Day Dreaming

Tell me you never dream of winning the Powerball jackpot? How to divvy it up, new house on the hill, vacation home in Montana, convertibles for everyone, home theater system, painting by Van Gogh, sculpture by Rodin, season tickets to the Bruins, new wardrobe, Nikon D3 camera (2 of them) and ....ah, let's see I've got $9,856 left ...hmmn?... oh yeah, and a donation to charity! These are the kinds of thoughts we in the secular world have every time the lotto goes above $100,000,000.

Well, in the spiritual world, the participants think the same way. Take Saint Therese of Lisieux (France), the Little Flower. She was a modest Carmelite nun living a cloistered life, but Therese had big dreams. She lived her short life doing simple task but always with an eye towards serving the Lord. Secretly, she desired to be far greater not for herself, but in higher service to the Lord. Little did she know, her personal writings were serving that purpose and would become the foundation of her sainthood and the inspiration for millions in the dignity of living a simple life.

The beauty of Saint Therese's dream is we can all play the winning numbers. The jackpot is infinite. Below is her lotto dream. Have a read!

Ah! my Jesus, pardon me if I am unreasonable in wishing to express my desires and longings which reach even unto infinity. Pardon me and heal my soul by giving her what she longs for so much!

To be your Spouse, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with you to be the Mother of souls; should not this suffice me? And yet it is not so. No doubt, these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, Spouse, Mother, and yet I feel within me other vocations. I feel the vocation of the Warrior, the Priest, the Apostle, the Doctor, the Martyr. Finally, I feel the need and the desire of carrying out the most heroic deeds for you, O Jesus. I feel within my soul the courage of the Crusader, the Papal Guard, and I would want to die on the field of battle in defense of the Church.

I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. With what love, O Jesus, I would carry you in my hands when, at my voice, you would come down from heaven. And with what love would I give you to souls! But alas! while desiring to be a Priest, I admire and envy the humility of Saint Francis of Assisi and I feel the vocation of imitating him in refusing the sublime dignity of Priesthood.

O Jesus, my Love, my Life, how can I combine these contrasts?

How can I realize the desires of my poor little soul? Ah! in spite of my littleness, I would like to enlighten souls as did the Prophets and the Doctors. I have the vocation of the Apostle, I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your name and to plant your glorious cross on infidel soil. But O my Beloved, one mission alone would not be sufficient for me, I would want to preach the Gospel on all the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be a missionary, not for a few years only but from the beginning of creation until the consummation of the ages. But above all, O my Beloved Savior, I would shed my blood for you even to the very last drop.

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