VI I.  Hidden Chamber cont'd...

minions to overwhelm our thoughts. All within God’s provision, we are sent trials to unearth what may be pointing to our faults. Through such tests, we should not allow God’s message to become diluted especially when our mind is prone to frailty or pessimism in the face of trouble. No matter how disruptive dreams are, we should carefully discern what can be taken as caution. One doesn’t not have to break down such moments with intensity. Things can remain somewhat elusive, but it is a good practice to extract anything useful, when presented in a repetitive manner and discuss it with our spiritual director. In this sense dream journaling should be considered, although not undergone for regular use, which could lead to obsession. 

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Some people feel awkward about using a journal at all and putting the most private details into one place—a place that could be found and nearly read by any source; except we have no idea what hidden message lies in our chain of unconscious proclivities. What small trace of detail, we could be failing to profit from? Growing deeper into the spiritual life cannot only be about pleading and praying but about active listening, active awareness, and focus on God’s mission for us. This could be exercised with notes. Valuable information is always stored, when the messenger is no longer present to repeat it. We can be mysterious as our dreams when recapping details within our writings. The use of initials, timelines, or marked places only known to ourselves can be a way to conceal what we have taken into personal account.

Sleep paralysis, from our known recollection, is set to occur when we don't get enough sleep but don’t think that there aren’t other elements at hand. Prayers should be recited during spiritual battle. The opening 3 o’clock prayer for Divine Mercy should be prayed not only after but “DURING” such times: …O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. (Diary, 1319). This entire opening prayer is very powerful. You may not be able to move but you are halfway conscious in those moments of paralysis and strong enough for interior prayer. 

Personal Warnings

One could awake with a huge piercing guilt—a warning of what should be avoided in their waking life. Even if the dream is completely ludicrous; far off from what the fear is in the mind, they should still heed its warning. These two elements (the dream and the guilt) may not be linked together in the slightest detail visually, but the warning in the heart could be so strong that they forcefully do. Then all of a sudden the conviction within the span of one minute could be lifted. Almost as if a cloak of knowledge was swiftly taken off. An example of this could be where you dream of a toxic ex from your past life of mortal sin. As you are waking up upset about the dream, you soon have a sense of guilt from what you talked yourself out of the night before, a guilt about watching shows that were drenched in mortal sin or the secular life; shows that you had stopped watching as a way to purify your mind but went back to watching again. Another example could be suddenly and constantly dreaming of a sexual sin, and keenly sensing that it is tied to the overeating you wish to abstain from. Sometimes the two concepts can be even further away yet you know somehow there is a connection. Such as in the last example, it could be a connection of temperance. Either way, once the dream is over, sooner or later the strong burning fear that was so sharp and all knowing, has faded and could now slowly become as ludicrous as the dream. 

One shouldn’t always be so quick to withdraw, but sometimes if you can no longer remember or feel the seriousness of a dream’s warning, it is ok to let it pass. Once this mist of awareness is lifted from our influence, we will not be able to make much sense of it unless God deems it necessary. Also keep in mind that God may provide a hint of what we need to fix in life but He will not do all the work for us. In order to truly be disposed to God’s will, we must always be vigilant throughout life, even in the awaken transition from our secret slumber. 

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