This reminds me so much of a dream I had in 2021; I just have to share it. As with many people during the year or two following Covid, I was worried about the way the world was headed, with forced vaccines and the Great Reset looming on the horizon...so many evil plans being revealed. I still lived in the city then, and I wanted so badly to flee to the country and find a safe place. Well one night I dreamed that my family and I were returning home from a trip, driving from the east. For some reason we took a back road off the freeway and I looked out the van window and saw a tree full of parrots. I was so amazed by it that I asked my husband to turn around so I could see it again, but when he did a u-turn and I saw the other side of the road, I was stunned to see a huge white tree, with birds coming from every place in the sky to land at this tree. I shouted at my husband to stop and let me out, and as I walked closer to the tree, I could see that the flying birds were very large, and they were carrying smaller birds, who were in turn carrying even smaller birds. The large birds were entering the hollowed trunk of the tree, and I peered inside and up to see the entire inside filled with birds of all kinds serenely sitting in rows all up the insides of the tree. I was filled with the understanding that something very big and terrible was coming, but that the large birds were bringing all of these smaller birds here to keep them safe. Every bird was so peaceful and joyful, that it filled me with peace. When I left the tree and turned around, a huge white bird landed in front of me. It was as tall as me, and it looked very seriously right into my eyes. I felt interiorly that this bird somehow represented Jesus, and He was looking into my eyes as if to ask, "Do you understand?" and "Will you help Me?" And I answered yes, without saying anything. Then I woke up. I was so moved by this dream that my eyes shot open and I asked myself, "What kind of bird was that?" Immediately I heard a voice say "Albatross." I repeated it to myself over and over so I wouldn't forget. I didn't know what an albatross was, so I grabbed my phone and looked it up...and I was amazed to see that it is indeed a very large white bird, and that it has represented Christ. The meaning that this dream impressed upon me was that the white tree represented the Faith, or the Church, and that Jesus wanted my focus to be on bringing people safely into the Faith...that the Church is our refuge, no matter what may come. We are like those birds, carrying others, who in turn carry others, bringing them to Christ. Amazingly, something very strange happened about half a year ago that seemed to confirm that dream and its meaning. My family and I were turning down the neighborhood road that runs past my FSSP parish, and I noticed a jujube tree, right on the corner of the parish grounds. I asked my husband to stop, because I'd never seen jujube fruit before, and I jumped out and looked up into the tree. To my great surprise, there were dozens of parrots hopping about making a racket, all over that tree! There had to have been at least 50 parrots in that little tree. My son got out with me and saw the parrots too, and my husband heard them through the window. We were amazed and have never seen anything like it! I'd never even seen one parrot just flying around outside, much less a whole flock of them. All of a sudden, they all rose out of the tree together, and flew over us, straight over our church, disappearing into the sky...and in that moment, I remembered my dream, and that when we'd turned from the tree full of parrots, the exact spot that my church was is where I saw the great white tree. And I knew God was telling me, yes, the refuge is the Church. We never saw those parrots ever again. My husband and I joke that it was all in our heads, because it was so surreal...but my son saw them too! And one last interesting thing was that a few months after I had that dream in 2021, we discovered the FSSP parish that we attend now. So I had no idea that place even existed, yet in my dream we were returning home from the east, and it was on a back road behind the freeway...Spatially in my mind the dream took place in the area of this church that I didn't even know existed.
Padraig I learned the Catacombs were for Christians to hide. I'm in my 60s and I learned that in Catholic Schòl.
One of the Psalms from today's Morning Office fits so well in this discussion on refuges Psalm 47 The Lord is great and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain is a beautiful sight, the joy of all the earth. Mount Zion is at its northernmost edge, the city of the great king. Here among its palaces, God has shown himself as its refuge. For the kings assembled, made alliance against it – but when they saw it, they were amazed. Panic took them and they scattered. Trembling took hold of them, pain like that of childbirth. With the east wind you will destroy the ships of Tarshish. What we had heard, we saw in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God has founded for ever. We ponder your mercy, O God, as we stand in your temple. Your name, O Lord, and your praise will reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand delivers justice. Let Mount Zion be glad and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgements. Go round Zion, see it all, count every tower. Feel its strength, visit its palaces, so that you can tell the next generation – Here is God, our God, here he remains for ever; and for ever he will lead us and guide us. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Thank God I had good religious brothers for teachers. I don't think people who have no or little Faith themselves can pass on the Faith to others.
Thank you so much for sharing. So interestingly enough I am probably the world's worst at hearing the voice of God, mainly through my own fault by staying way too busy. I enjoy reading this forum though because I'm a believer that other people have other gifts. With that being said though, I told my wife a few years back that when I was in the adoration chapel a few years back, the word "albatross" popped in my head, and I have googled it for years and mainly just wrote it off as something I randomly thought of. Your dream is very interesting to me for that reason!
Oh wow! Was it around the time of Covid, or before that? The albatross in my dream seemed to me to represent Christ, with the way it looked at me and wordlessly spoke to me with so much love. He had been gliding through the air, coming from far away, carrying a bird smaller than him, who was in turn carrying a smaller bird, and so on. I just felt that the meaning was given to me in the dream, of people bringing each other to safety in God's Church, and the main takeaway from the dream that changed my whole perspective on everything going on in the world, was that we aren't looking for worldly refuges and safety--prepper-level pantries, gold and guns, a safe hideaway in the mountains--but for the security and protection of Christ and His Church. So, our Faith. And it seemed Jesus was asking me to not focus on myself but on praying and sacrificing to save souls, to bring them safely into the Faith. When I looked up "albatross," it said in the internet search that the albatross represents Christ and His crucifixion. So that's all I really know.
@PurpleFlower @KyleHancock My own experience with the albatross started very young I was learning to play the Tin Whistle and fell in love with probably the greatest Irish tune of all "The lonesome boatman " the connection with the tune is the Whistle first few notes are the cry of the albatross, being a sea fishing angler I have encountered an albatross which perched beside me once its such a beautiful bird which commands its presence. I play the lonesome boatman very well and with such passion. I feel the heavenly connection whilst playing it and love this description of the tune described below which I found on an irish mens catholic forum some time ago. "The Lonesome Boatman, I believe, captures a raw truth of our existence. We live in a lonely world because time means that everything changes and ultimately ends. Heaven never changes, Christ never changes and He never moves away. It is the only constant and sure thing. He is all we can rely on. If only we realized what is to come, we would never be off our knees."
Great dream PF. And loved your interpretation. Just the other week I was walking to Church, when I noticed a flock of parrots sitting on top of the Church bells. Even though I live in Florida, we don’t get to see many parrots gathering. Once in a blue moon you will see them flying high in the sky, but that rarely happens. They sure picked the right place to be.
I've never seen parrots outside before, other than a couple in a pet shop, haha, so it was a shocking experience for me. And I'm an avid bird watcher!
How beautiful! And such a lovely deep meaning that fits right in with my dream. I'm glad I shared it, and have found God has used the albatross to speak to others as well!
I was always under the impression the catacombs were used primarily for buying the dead vs the pagan custom of cremation. One history book I use for the children with a copyright of 1935 says just that and includes that masses were said there but it was not the norm. Meanwhile Don Bosco makes no mention of it in his "History of Italy." One other book I use with a copyright of 1896 says in passing the catacombs were where the "Christians had been obliged to hide in the catacombs...where they held their meetings," I assume this book means mass. So I don't know. I am sure they used the catacombs on occasion but they couldn't hide there always.
Such a beautiful thread on dreams and songs about the Albatross. I did a bit of research to see if the Albatross had significance in Church. I did not find anything specific but found this (courtesy of Co-Pilot): A poem titled The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) This is the closest thing in Western literature to an “albatross-as-Christ” poem. Scholars consistently interpret the albatross as: • a Christ-like bringer of grace, • an innocent victim whose death mirrors the crucifixion, • a symbol of the mariner’s sin and need for redemption. I did see that the Pelican has been used as a symbol for Christ.... https://ewtn.co.uk/chpop-the-pelica...-became-a-symbol-of-christs-sacrificial-love/
While on the subject, there are also catacombs in the Netherlands: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/museum-romeinse-katakomben
