have the person turn back and face me. Then I realized I had been lead into a trap and freaked out. That dream still creeps me out to think about.

Perhaps the over analysis of dreams is what stops them from being useful. I remember the surroundings in great detail, being able to draw floor plans, town layouts and even my path through a maze of sorts. Yet none of these details are really important and the underlying “fear of being caught” is missed entirely.

When I’m stressed I always have the “thesis” dream. It’s spring, I’m in college and I haven’t chosen my topic let alone written the darn thing which is due any day. Fortunately this did not happen in real life, over 20 years ago. By the end of the dream I have a realization that I did indeed graduate and I don’t need to worry about a thing.

I frequently have dreams about forgetting my pants, driving large vans over rickety bridges and walking through ghetto neighborhoods.  Once I dreamt that a pair of shoes I had lost a year earlier were in a box in my closet - in the morning I checked and they were indeed in a suitcase in that very spot.  I had a delightful dream about having a baby that was a cute elephant.

AND I’ve had two dreams about having coffee with Simcha Fisher.  I’m not sure what we were discussing, but I’m sure I was right!

@Katie—That one is a classic.  My version of it was a history class I signed up for, but I didn’t go the first day because I knew all that would happen would be a discussion of the syllabus.  Then I forgot about the class until finals week, and my only chance to pass the class was to ace a test I had not studied for.

When I was much younger, I started to go down to our local Planned Parenthood to hand out packets, and talk to some of the girls, I was really young myself, and had my first baby with me.  The problem was that I simply hated it.  It was so oppressive.  After some babies were actually saved from abortion, I realized that I couldn’t stop going down there, which was what I really wanted to do.  I prayed a novena about it all, as I was really feeling depressed about it, and the world we live in.  On the ninth day, I had this dream:  I was out walking in the late afternoon with my husband and a couple of friends.  When I looked up, I could see that the sun had become like an immense mirror, reflecting the earth.  I was simply stunned at how beautiful and majestic that the Earth looked. It was breathtaking. I stopped and pointed up saying, “Look, Look at the Earth!”  I noticed then that flames of the sun were shooting out from behind the earth, all around.  Suddenly, I could see that the flames of the sun were not just flames at all, but an immense woman, kneeling over the earth, with her hands clasped in prayer over it.  I woke up trembling.  I’ll never forget it.

My mom dreamed she found a lump in her breast.  She woke up and checked, and there it was.  She is a breast cancer survivor.

curious, I’ve also had “dreams” where I saw things. Once at my Aunt’s old house I heard things and the room “shifted”, never wanted to sleep there again. I’ve also had dreams where there were bugs all over me. One time I woke and “saw” the bugs all over my pillow and threw it across the room. I was really confused the next morning until I remembered it. If the night terrors are really bad I start praying and sprinkling holy water around the bedroom and that usually helps in the future (even if I don’t get back to sleep that night).

Another reoccurring nightmare I have is realizing that I’ve forgotten about my pet bird (budgie) and it’s died of thirst. Oddly, I no longer own one.

Vivid nightmares can be caused by uncontrolled diabetes. My daughter is an insulin-dependent diabetic and every time she has nightmares, her blood sugar has been high overnight (usually above 300). My recurring dreams reflect the stress and anxiety in my life: 1) The fire is chasing me and I keep running forever; 2) I’m trying to fly away from a bad guy but he catches my foot and tries to pull me down out of the sky.

I read recent headlines that many parochial/catholic schools are closing.  Some ‘Catholic’ universities and colleges are having financial difficulties.  Because of these major issues, I would like to know what is the Catholic theological basis for the discussions of ‘dreams’ when our youth, the next generation (who are fortunate enough to have lived because of all the birth controlling devices easily accessible) are suffering tremendously?
Our youth are being deliberately dumbed down and denied good education they deserve, especially sound Catholic education.  Adults have a grave responsibility towards them and will be held accountable for every idle word that distracts from this responsibility.  So, I’ll ask again:  of what Catholic theological training, purpose and enlightenment does this discussion of dreams do for developing Catholic character?

Minty, there are plenty of blog posts talking about those topics which are just waiting for you to comment on. One would wonder, if such problems are so much more pressing that nothing else can be talked about why you are bothering with a bunch of people talking about the silly topic of dealing with the highly emotionally charged events called dreams.

Can the author of this article recommend some good books (that aren’t kooky) to assist with learning more about dream interpretation? What if you are someone who can never remember your dreams?

I have the same kind of recurring dream as Lydia, always having to do with water—either tidal waves or rising tide, and trying to escape.  I don’t get it, because I don’t remember ever having had a traumatic experience with water or being really afraid of it.  My other dreams have a more obvious underlying anxiety, like leaving a baby in a drawer and forgetting about her for a year, or trying to find the right socks to buy for the Pope, etc…if anyone has any insight into these water dreams, I’d love to hear about it.

Minty, I think it is a positive move towards developing character because of what Simcha said—if you have a little thought about this, you will listen to your children when they want to tell you about their dreams.  It is important to listen to children and take them seriously, and dreams are one of those things kids really want to talk about!  If you instead tell your kids “your little dreams or ideas or drawings aren’t important, only the terrible state of education is important”, well, that would be the first step in perpetuating our rotten education system—not listening to kids or being interested in their thoughts, is the first step.  :)

Has anyone else ever died in a dream?  I only know of having done it once; I was fighting in Italy in WW2 and was blown up by a hand grenade.

@ Howard Yes, I died in a dream once and then I was shot into the air like a slingshot.—about 18 years ago.  Anyway, I think I dreamed that.

My dad claimed not to dream.  I think he dreamed but didn’t remember them

When I was a kid, I recall this dream where I was playing soccer and had fallen down.  The soccer ball was coming my way and I couldn’t get up to kick it.  That was a recurring theme in dreams as a kid.

To Lisa,

When you mentioned your house that’s always different but at the same address dream, I instinctively think of one thing.

There’s a place I know that is always the same yet always more reveling, is free, and you can come to rest there: Heaven. Maybe your soul is telling you that while there are wonderful things you can have and do in life, your real home is in Heaven and you and your spouse need to look towards that address and go together.

Type A dreams: it’s the day of finals for one of my courses in college and not only have I not studied, I’veffailed to go to class for the entire term.  I have these dreams all the time when stressed or worried (though I haven’t been in collge in 40+ years).  Husband and daughter share these dreams.  Son, on the other hand does not but he actually had the experience for real, sat the exam and passed the test with a B.  Go figure…..

i love to dream—mine are usually very entertaining!  i also seem to have what i call precessive dreams, by which i mean i dream the same thing but start in the middle of the repeated dream and continue the story line a bit beyond where it last left off. 

and my coherent dreams are almost always processing something from my waking hours, including the most recent precessive dream where i finally found the incomplete assignment for my 9th grade english class but, alas, have yet to finish it.  maybe tonight while i’m sleeping.

Are there any guys or gals (though I am a guy if gender changes dreams) out there with a dream of driving the wrong way on a one way street. If you do please share or email me at quang dot jd at gmail dot com. I am just curious.

I had this dream that I can only vaguely remember but it is a curious dream. I’m driving near my work in a wooded neighborhood then I approach a left turn that I am familiar with. But soon after I make that left hand turn, I see it is now a one way street and I’m going the wrong way. Moreover, I cannot slow down. Though I’m not going that fast, my heart is racing because it’s a narrow 2 lane street and I cannot turn around nor stop and cars are going by me as a dodge them until I woke up.

I hate the dreams when you are running and then you wake up tired and sore. I don’t have many of those anymore, but I remember them. Also, as a kid I would dream a lot of falling, and I’d wake up on the floor. haha.

Nowadays I don’t dream as much, but if I do they’re usually happy or extremely strange.

In college I dreamed that a suite mate was stuck on a wall and I had to rappel down and save her. In awake-world, she was bulimic, and I think my dream was an expression of my desire to help her.

I’ve had a dream several times in which I’m back in school (high school, college, doesn’t matter) and I realize, less than a week away from the end of a semester, that I have forgotten to go to a particular class for most of the semester. Definitely an expression of my general emotional state in life at the times I dream that one.

And once I dreamed that I told my daughter to wait til a car passed to cross the road and the driver lost control and jumped the curb and ran over my daughter. Woke up in a sweat that time. I do worry too much about freak accidents changing my good advice and reasonable teaching into exactly the wrong thing for the situation.

I agree with you - my dreams have all been expressions of my own emotions. I’ll spare you some of the most personal ones.

Great post Simcha! I definitely like this approach since I’m came across the Tiber from the “signs and miracles” side of evangelical protestantism and have been looking for a Catholic approach to dreams…

@curious—I know people (Catholic and non-Catholic) who can see and sometimes even talk to angels—and demons, though they tend to not talk to the latter. My husband took a picture once when he was cutting trees with my neighbor that inadvertently captured quite a bit of the spiritual realm—angels, demons and even saints.  It would take much too long to describe here, but it has been seen by many of my friends who do NOT see such things and they could see the images in the photo.  I intend to have it authenticated eventually.  I, myself, had a rather “close encounter” once with seeing the demonic… not something I am eager to repeat. 

As far as the priest saying “you’re not a saint” in regards to having these visions, I am sure the saints themselves would have said that they were anything BUT saintly! We are all “saints in the making”—just because you aren’t “there” yet does not mean that God cannot give you a supernatural gift to use for His glory… Of course, all the truly great saints were a little “nuts” by society’s standards…

All that to say that you may have a charism, a gift, to see things no one else does.  The indication it is such is because you can control it, “shut it down” so to speak as you haven’t seen anything in a long time.  I would find a priest to confide in who will take you seriously and could give you direction on how to use this gift.

That said, I also believe there is a charism of dreams and a charism of interpretation—our Catholic saints are perfect examples.  However, I also believe that it is one of the least verifiable charisms.  I, myself, have had dreams that were definitely from heaven… and I’ve also had “pizza dreams”—you know, the ones where you’re clog dancing on the table with Winston Churchill and W.C. Fields when the Oakridge Boys come in but it’s okay because you have the spatula…. or is it just me? :)

Gee, Minty, you’re really hard on us. As for me, I am resting my mind and body so that I will have the strength I need to educate my children properly. Therefore, I am doing my duty as a Catholic mother. In traditional Catholic terms, this concept of rest for the mind is called “recreation,” and it’s been a recommended part of the Catholic spiritual life for about 1500 years, since St. Benedict wrote it into his Rule.
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Also, learning to understand your dreams is a matter of self-knowledge, which any spiritual director will tell you is important for spiritual growth and development. Dreams bring our attention to what we know deep down, but aren’t getting, or aren’t willing to face. They can be very useful if you know how to think about them.

@Lynn, To say that such encounters are disconcerting is an understatement.  There have also been “neutral” experiences as well; simply souls that I presume need to be prayed for.  The last, was a woman I awoke to, standing next to my newborn, admiring her.  I sensed no malevolence, but I didn’t like her there in the least.

re: September 11 dreams: I dreamed a very detailed dream about the event on the morning before it happened, too, and I know someone else who did as well.It could be a coincidence. It could be supernatural, but I doubt that. I like this explanation best: by some natural mechanism we don’t understand, it’s possible for the human mind to pick up intense thoughts of other people. My dream wasn’t prescient—that is, I wasn’t dreaming about the future. I was somehow picking up the present thoughts of the terrorists. The dream was accompanied by that numinous sense of horror that you only feel in dreams.
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This is obviously wild speculation, and even if this sort of thing is possible and even if it’s natural (i.e. not from the devil, or a miracle), it’s something I wouldn’t mess with on purpose. But my dream was so detailed and so strikingly similar to what actually happened later in the day, that it terrified me. It is comforting to think that there’s a natural explanation for it. I’m not a seer. It was neither demonic nor a revelation from God. There was just all this intense emotional flotsam and jetsam in the air that I somehow picked up on. Again, just speculation.

To Joseph Q,
You know you might be right!  I didn’t mention that we have never lived there yet, but are anxious to move.  :-)

I’ve always been a vivid dreamer, especially when I’m stressed out. My husband hates it because, evidently, I wake up screaming or gasping, but I don’t usually remember those.

Over the summer I did have a really wonderful dream, though.I was sitting at one of several tables along a wall on a brick patio. About six or seven strangers were seated with me, but a couple of them got up and left. Then Jesus walked up to those of us who remained and said that it was time to go with him. I was so happy - it still gives me a little squeeze in my heart to remember him - but I was concerned about the people who had left, since they weren’t back yet. I asked him what about them, and he said kind of flatly that they would be taken care of. Then all the people at my table got up and walked after him so that we could go to heaven.

I don’t know whether that was just a dream or whether it was really a message, but it was beautiful.

One current recurring theme is not being able to find my way home. (We moved to another country in the last 5 years.) Another recurrent (good) dream is being at Mass.  But what I really wanted to share is that I used to have a recurring nightmare about tornados.  I started praying at bedtime for the Holy Spirit to be with me in my dreams; the dreams have decreased and the outcomes have changed - I have been lifted out of the path of destruction, as by a giant hand.

Katie and Howard- that is my dream too! It is always the same undergrad history class- with my favorite professor Dr Huxford (I would never miss one class of his, let alone an entire semester). I sometimes wake up, worried I didn’t get my Bachelor’s. In reality, I finished a Master’s

I dream but I am usually glad in the morning to wake up to reality.

When someone out of my past shows up in a dream, I try to say a prayer for them the next morning.  Curious, I also see people by the side of the bed, but the room is dark, and I think I’m dreaming with my eyes open…seeing the table lamp as a figure.  Once on a vacation I awoke in the early morning.  The sun was shining, so it was very light in the motel room, and a young woman in a pioneer style cotton dress stood next to the bed, gazing down at my sleeping husband.  When she saw me watching her, she dissolved starting at her feet.  I was not frightened by that, where as the bedside lamp sometimes scares the bejeebers out of me:)

What about the dream in the song “Ponderous”?  (Anyone but me remember that one?) 
I know my husband has recurring dreams about something happening to his family and he is powerless to stop it.  He won’t give me the details as he is always freaked out by it, but I wake him up when I hear him trying to yell (which ends up being just a very distressed sound).  He and I both have dreams of needing to wake up for something - which ends up feeling like a very unrestful night.  And I still remember the look on my sister’s face in a dream I had where she fell and drowned; that one really freaked me out - still does - and it was over 20 years ago (and she’s still fine). 
My other recurring thing is vividly hearing something that wakes me up, like a shout from someone in the room, but no one is there.  It would scare me more than it does (and it’s usually freaky) if I didn’t know about my aunt’s night terrors and vivid dreams, but I do and I figure mine are in the same category.

@ laura, your comment made me laugh.  te he a cute elephant!

My BW used to (occasionally) wake at night, convinced that some “presence” was standing near her.  After a few times of my turning on the light - nothing there - We started saying a “Glory to the Father ...” as the last conversation before going to sleep.  I think a number of months, perhaps years have passed since the last such visitor.  If the visitor is a demon, it does not want to be present where someone is praising God.
TeaPot562

The bagel story was hilarious! It really is somewhat reminiscent of C. S. Lewis…

Recently I dreamed about a monk in a contemplative religious community, maybe Cistercian, in the prairies surrounded by Indians. This monk was a saint, but I remember being a little upset because he had been canonized despite the fact that he snuck out of the monastery every day to do active works of charity even though he was supposed to be a contemplative. I then dreamed that he had been found by a group of Indians. He asked them, “What did you think I was?”
And some Indians said “A unicorn” and other things, but one cut in with “A horse.”
Then he asked another question I don’t remember, and the answer was “An eagle.”
Eventually the Indians asked him, “What asks riddles of an illusion?”
A voice answered “Riddles in the Dark.”

Then someone screamed “GOLLUM!”

It was really quite disturbing.

Simcha: I read your posts regularly, but this is the first time I have ever commented…  One of the reasons that I decided that I was not meant to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion was that I have often had dreams of being at Mass - but I have never dreamed of the words of consecration.  Priests have offered me the Body and Blood of Christ in my dreams, and I have listened to homilies and sung songs,... but never the “in persona Christi” Moment of Truth.  And - using your “emotional atmosphere” litmus test - I just got the sense over time that Eucharistic Ministry was not my part to play in the Mass.  I am a cantor, though, so maybe it’s God’s way of saying to stay where I am.

I’ve had some dreams where the mood was undeniably consolation. I’d like to think they came from God. I’ve also had dreams where I was praying. Once, something which I was praying for in a dream, was affirmed by a homily in Mass later that day!
I’ve also had many dreams of significant moments in my life months or years before they happen. Such as when my grandfather passed away. Or because I’ve been discerning my vocation lately, I’ve had dreams of churches and convents I’ve never been to before. Only to realize that I would go there as part of my discernment many months later. I never even knew the places existed until the day they happen. So how on earth could I have dreamed of them? Although, when I dream of the future, something always prevents me from believing them until I recognize it on the day they occur.
I’ve also had dreams of being pushed, lifted up or grabbed by an invisible force from my bed, study table or during the consecration at Mass. I pray to St. Michael or cry out to Jesus to save me. And then suddenly wake up. I don’t know if that was just anxiety or something more.
I don’t know if there is something supernatural to my dreams. Or do I just have a vivid imagination?

In the bright light of morning, I feel the need to clarify my last post.  The Church has sanctioned that those laity who feel called to do so may help in the distribution of the Sacred Host and Precious Blood.  And, indeed, I have had dreams where *other* lay people are Eucharistic ministers.  While it is a great honor and must be a huge blessing to receive that call, I have been given to understand that it is not MY particuular calling…  I just didn’t want anyone thinking that I was advocating something universally based on a few dreams that only applies to me.  There - I feel better now.  Have a great day!

Abby, one would expect that a Catholic media site would have discussions that included theological virtues to assist one in their daily life towards eternal beatitude.  Each action determines our destiny.  Simcha’s discussions are absent of any Catholic principles and are purely entertainment.  She’s in the wrong setting.  There is a crisis of faith in existence in the world.  Go to Woman’s Day or Parent’s Magazine, but not to a Catholic site to be entertained or to find your leisure.  Once again, did I miss when Simcha become a Catholic?

Minty, which Simcha Fisher are you reading?  Have you not been reading the posts that several people have had dreams of a clearly spiritual nature?  I know that I have.  This is not “purely” entertainment.  And Catholic sites CAN be entertaining!!  What do you find so wrong about leisure within the Catholic faith?  Jesus knew how to feast as well as fast; take a tip from him and lighten up.

Hey, Minty, I’ve made a pretty big effort to be friendly to you.  I sent you a personal email yesterday, which you haven’t responded to yet.  I can see that you just don’t like my writing.  Why don’t you just stop reading it, then?  When I come across writers whose work seems useless to me, I don’t waste my time on it.  Surely you could be using your time better than writing comments on my posts.

Simcha, it seems Minty is bored and just feels like stirring trouble, whilst hiding behind a know-it-all “I know what’s Catholic” attitude. Leave the lectures to the good Priests and the judging to our Great God, Minty.

Anyway great post!

As a child/teenager I used to have vivid dreams, ones I can recall now as an adult.

But as an adult, I rarely remember my dreams, (occasionally I will), they are sometimes quite elaborate and vivid when I’m dreaming, but I can never re-tell what I dreamt- even though I know for certain I had a dream. The strange thing is I’ll have a “de-ja-vu” moment, and that will sometimes trigger off memory of a dream. I feel like I’m denied memory of my dreams.

I too believe dreams reflect each persons emotional state. For example a stressful day filled with anxiety manifests itself in an angst-filled dream…Anyway, dreams are not useless as God showed his will to St Joseph, via an Angel, in a dream, when He told St Joseph to not be afraid to take Our Lady as his spouse. God has a use and purpose for everything He has given to us in this life.

Minty ,
With all respect, your posts are a wee bit off.
Is there a reason you need to know particlars regarding a blogger’s conversion? Is there a litmus test beyond baptism? I’d personally find it a bit creepy to be asked the same question over & over after clearly answering it.
If Miss Simcha’s blog is frou-frou entertainment then why waste precious time reading & posting commentary when you could be involved in something more edifying?
Just wondering….
Thanks.

I’m the sort who rarely remembers my dreams - so I was very pleased when, about 9 months after my dad passed, he came to me in a dream. Nothing exciting, he was just working on tractor (repairing it) and excitedly telling me about the price of corn! He was wearing a smile broader and brighter than I had ever seen him smile in life.
He was SO excited about the price of corn - to the extent that it was selling for $100,000 a bushel!! (which is ridiculous, in case you don’t know)
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I took it to mean that he was telling me about the riches of heaven, and that anything that was of value on earth (being a hard worker, a wonderful father, a kind and helpful neighbor) was worth so VERY much more in the eyes of God!
I love that dream!!
It’s especially fitting considering that the crops this year were plagued by severe drought and were burned to a crisp in the fields by mid-July.
Doesn’t matter… the fact that any farmer had faith enough to plant will be greatly rewarded.
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I much prefer that dream to my reoccurring dream of standing somewhere on my dad’s farm, watching a plane overhead lose power and watching it crash into a field. As a former reporter, part of the dream has always been that I was supposed to immediately cover the crash as an eyewitness.  Very stressful.

My dreams are usually weird in inverse proportion to the books I’m reading. When I’m reading great, imaginative fiction, my dreams are boring. When I’m only reading serious non-fiction (usually theology) after a couple of weeks my dreams get Really Weird. Since I’m often reading a lot of serious stuff for my job, I’ve gotten to like short stories for those times I just can’t give a novel my attention. Neil Gaiman is especially good for making my surreal dreams go away.

This post and the comments were very interesting. Nice to have a discussion of dreams with a Catholic perspective, and without Freud and his like.
@lydia and rebecca, I have the recurring tidal wave dream too, trying to find my kids and get everyone to safety, terrified. Wish I knew more about what that means. Thankfully I have not had it in years. I guess it’s safe to say I have, or had, some deep fears of big catastrophes. Why a tidal wave, I’m not sure. Hasn’t kept me from going to the beach.

I had an intense dream when I was 21.  I had started going to daily mass with my 5 m.o. in the morning. Everyone in attendance was retirement age, and the priest who was really elderly would have problems remembering what to do.  One day he walked completely around the altar with a bewildered look on his face. One day, after mass, I fell asleep while nursing the baby.  I dreamed that I was back at mass.  There was a strange little demon sitting on the lowest stair that led up to the altar.  It was nearly comical, crouching down like it was sulking.  It had a layer of long needle-like hairs covering its body, all moving independently of the others.  It clearly didn’t want to be there and was powerless.  I noticed that the old priest was struggling with what to do again.  He was holding a gold chalice filled with consecrated hosts, but I sensed that he would depart with it.  I rushed up and received the Eucharist, and he shuffled away.  I turned around and saw a long, long line of people standing there waiting to receive Holy Communion.  They were anxious and upset, people of all ages.  I felt anguished that I had been the only one to receive.  I really don’t like getting in front of people, but overcame my dread and began breaking off pieces of the Eucharist from my own mouth, and giving it to those in line.  It never, never ran out as I broke piece after piece of it off.  I woke up in the middle of this filled with emotion.
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Last spring my husband and I were at mass on a weekday evening.  During the consecration we suddenly heard the screeching of tires and the literal thud of a person being hit.  There was a moment of horror in the church and a few of the men ran out.  A cyclist was lying in the intersection with a gathering crowd.  It turned out that he was okay, but my husband stayed until an ambulance arrived.  He had missed communion. I went out immediately after receiving.  I broke a piece of the host off from my mouth, and he received it.  It reminded me so intensely of my dream decades before that I was filled with emotion and couldn’t speak.  I cried the whole way home.

Kaitlin @ More Like Mary - I have the EXACT same dream, about being married to someone other than my husband, or he’s married to someone else, and we can’t do anything about it.  It is a terrible dream, but the feeling of relief and joy on waking up and realizing that I really *am* married to the man I love is wonderful!

HELLO to my friends out there i am testifying about the good work of a man who help me it has been hell from the day my husband left me i am a woman with two kids my problem stated when the father of my kids travel i never help he was living but as at two weeks i did not set my eye on my husband i try calling but he was not taken my call some week he call me telling me that he has found love some where easy at first i never take to be serous but day after he came to the house to pick his things that was the time i notice that things is going bad i help he will come back but things was going bad day by day i needed to talk to someone about it so i went to his friend but there was no help so i give it up on him month later i met on the the internet a spell caster i never believe on this but i needed my men back so i gave the spell caster my problem at first i never trusted him so i was just doing it for doing sake but after three day my hasbond called me telling me that he his coming home i still do not believe but as at the six day the father to my kids came to the house asking me to for give him the spell work to said to my self from that day i was happy with my family thanks to the esango priest of (abamieghe)esango priest he his a great man you need to try him you can as well to tell him your problem so that he can be of help to you his content email is this esangopriest@hotmail.com indeed you are a priest thank you for making my home a happy home again.  remember his email is esangopriest@hotmail.com

I’ve been living with a room-mate who will report to me in the morning the things I’ve said in my sleep.  One morning she told me that the night before I called out to her and then, with eyes wide open, asked, “Are the gates open?”  (I remember none of this - I was sleep-talking).  She thought I meant the gates to our property, and said, “No, it’s okay, we locked them.” 

This was very interesting because that night I had dreamt vividly about hell and people needing to escape through the gates of hell before they closed forever ... my poor room-mate was so freaked out, not just that I was talking with eyes wide open while still being asleep but that I was asking not about our driveway gates but those of hell!

When I go to bed really sad, I often get dreams about being hugged. That one seems pretty obvious. ...On the other hand, my cousin once had a dream in which she hugged Gandalf and found he was really cuddly! We’re still giggling (and puzzling) over that one.

Oh, you want talking in one’s sleep. All the women in my family are famous for it. My sister declared “I love corn” one night—we couldn’t figure out if she was talking about the food or music group. As for myself, one night my roommate’s sister asked me about a concept in Astronomy and I explained it to her. She was satisfied and I went to bed while they continued to study. Apparently, I didn’t think the explanation was good enough and several hours later sat up in bed, turned to them and explained the concept again. My roommate said my name at which point I laid back down. In the morning she asked me about it and I didn’t remember it at all.

I am bedridden 97% of the day.  I wake up and watch the Rosary and Mass everyday on EWTN.  After Mass I try to pray using Lectio Divina and many times fall asleep.  I have a recurring dream that I’m back in my dorm but can’t find my room (70’s), or back at work and can’t find my office.  Sometimes people from college cross over to my work dreams.  I always wake up 20 or 30 minutes later feeling stressed, fearful and tired and can’t get the dream out of my head for hours.  It’s very upsetting.  I came from an alcoholic, mentally ill family with a lot of abuse and have
several mental/physical problems. I’ve been in therapy for 25 years and I can’t figure these dreams out.  Any suggestions?

@margi: Try praying “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen” before you drop off to sleep.  Repeat it more than once if you like.
If your dreams have demonic inspiration, they should improve.  Demons don’t like being present when God is praised.
TeaPot562

I wanted to let you know Dr Ekaka how absolutely rapt I am with the Lucky Coin you sent me! From day one things just started to work for me. Suddenly job offers have started coming my way, my creativity has been re-energized and I can’t believe how many lucky coincidences have suddenly entered my life. I carry it everywhere with me now, it makes me feel safe and secure. Each day I look forward to what new surprises it’s going to throw my way you are the best ekakaspelltemple@yahoo.com

What?  Teeth represent power and losing them means powerlessness?  That makes so much sense.  I have had a recurring dream of losing my teeth all my life.  Of course it also makes sense on a literal level, because for some of that time I have actually had some problems with my teeth.  But take this one from last night:

I was in labor in the hospital.  My midwives were there but they were insisting I get an epidural.  “It’s not optional,” they said.  “You can’t handle it without the epidural so we’ve made it the policy that everyone has to get one.”  I said no, I wasn’t making a fuss, I would be good and they wouldn’t even know the difference.  Then I slowly pulled out every one of my teeth, which in the dream was some part of the childbirth process.

Am I afraid of being powerless the next time I give birth?  You bet I am.

Funny that my biggest recurring dream symbolizes one of my two greatest fears.  My other greatest fear is expressed in my other recurring dream: that my husband is mad at me for some silly thing and refuses to forgive me.  Sometimes he beats me or abandons me.  It’s weird because he is a wonderful, kind, loving husband.  But I am still scared he will leave me somehow.

Dear Simcha,  Once again with charity, and with the best of intentions that I can convey through this media, please use your God given talents and the award of this space wisely.  I’m pleading with you to speak in defense of our youth.  They are returning to schools very soon that have curriculums purposely intended to remove the natural barriers of blush and shame.  “Growing In Love” is a series taught to youth beginning in kindergarten.  The topics discussed prepares youth for their future need of the services that provide birth controlling devices and abortion.  Do not take my word for anything.  See Motherswatch.net part 1 and part 2 detailing the pornographic materials put before the eyes of unsuspecting youth.  These sexualized catechetical lessons in parochial schools are forming the new barbarians Randy Engels speaks about in her book, “Sex Education, the Final Plague”.  Simcha, you have the capabilities and the capacity to draw upon a wide audience.  For the sake of souls, for the sake of the souls of the next generation(s), I beg you to speak out.  Will the ones coming behind us find us faithful?  Do our footsteps lead others to Our Blessed Mother and her Son who was born to suffer and die for our redemption?

You mean the same “charity” with which you repeatedly imply Simcha is not a Catholic?

No, go easy on Minty, I understand now. She is overwhelmed by the urgency of her cause, and in light of its importance (the corruption of the young does indeed require passionate resistance!) she can’t see how anything else could matter. Everything else looks trivial in comparison.
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Minty, please try to see that same battle between the forces of good and evil that you see so well is being fought on all levels of family life. You told me (I’m paraphrasing), if you’re just looking for entertainment and want to chat about raising kids, go to parenting magazine website—this one is supposed to be a Catholic site.
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What you need to see is that same battle for the souls of the children is being fought when a young mother gets discouraged and wonders if she can do this—if she can raise a big family of counter-cultural kids who understand that the culture around them is evil and have the upbringing to resist it. These mothers are in the front lines of the same battle you’re fighting. We need the support and encouragement of other mothers who understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, and who can show us that this battle is worth fighting, even when it feels impossible. That’s why we love Simcha so much. That’s why her columns are so vitally important to us, even when she’s not discussing the theological virtues, or the evils of sex ed in the schools, directly. We desperately need her example of finding love and meaning among the piles of dishes and laundry. We need to understand—this is what comes through so beautifully in her columns—that for a mother, dealing with all the little things _is_ fighting the Big Battle for our children’s souls.

Thank you, Abby.  Very well said.

I remember, I used to have a lot of bad dreams. I was in counseling at the time and asked my therapist how to make the dreams go away. Her response was that I needed to figure out what issues in my daytime life were causing the dreams and deal with those issues and once those issues were resolved and the dreams would go away. She was right. The way to figure out what the dreams meant, she told me, was to think about what emotions I was feeling in that dream, and then think about in what situations in my daily life I felt those same emotions. The most striking example of this was that every night for about a week I had a dream that I had stuff in my mouth and couldn’t get it out. Gobs of toilet paper, chewing gum, you name it. It just kept coming. my therapist suggested that maybe in some area of my life I felt like I couldn’t speak up or I wasn’t being hurt, like the words weren’t coming out of my mouth. When I thought about it, sure enough, there was an area of my life where I felt like my husband was not listening to me and I couldn’t get through to him. That day I spent some time planning on how I would bring the issue up with him and talk with him, and that night the dreams ended.

Okay, I don’t dream much (or remember them, at least) but I *do* relate to the waking up angry at hubs thing. That tends to happen when I’ve been frustrated with him on the whole. I wake up going, “Yeah, granted he didn’t do that, but UGH, SO TYPICAL. TYPICAL, I SAY!” Which can actually lead to us having a good, cleansing row. Which is quite useful.

You know, thinking about it, I think I’d be royally irritated with my subconscious if it went all disturbingly cryptic and mysterious on me. :P Maybe that’s why it doesn’t even try those kinds of shenanigans.

Abby, women do not need more distractions than they already have.  I’m a grandmother.  Never did I think the spread of evil was going to take over the minds of youth as it has.  I recently heard a Planned Parenthood speaker address a co-ed 5th grade class.  I was shocked what I heard her say to these students who were obviously very uncomfortable with the subject in this kind of a setting.  The speaker refused to take notice of their discomfort.  This is a very tender age.  But the speaker was hard hearted and hell bent on getting this class comfortable with sexual terminologies.  The students got a major dose of pornography in her presentation, pictures and the works.  What are parents to do when these kinds of lessons are also in the parochial schools?  I fear for my grandchildren.  Yes, I’m making a noise about it.  See more information at motherswatch.net on the “Growing In Love” curriculum.  When you’ve investigated this curriculum, you will see why I have the audacity to be intrusive on this discussion.  My grandchildren are worth the risk of ridicule and so aren’t your children.

Minty, my husband is a fireman*. He has 24-hour shifts on, and 24-hour shifts off. He doesn’t get much sleep during those on shifts, so when he comes home, he tries to catch up. But I’m not going to let him get away with that! No way. Fires are really dangerous! So I wake him up and send him to the local elementary schools so he can teach the kids about fire safety, and I make him write letters to the editor about how bad fires are. I don’t let him get distracted. There’s too much at stake.
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My point is that you are not on the front lines. I am. I’m raising kids. This war you keep telling me about is the one I’m engaged in fighting—not by telling other people what they’re doing wrong, though that’s a vocation, too; but by doing what is right, for my own children. No, women don’t need “distractions.” But they sure do need rest and support and encouragement, and above all, they need to know that they are not alone. They need to be reminded that they’re not crazy for having big families and protecting them from evil, because you may not know this, but the world around us tells us we are crazy, constantly. Without a little bit of Catholic community, we start to believe it.

*Actually, my husband isn’t really a fireman. He’s a moral theology teacher. It’s his job to teach Catholic teenage boys the real meaning of sex. When he gets home, I let him take a nap.

Abby, what was your point that your husband is a fireman, but then he’s a sex educator?  Is your husband concerned at all that sex education in classrooms has been condemned by Pontiffs?  I know those Popes sure do get in the way of how we perceive things ought to be. Catholic doctrine is often difficult to follow.
Women need support when they discover that the powers that be have taken over the education of their children that rightfully belong to them.  Someone wanted me to watch a particular Mass on YouTube and I discovered a Balloon Mass by Vienna archbishop, Christoph Schönborn who is the ecclesiastical advisor of Ave Maria University, Naples Florida.  It showed people attaching messages on a piece of paper to a balloon and sending it up and out supposedly to God.  So who’s looking out for our youth and are there any men who will break the silence and defend our youth in parochial classrooms from becoming the new barbarians and putting all society at risk?

Minty’s comments, though they may be well intentioned, remind me of nothing so much as those people who go on about how the Church should sell all its riches and use the money to feed the poor. Each person has one area that God lays on their heart to work and pray for his kingdom to come. For Minty, it’s protecting our children from sex Ed that destroys their innocence (and maybe liturgical abuse too.) I have a burning desire to see everyone see the beauty and truth of the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality and why contraception is a lie. Simcha’s gifts lie in humor, in parenting, in writing to encourage those of us with sticky fingers and crumbs on the floor in the trenches of motherhood. No one should condemn another’s good works because they don’t think they are important enough. Not everyone is called to spend their life fighting the same evils or doing the same good.

Jojosmom,
Thanks!
I think St. Catherine of Siena said as much, too.

Consider the Assisi meetings praying for ‘world peace’.  Consider that it is women for the most part who are collaborators of the gross injustice of teaching pornographic materials to youth in parochial schools.  There is a war waged against the wholesome development of our youth.  Why aren’t those prayers for peace centered upon each child in parochial classrooms?  If peaceful, virtuous methods are not taught in the many hours youth are away from their parents, how will peace and harmony be captured in the families and in the rest of the world?  Why do these female teachers not hate this iniquity and refuse to cooperate in this unfairness to the next generations?  What happened to maternal instincts?  Are their husbands cooperating in these pursuits?

Kathleen, that is awesome! St. Catherine of Siena is my confirmation saint. I always liked the story of how she was gutsy enough to stand up to the Pope and tell him to come home to Rome, by also smart enough and humble enough to find out his favorite sweet (candied oranges) and make some for him to send ahead and soften him up.

Jojosmom ,
She’s my name saint-I guess.I think I received my name more because it was Irish, but I’ve adopted St. Catherine of Siena for myself.Glad you did, too.

St. Joan of Arc heard voices and obediently went into battle to defend the Faith.

Minty, I feel the same alarm you feel, only your lack of charity to Simcha was particularly disturbing and unwarranted.  You conduct yourself as if you know something that Simcha does not, as if she or we don’t speak of sex to our children with reverence, or pray our rosaries or go to mass.  I suspect you are not respecting the authority of our pope that occupies the chair of Peter.  Pride is a frightening condition, and can cause the greatest of calamities.  I don’t like sex ed in the classroom either, I have to coach my kids to put up with it.  I discuss sex with them when it is most needed. Simcha has devoted several posts to this dilemma. THIS post is about dreams.  We simply don’t need to discuss sex every single day, even if it is one of our favorite things in this world,and God has blessed us and enlightened us to revere it, and celebrate it.  Sex education is not the last plague, maybe people who consider it dirty are.

Great comments by Abby, Jojosmom and Kathleen, thank you!
Another sleep talking story- in the first year or so of our marriage my husband tells me one night I sat up out of deep sleep, dramatically ripped my eye mask off and exclaimed “BUT WHAT ABOUT CHANUKAH?!”

My son in Catholic kindergarten ended up watching stupid movies during lunch that scared him, and came home with a mouthful of dirty words that I know we never taught him.  And we’re paying for this privilege!  It’s a nightmare.

I work in education and can attest that, despite enormous sums of money spent, education is a huge waste and completely demonically driven.  So my heart goes out to you, Minty.  It’s even worse than you think.

I suggest that parents take control directly how their education tax dollars are spent.  As long as the curriculum is developed by hateful, overeducated warlocks and wenches, our kids don’t stand a chance.

I promise to never ever tell you what men dream!

Parents, please remember that even God Himself didn’t erect a tall wall between His beloved children and sin.  The best thing we can possibly do is love them, love our spouse, so that this love is very present in the household, and then model the faith we teach them.  A priest once told me to fear more what can be found *within* the walls than what is out there in schools.  Being a fanatic is not the answer.  Nor is being lukewarm.  Using name calling and derision towards others when we question if they are as Catholic as *we* are, also teaches them to look down on others.  Don’t forget that Satan knows more about Catholic theology than any of us.  Our children will stumble, fail, and sin in this life just like we did.  If we unlock for them that it is not in the stumbling but in the getting back up again, they will learn humility, and they will understand what it is to accept and give love for the right reasons, and not just to be the most sanctimonious member of an elite club.  I have a whole bunch of kids.  The one I sequestered, the one I hovered and covered over the most was the one that was least equipped to deal with the real world.  He’s doing much better now, but it took a royal train wreck, and he isn’t out of the woods yet. The ones that went to public school get the big picture so much better!  I think every generation suffers under some delusion that *they* will be the one that fixes things and gets the perfect formula right, and will fix what the generation before did wrong.  *The true secret for raising good children who are strong Catholics?*  An abundance of charity, lived joyfully, day by day by day.—and even that wasn’t enough to keep our first parents from stumbling.

Parenting - I wonder if anybody knows what it means to be “Catholic” any more. 

It used to be that at least someone in your “Catholic Community” had the chops to deliver truth in a timely and reliable way - person to person.  That didn’t always mean the priest, but he wasn’t automatically excluded from that position.  More often, the priest conferred a legitimacy on “church elders” whom everyone knew about, looked up to, and respected anyway. 

Now, these same people are hyper concerned about becoming ordained clergy, or clergy wives - and setting up like protestant ministers (and ministers wives) in a quasi-sacerdotal hieratic in group. 

The down home quality of people talking about married problems, and family problems, and kids run amok, has been replaced by “christian counseling,” “pastoral counseling,” parish hierarchy games and online chat rooms. 

It seems like when VII authorized the resurrection of a permanent diaconate, it polluted lay life with clericalism, rather than ennobling the lay priesthood.  But thanks for your words on joy.

I tend to dream really weird stuff. Lately I dream about clients who are stressing me out.

Then there’s the dream where I suddenly realize that I’m actually a guy, physically speaking, even though I know I’m still a girl. My therapist has suggested that I may have some deep-seated anger or envy of men…

Also, don’t feed the trolls!!

I rarely feel like my dreams have sincere significance. Clearly, things that I’m thinking about or have experienced during the day will creep into my dreams, but I have strong emotions and love thinking and philosophizing about most topics, so it makes sense that they show up when my subconscious takes over. Even though mine don’t strike me as particularly important, I do know that some dreams are significant, and I think it’s good to be open to the idea that dreams can be subtle messages. God invented them too, right? Everything He gave us—sight, touch, taste, emotions—helps us interpret this world and gives us clues about how to act and how to love. They all lead us back to Him, so why not dreams as well???

anna lisa, you claim sex education is not the final plague as Randy Engel wrote about in her book after many years of research.
Would you please explain your reasoning why it is not.
Also, is simcha a practicing Catholic, do you know?
Did you read Matt B’s comments?

Matt B - I’m in this discussion to appeal to the innate sense of goodness of each of the posters to take and stand in defense of our youth, our most valuable resource now being used a fodder to destroy Catholicism.  If you say it is worse than I think, the sexualized catechetics in parochial schools, than please do not spare me or those here of your knowlegde.  The results of this destruction in the parochial schools are apparent in the pleading of universities and colleges such as Christendom College for the lack of enrollment and the need of money.  Also, Tim Drake wrote an article a couple of years ago in regards to students from Catholic universities and colleges are graduating students with less faith than when they entered.  Apparently their foundation was already splintered.  Bishop Sheen has said it is dangerous to send youth to parochial schools.  I would like to know just where I could find that quotation.  Please plead for our youth, Matt B.!!

Minty,
One of my children graduated from Christendom College.The original enrollment in 1977 was 26 students, according to their site they now have 400.Their long term plans are for 450 to 500 students.It sounds like their enrollment is proceeding as planned, per God’s will.
Many students entering Christendom come from homeschools.

Kathleen,  I have a letter from Dr. Timothy O’Donnell explaining their urgent appeal for help received 2 weeks ago.  He begins by lamenting over the sexualized events and pornographic films making a direct impact on U S Catholic campuses. 
I have no sympapthy with their situation.  I’ve pleaded with Dr. O’Donnell to begin a crusade to save our youth from the sexualized lessons learned in parochial schools and mandated by U S Bishops.  Why won’t he connect the dots to Christendom’s crises?  It is well documented that the teachers in parochial schools oppose the Catholic doctrine on birthcontrolling.  What else are these teachers justifying. Mr. O’Donnell is reacting to what he should have combating long ago.

Minty ,
I’ve been receiving those letters for years.Every college tries to raise funds from alumni & families- public universities do the same.
Maybe you should begin your own blog on the subjects that concern you the most.If you have access to a computer you could probably set one up yourself.God bless.

Kathleen, I’m on mailing lists and this one is significantly different.  On the front page, Dr. O’Donnell, says “Am I exaggerating?” Here is a sampling of some recent events on U S Catholic campuses:
*“Sex Positive Week” sponsored by university feminist and homosexual groups
*A talk called, “Relationships Beyond Monogamy” presented by a pornographic film director
*”Color of Queer Film Series” about how a male police officer seduces a 12-year old boy
*”Transgender Awareness Week” during which students are encouraged to come to class in ‘gender bending’ outfits.
Catholics should be outraged!  Why aren’t they?  Where are the bishops in the diocese of these so-called catholic schools?  Why are they in power to destroy youths’ minds?  They are responsible for what is taught in their diocese.  Why aren’t the canonist at The St. Joseph’s Foundation in Texas defending our youth according to Canon Laws?  Because the laws have been changed to protect the violators!  Ask them.  Don’t take my word for anything.  What about the Cardinal Newman Society exposing those schools that are not teaching with the mind of the Catholic Faith.  Isn’t that their mission?  Why aren’t they making a loud noise for the sake of salvation of souls?  Who are they protecting, Kathleen?  I have grandchildren and I fear for what’s around them and the lack of will to defend them.  As for my own blog site, I prefer to go where there is already an established audience.  It boggles my mind that there is such a resistance to stick with whatever is necessary and for how long it takes to defend our youth.  They will one day turn against those who were too busy to speak on their behalf.

Minty ,
I can’t tell you what to do, but if you don’t wish to have your own blog you might show patience & respect for bloggers that have other issues & thoughts to express.
There are many issues facing Catholic families.Also many things to celebrate.Just focusing on any one issue to the exclusion of others can make us out of balance.

@Minty, is Satan waging a war?  Yes, he is.  I suspect one of his favorite tactics is to get Catholics to attack Catholics.  Two of my sons went to one of the best, real Catholic Universities in the U.S.  One can find all the vices there.  One of my son’s hall mates was homechooled his entire life and had a profound addiction to pornography.  Minty, parents need to address sex education openly and forthrightly in the home, in the context of their faith.  They need to model what they teach.  They shouldn’t think like squeamish Jansenists either.  The sex ed of the past isn’t the problem now, not when with just a few clicks on their laptop, they can get to graphic XXX websites.  This makes the sex ed in the schools look like a rabid little mouse, when there is a huge dragon prowling the halls.  Parents can’t shield their children forever, any more than St. Monica could.  What they CAN do is talk to them constantly, get rid of the prudish pussy footing,share articles with them, get them to go to confession, help them to find a good spiritual “coach”, offer a rosary and mass for them every day…Do you see what I mean?  What do you really hope to accomplish by ridding the world of secular sex education when *unhealthy families* that don’t know the faith are the root of the problem?  There is nothing wrong with understanding the biology of sexual reproduction.  I wish the schools separated the boys from the girls. I wish it was a class that parents could complete via a home program.  For the time being, given that my children aren’t being raised in a zip lock bag, my husband and I are acting as guide, interpreter, and intercessor for as long as we’re able.
Minty, it’s really offensive that you imply that Simcha is protestant, that *you* are the real deal, and she isn’t.  Raising children today is difficult enough, and she is in the thick of it.  The Holy Spirit is guiding her and her vocation as mother.  As a grandmother, you should be offering love and support, and maybe take a step back and realize how easy it is to sit in the bleachers and berate everyone else about how they’re doing it all wrong.

All the enhancements and emoluments of modernity have but one purpose: to drive a wedge between parents and their children.  The old traditional reliance of children on their “folks” has all but been broken. Instead, children rely on trend-setters and “idols” to give them reason and direction. If the curtain was drawn on these “groovy hipsters,” they would be revealed as the most hideous demons and arch-criminals. 

The reason behind their maleficent plan is that parents represent an anchor of traditional values.  Removed from this stay, children can be taught to perform any number of heretical abominations.  The old saw that “our children don’t belong to us” has taken on a new and sinister meaning.  They belong to the collective consciousness.

Minty’s alarm is thoroughly understandable.  It’s like the “reveal” that happens when you get to college, start talking with your new-found friends, and discover that your mom and dad are not your closest buds, and your all-time strongest allies, but rather some kind of psycho-social disease.  Traditional parents don’t even suspect how often that happens.

Parenting for many years,  I gave up long ago on the ‘secular education’.  Since I’ve discovered that parochial schools are demoralizing our youth just as much, I’ve become sufficiently horrified of it and that gives me the motivation to do what I can and to risk for the wellbeing of our youth.  There is a pandemic of sexually transmitted diseases, suicides by teens have skyrocketed, and teenage drug and alcohol abuse is related to teens being sexually active.  Parents like Simcha may be doing all the right things in their home with their family, but when parochial schools and CCD classes are deliberately putting a wedge between youth and their parents, do we understand that we have a war on our hands?  The U S Bishops are depending on your silence.  They are depending on your distractions.  They are depending upon your money most of all to continue teaching youth what DOES NOT gain mastery over their bodies and their passions.  Youth are held captive in classrooms with victimized teachers who are willing to teach curriculums that are meant to make youth slaves to physical comforts.  Pornographic materials purposely intend to destroy any deep spiritual interior life.  Youth occupied with Sex education are under educated.  This is a war waged against families and it is hateful.

Matt B., Thank YOU!  The Sacrament of Matrimony gives the parents the grace and the responsibility to teach their own children without the interference of an outside authority.  If the parents need assistance, they choose whom they want to guide them.  Parents are not to be coerced into nor should they expect others to do the educating of tender matters by any others.  It is claimed that parents wanted sex ed in schools and the bishops justify sex ed as responding to that call.  Actually, what they have done have superseded parental authority.  If parents need assistance, than catechize the parents.  Many, parents and grandparents have begged for these sexualized teachings in parochial schools to stop and it falls on deaf ears.  I’ve begged in writing those who are doing a tremendous job of defending the unborn to go deeper.  Sex education is the root cause of abortion.  Sex education secures the existence of abortion and that is known by the abortion providers.  So you see, beginning in kindergarten, little girls are already being prepared for their later abortions. That’s not the only risk to society.  There are many others caused by sex ed in classrooms.

“Matt B.I work in education and can attest that, despite enormous sums of money spent, education is a huge waste and completely demonically driven.  So my heart goes out to you, Minty.  It’s even worse than you think.”

Tell us more, Matt B.

Oh. My, Gosh.  Everyone is the enemy, eh?  It looks more to me like Satan knows his wedges the best.  He grooms a little band of catholics.  He titillates them to think they know best about everything.  He cultivates a deep hatred or fear of sex in them (thrilling sex is for dirty Cosmo girls and Playboys!).  He teaches them to look down upon everybody else.  He makes Bishop bashing their favorite sport, and then he pats them on the head each and every day for using their microphone and soap box to confirm to the rest of the world that Catholics are as crazy/angry/rigid as the liberal media makes us out to be.  Joe and Minty: Don’t forget for a second exactly WHOM Jesus called “whitened sepulchers” and “brood of vipers” HINT: It wasn’t to Mary Magdalene.

@Joe, “tell us more Matt B”...
Yes, I know your type, I have several Rad Trad friends.  I love them; but they are some of the most sex obsessed, scandal mongers I know.  I’m still traumatized over all the descriptions of Gay sex they feel obliged to fill my ears with.  They are like the National Enquirer cesspool of the Catholic world.  They know about every sleazy scandal and cover up around, and they’d be delighted to share it with you.  You know why they’re the first to know?  Because it fulfills them.  It makes them feel so much better about themselves.  Of course when God shows them the truth some day, it will be far too late for them to get their complaining posteriors down to the local public school to tutor some minority kids how to read.  You know, the ones who have parents that work 70 hours a week?  The ones that are at risk to premarital sex and Planned Parenthood?  I know.  They shouldn’t be here right?  Their parents are law breakers and should be deported…Let me know when you have less time on your hands Joe, and then I’ll listen a little better to your version of why the Catholic church is in shambles.

Have to disagree, parenting.  Minty has a good point.  It reminds me of the famous James Joyce line “do, but do.”  Panic and hysteria is perfectly appropriate response to rome burning.  And the sky really is falling.  If you can be calm and placid in the midst of all of this, I really have to check your pulse.  Also, any nod to the “media” is a definite non-starter in my book.  Sorry!

All righty, I’m going to close these comments, because blah.  Minty, you are not welcome to use my platform to ride your hobby horse.  Please keep your comments relevant to the post in the future.