August 21, 2019Dear Fr. Gurnee:Hi, there, hope your summer has been going well. If you remember, I told you in our last meeting about a dream. I walked into a house and opened a closet door. There was a small person, male, sitting on the floor and he was full of rage and almost demonic looking. I said to myself, oh my, this one will take a lot of prayer. I turned to leave, but the person jumped up, threw himself into my arms, and clung to me. We talked about what a warm feeling it gave me, not that someone was in trouble and would need me, but that Our Lord was showing me another situation in which He would allow me to be of assistance. It gives me such a feeling of intimacy and closeness with my God.I wondered if the person needing help was someone in my family, which seems to be the most usual case. I did note, however, that I could not place a resemblance to anyone. I am now in the situation that Our Lord had shown me back then.We decided to have some repairs and renovations done on the house and we hired a contractor we worked with previously to do them. One of the renovations is a new closet. (Opening a closet door in my dream.) As I look back on it, the little male in the dream did in a way resemble our contractor, Allen. After the work began, I started having small dreams here and there, which have helped me to understand how to deal with Allen, because he is most definitely in some stage of dementia. In dreams I have been warned when I would be faced with certain behaviors from Allen. Having worked in a nursing home, I am familiar with behaviors that accompany dementia, and I also understand the need to reply with kindness and gentleness. We are finally completing the construction phase of the closet after two months. Something that should have taken at most two weeks. I have noticed how Allen has become rather dependent on Michael and me to help walk him through the project, day by day. Allen is still very competent in his skills, but Michael and I would not be able to give a recommendation for other jobs, as Allen has requested, without mentioning the concern of dementia. In the last couple days, Allen has confided to us that he knows something is wrong. I guess we’ll see where Our Lord leads this.Now I want to talk all about me…..My last spiritual reading was the Dialogue of St. Gregory. He mentions dreams in his dialogue. Basically, he says they can come from over-eating, the devil, or Our Lord. St. Gregory says that the reason one is foolish to believe in dreams is because the evil one can interfere with them. We are taught that God allows the devil to mimic all special favors from Him; hence, the devil, too, can give us dreams. While I believe that dreams only come from either Our Lord or the devil, I would agree that over-eating, as well as personal disposition, can affect how easily the devil can interfere with dreams.I believe I shared with you before that at the time I started having dreams, Our Lord said to me: “RECOGNIZE MY VOICE.” It was a command, not a request. I believe that that command did give me a special grace to more fully understand and discern between good and evil in dreams. I believe that all people have access to this grace if they care to use it, but I have it in a more heightened way. And I believe that grace in me has continued to grow because I have cherished it and cultivated it in my life and in my spiritual growth. I wish I could communicate the depth of understanding that has grown within me. Words are so small.I had a dream about me a couple weeks ago. I was at Church and was asked to do a reading. I saw the Scripture verses open on the ambo before me as I practiced the reading. After I practiced, I sat down and Mass began. When it came time for me to do the reading, I went up to the ambo and looked down at the Scripture verses. The words changed from written out words to pictures. I kept trying to look under the pictures to find the words so I could read them. The Deacon came over and told me not to worry, I should just read the pictures. But I was worried! I said how do I know I’m reading the pictures correctly? I need to see the words. The Deacon told me to clam down and stop fretting because I would get the proper message from the pictures.As I have told you all along, I believe my dreams are Our Lord’s word to me. I also feel that Our Lord has encouraged me to believe such a thing. Now, I truly believe He is insisting that I believe my dreams are His word. Maybe I won’t get things 100% correct, but I understand Him well enough to get the correct message across. I know that I don’t feel puffed up about this, but I do have a quiet, interior confidence that I know I am understanding Him correctly. I am going to try to stop apologizing for my understandings.As I have always said, if Our Lord means it for me, then He means it for everyone. I am a very ordinary person, and dreams are very ordinary. I may not understand how to say it properly and I do not want to be a heretic, so please help me to say it correctly, but I believe that dreams are a conduit for communication from Our Lord. We have learned that people dream every night, even if they don’t remember the dreams. I believe Our Lord desires us to be with Him so desperately that He comes to us each, individually, every night through dreams. We are not necessarily prepared for direct communication from our God, but our passive state in sleep lessens the terrifying impact of His awesomeness. When I was talking to Our Lord, I asked Him about my interpretation of my dream about the word of God through pictures meaning the word of God through dreams, and my belief that Our Lord would like this understanding to be proclaimed. I believe he confirmed my interpretation because He answered me with Psalm 145, The Greatness and Goodness of God.I will extol you, my God and king; I will bless your name forever.Every day I will bless you; I will praise your name forever.Great is the Lord and worthy of high praise; God’s grandeur is beyond understanding.One generation praises your deeds to the next and proclaims your mighty works.They speak of the splendor of your majestic glory, tell of your wonderful deeds.They speak of your fearsome power and attest to your great deeds.They publish the renown of your abounding goodness and joyfully sing of your justice.The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.The Lord is good to all, compassionate to every creature.All your works give you thanks, O Lord, and your faithful bless you.They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule.Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations,The Lord is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.The Lord supports all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.The eyes of all look hopefully to you; you give them their food in due season.You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.You, Lord, are just in all your ways, faithful in all your works.You, Lord, are near to all who call upon you, to all who call upon you in truth.You satisfy the desire of those who fear you; you hear their cry and save them.You, Lord, watch over all who love you, but all the wicked you destroy.My mouth will speak your praises, Lord; all flesh will bless your holy name forever.
Here’s a thought for you: If we go for too long without sleep, our body and mind do not function so well. In fact, we can go crazy for lack of sleep. Maybe it’s not so much due to lack of rest for the mind and body, as due to lack of a personal visit from Our Lord in our dreams. Most Sincerely,
Annie