It is a mantra in many fast food counters or drive-thru windows! “Will that be … small, regular, or super-sized?”
Recently Pope Francis spoke about dreaming great dreams. An image popped into my mind … a great drive-thru with God at the window asking “Will that be a small, regular, or God-sized dream?”
It made me ask what size is my dream and how will it become real?
God’s “supersized dream”
God’s dream is an image he uses frequently. St. John, in his gospel, describes God’s dream for us. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10).
God’s dream for us is more than perfectly regimented toy soldiers whose only task is to obey every little command. God dreams of sons and daughters, loving brothers and sisters.
In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis reminds us to dream and to hope. There is room for each person at God’s table. Each person brings his or her own gifts, talents, knowledge, expertise, experiences, and self to the world. Rather than reject our differences, it is important to acknowledge and even celebrate the richness in our human diversity. We are many parts, but one body. Let us celebrate our humanity and practice dreaming once again—of unity, of peace, of justice, of truth, of love.
On the Feast of Christ the King he wrote…
Let us not settle only for what is necessary. The Lord does not want us to narrow our horizons or to remain parked on the roadside of life. He wants us to race boldly and joyfully towards lofty goals. We were not created to dream about vacations or the weekend, but to make God’s dreams come true in this world. God made us capable of dreaming, so that we could embrace the beauty of life.
Pope Francis spoke directly to young people. He said “Dear brothers and sisters, let us not give up on great dreams.”
How do we make super-sized dreams come true
He writes…
Yet how do we begin to make great dreams come true? With great choices!
At the last judgment, the Lord will judge us on the choices we have made. He seems almost not to judge, but merely to separate the sheep from the goats, whereas being good or evil depends on us. He only draws out the consequences of our choices, brings them to light, and respects them.
Life, we come to see, is a time for making robust, decisive, eternal choices. Trivial choices lead to a trivial life; great choices to a life of greatness. Indeed, we become what we choose, for better or for worse.
If we choose to steal, we become thieves.
If we choose to think of ourselves, we become self-centered.
If we choose to hate, we become angry.
If we choose to spend hours on a cell phone, we become addicted.
Yet if we choose God, daily we grow in his love, and if we choose to love others, we find true happiness. Because the beauty of our choices depends on love. Remember this because it is true: the beauty of our choices depends on love. Jesus knows that if we are self-absorbed and indifferent, we remain paralyzed, but if we give ourselves to others, we become free.
The Lord of life wants us to be full of life, and he tells us the secret of life: we come to possess it only by giving it away. This is a rule of life: we come to possess life, now and in eternity, only by giving it away.
Great Choices for Great Dreams in 2021
- Do we recognize that God’s dream for us is bigger than our dream?
- Are we parked on the roadside of life or race boldly toward a supersized life with God and our sisters and brothers?
- What choices do I need to make today bring about a kingdom of peace, justice and love?
Click below for an audio version of their Vincentian Mindwalk
“At the last judgment, the Lord will judge us on the choices we have made. He seems almost not to judge, but merely to separate the sheep from the goats, whereas being good or evil depends on us. He only draws out the consequences of our choices, brings them to light, and respects them. ”
I know the dangers in taking a phrase out of context or extending a metaphor too far. But still, I like that separation. Sheep and goats both have value or they would not have been such common forms of life and sustenance: sheep for the wool and eventual food source and goats for their milk and potential supper one day.
I think I was parked at the side of my dream for a long time, primarily because I either didn’t know what it was or what it meant for me to do. I’m back on the road and I wouldn’t say I’m “racing” along, but I am moving steadily. I learned years ago that my happiness emerges from bringing happiness to others, but I didn’t realize how much I needed some of that in return.
Father, your recent recurring themes of youth and dreaming are a great look ahead into this new year. For some of us, it might see a major life event; for others, changes that have lasting effects, and for others, same old same old.
As kids, we looked forward to the simplest things – the next meal, the next day of play, the next family get-together, the next Mass at church. I forgot how those simple hopes and dreams led to bigger hopes and dreams.
Thanks and Happy New Year!
Food for thought!
My wife and I have been taking part on Sundays and Holy Days in a drive-in Eucharist. We remain masked in our parked car throughout the celebration. There’s no drive-thru communion. The ministers come to us give us the host–before and that, of course, they come for the first and second collection.
We receive the same communion, the same gift and the self-realizing dream of Jesus’ real presence. But, then, it’s up to each one to let the one we receive to whisper to us how to make the dream big and “inventive to infinity” (SV.EN XI:131).