Official Resource for investigating visions/dreams

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I have a relative who had a dream that an ancestor from her house needed prayer in purgatory. She got a mass said for the souls in purgatory. Soon after a local told her that one of her ancestors had died suddenly and tragically in an accident years and years ago. A story she had not heard before.

That mass she got offered was for the soul who died in an accident that she didn’t even know about!
God works in mysterious ways
 
You need to find a priest or a monk who himself is gifted and studied the matter of dreams. To my knowledge the Church does not have an official ministry on this as she is trying to discourage attention given to dreams. I would be wary of any priest or monk who you meet online and claims to be Catholic and know about priests simply because… it’s the internet. Usually people who claim and advertise online about this are either new age or scammers.
So pray for guidance and pray so that you will be able to find maybe one day a priest who is experienced with this. In EO I have heard people who are troubled or interested in their dreams to go to some remote country monastery and talk there with the local pastor of the monastery.
You can pray to Archangel Gabriel because he is patron of spiritual communication too. And get an icon or statue of him and keep it in your bedroom to make sure evil/false messages do not pass.
 
There are no priests who specialize in dreams. Unless the priest has the charism of dreams, or the charism of interpreting dreams (such as Saint Joseph from the Old Testament).

The church does have the guidelines of:
Find a priest (ideally a holy Jesuit priest). And let them discern for you whether it is of God, satan, or imagination.

If it is just you, pray about it. Read the Vatican’s ICCR website document on the charism of dreams.

Anything otherwise: such as all these dream interpretation books in shops, are new age and occult and are not of God. Beware of new age dream books and dream readers.
 
I would like to repeat the very wise advice to seek a holy priest. That said, in all of my life I have known but two, both are Eastern: one Catholic, one Orthodox. The Orthodox being more patient with spiritual things. If I had a particularly difficult problem I would drive the twelve hours to talk to him.
 
I don´t use any dream interpretations and I generally don´t give them much attention. So, no danger of drifting in any esoteric area 🙂
The idea to search a Jesuit priest hasn´t yet came to my mind, thank you. I think germany should have at least a few (in my area is absolutely nothing, so I will have to drive anyway). I don´t know if they woud care for this case, because I´m not roman catholic, but orthodox. But I would be kind for any professional advice and I of course see the roman priests as such, too 🙂
 
The Vatican’s International Catholic Charismatic Renewal doctrinal commission into the catholic charismatic renewal, as shown above in the website I quoted, says: dreams can be just dreams, but God can use dreams when it suits Him, as has been shown in
Bible and in the lives of the saints.
The website said discernment with a holy spiritual director is the main way to discern if it is of God, of satan, or just a dream.


Have a read of the website to read the Church’s official stance on the charism of dreams.
I agree with what you have posted here, and I have highlighted it.

God can do what He wants to do, and He most certainly can use dreams to try and communicate with us/send a message to us. Some people have charisms like this. These charisms are not just limited to the times of the Old or New Testament of Biblical times. 🙂

As YoungCatholicGuy mentioned, this would be something that would need to be discussed with a Spiritual Director.
 
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Please-do not take a dream as a mandate from God to do anything…no matter how ‘sure’ the dream made you feel, no matter how urgent its message may sound, it’s not your job to publish it, without much prayer, from yourself and your immediate church hierarchy.
If the message is truly from God, and is for people other than yourself, He will make it known-despite opposition from the local church! Many holy visions have been so tested, as well as spurious messages stopped, in such a manner.
If you feel you have to tell someone, tell your local parish leader…not someone who is involved in a ministry you ‘agree with’. Trust those at the local level to contact the right people!
Don’t be pulled aside by those having dreams and visions of their own. If your dreams have spiritual meaning, for those outside your own sphere of influence, the Holy Spirit will see that things are listened to, and revealed at the proper time. Whatever you do, don’t try and rush the process. The Holy Spirit will see that the message is revealed at the correct time.
However, unless it departs from church teaching on faith or morals, you can use what you see in dreams-to enhance your own prayers and holiness. But do not spread them, if not told to do so. St. Faustina and Padre Pio are good examples. They were told that their messages would suppressed, their holiness questioned…for a time. But, their messages came thru, and they became examples of holy obedience, as well.
So, don’t be in a hurry to publish your dreams, and, unless specifically told to do otherwise, restrict yourself to telling your local superiors. It is good enough for the church, so, it should be enough. Just trust the Holy Spirit.emphasized text
 
Private revelation can only be believed if:
Your spiritual director priest says it is from God,

And if it is asked to be publicised;
Only if your bishop says it is from God,

Why? Because satan can imitate God. And because it could be imagination, just a dream, or medical psychiatric hallucinations.

There are no books on interpreting dreams,
And if you find one it is occult/ new age; which will only lead to satan.

The only way to interpret dreams is:
Let your priest spiritual director interpret it.
If the dream is to be publicised, only your bishop then can decide first if it is from God or not.
With this: only prayer with a spiritual director/ bishop, is the way to interpret private revelation .

You must always be ready to defend against a possible spiritual attack:
Next time you have a dream; pray: ‘In the Name of Jesus, if this dream is not of God, I am waking up right now.’
St Padre Pio always used the name of Jesus when he experienced a private revelation, because using the name of Jesus banishes evil spirits posing as private revelation
 
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