«To dream is to open doors to the future,» said Pope Francis at the Mass on December 18, 2018, at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican.
In his homily reported by Vatican News, the Pope meditated on the figure of St. Joseph, presented in the Scriptures as «a righteous man, an observant of the law, a worker, humble, lover of Mary…God reveals to him his mission, Joseph embraces his role and accompanies the growth of the Son of God «in silence, without judging, without speaking, without repeating».
Saint Joseph helped Jesus «to grow, to grow,» continued the pope: «He sought thus a place for his son to be born; he took care of him; he helped him grow up; he taught him his charge: so many things … In silence. He never saw his son as a property: he let him grow in silence. He lets him grow: that would be the word that would help us a lot, we who by nature always want to put our noses everywhere, especially in the lives of others. And why is he doing this? Why the other …? And we start to behave … And he lets him grow. He protects. He helps but in silence. »
The pope also pointed out that St Joseph is «the man of dreams…The dream is a privileged place to seek the truth because there we do not defend ourselves against the truth … And God also speaks in dreams. Not always, because usually, it’s our unconscious, but God often chooses to speak in dreams … it shows in the Bible, does not it? Through dreams »
«Joseph was the man the man of dreams, but he was not a dreamer, eh? He was not a fancier. A dreamer is something else: he who believes … come, he is in the clouds, he does not have eyes on earth … Joseph had his feet on the ground. But he was open,» assured the pope.
He urged «not to lose the ability to dream the future», encouraging: «Each of us: dream for our family, for our children, for our parents. Look how I would like their life to go. Priests too: to dream for our faithful, to what we want. To dream as young people dream, who are ‘shamed’ in the dream, and they find a way. »
This, he concluded, «does not lose the ability to dream, because to dream is to open the doors in the future. It’s to be fruitful in the future. »
During the celebration, the Pope specially prayed for the handicapped children of Slovakia who made the ornaments of the Christmas tree installed near the altar of the chapel.
