An Abbey sunset

I suppose, like most people, when I was a child I would dream about my future. I dreamt about the woman I would marry. That dream did not come true. Susan Auble, my tall willowy blond sweetheart of 7^th and 8^th grade married someone else…probably because we never saw each other again after we graduated from 8^th grade.   
 

Then I dreamt about the house I would own…not too big, not too small; on a corner lot, in a secluded neighborhood, with a swimming pool. It would have lots of light, a room running the width of the house with walls of glass on both sides, and a connected garage (to eliminate cold dashes to the car on winter mornings) and a short driveway (to minimize the time and effort in shoveling snow.)
 

Thirty years or so later, I was finally ready to buy a house. Before too long I was about ready to NOT buy a house. I was sick of looking at places I could afford…week after week, night after night…which were all wrong. One cold November Saturday morning my realtor called and said there was a place that just went on the market that morning he wanted me to look at. He picked me up and drove me a relatively short distance past a shopping center, made a right turn and took a zigzag route for a few blocks, left…right…left…right, and then suddenly we were going down a hill in what looked like the country, just a mile and a half from the District of Columbia line. We came into a neighborhood of about eight houses, one way in and out up or down the hill, bounded by a creek at the bottom. And there at the edge of this neighborhood, was a corner house on the side of the hill, not too big and not too small, a room running the width of the house with walls of glass on both sides, with an attached garage and short driveway and a swimming pool in the back yard. There was my exact dream house, so I bought it. It was a dream come true. Seven years ago, on my summer vacation back in Washington, I learned something about my dream house. It burned down. That part wasn’t ever in my dreams.  
 

Now here we are at the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of another Church year. Advent reminds us of a time when the human race dreamed. When you look at history before Christ or read the Old Testament, those were pretty grim times. Life was hard, brutal, and violent. Humanity had not yet intuited, never mind embraced, the wisdom of the Golden Rule. But Victor Hugo said, “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” 
 

All those prophecies, those messages sent to us by our merciful God, were beautiful dreams of the Spirit looking forward to the future God had in store for us….the lion laying down with the lamb, beating swords into plowshares, the Virgin bearing a child, the Prince of Peace; all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and heralding the praises of the Lord. Some of the dream has come true. Much remains to be done. It will be done if we continue to dream. God counts on our cooperation with the visions of His prophets and with his Word.  

The Divine Office

Back in 1966 to 1968, I was part of a band. This was a turbulent time in our nation’s life story. I was mostly involved with Civil Rights, but the Anti-War movement was in high gear. My closest brother was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society, and my oldest brother, an officer in the U.S. Navy, was concerned he might lose his security clearance on account of that. There was a song my band sang, a song of the time. It was in the repertoire of many artists. Simon & Garfunkel recorded it in 1964. It had staying power; Johnny Cash recorded it in 2002, Garth Brooks in 2005.  

Last night I had the strangest dream I ever dreamed before 
I dreamed the world had all agreed to put an end to war 
I dreamed I saw a mighty room the room was filled with men 
And the paper they were signing said They'd never fight again 
 
And when the papers all were signed and a million copies made 
They all joined hands end bowed their heads and grateful prayers were prayed 
And the people in the streets below were dancing round and round 
And guns and swords and uniforms were scattered on the ground 
 
An emotional moment for me came this time of year in 1989. My family is German. In late November, as Tom Brokaw stood on top of the Berlin Wall, he had the NBC-TV cameras focus on the school children on the East German side of the Wall, to show them singing "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" en masse as the wall was being torn down. 

There are many more walls that need to come down in this world, and wars that need to prevented and stopped. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in beauty of their dreams.” And we should add to that the truth of their dreams. Advent is our dream time, so dream on! Jesus Christ is the beautiful truth about God and humanity. May we make him more real in our lives and our world, for He is our future. May we remain faithful to the Truth. Jesus puts us on notice in the Gospel this week: “…on earth nations will be in dismay… then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.” (Lk 21:25-28) 

Prior Michael Brunner, O.S.B., superior of Portsmouth Abbey