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PRIVATE

REVELATION

Role of Private Revelation


in the Life of the Church
The teaching of the Church distinguishes
between ‘public Revelation’ and ‘private
revelations’
 The two realities differ not only in degree but also in
essence.
 This tells us that the difference between public and
private revelation is not simply that public revelation is
given to or binding on all
 Whereas, private revelation is given to or binding on
only some (restricted by time, place, or identity).
 More than that is involved: Public and private are two
different kinds of revelation.
Public Revelation
 "The term ‘public Revelation’ refers to the revealing action of
God directed to humanity as a whole and which finds its literary
expression in the two parts of the Bible: the Old and New
Testaments," writes Cardinal Ratzinger.
 "It is called ‘Revelation’ because in it God gradually made
himself known to men, to the point of becoming man himself, in
order to draw to himself the whole world and unite it with
himself through his Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
 It is not a matter therefore of [merely] intellectual
communication, but of a life-giving process in which God comes
to meet man."
Private Revelation
 Private revelation is different from public revelation in
several important respects: "The authority of private
revelations is essentially different from that of the
definitive public Revelation.
 The latter demands faith; in it in fact God himself speaks to
us through human words and the mediation of the living
community of the Church.
 Faith in God and in his word is different from any other
human faith, trust, or opinion.
 The certainty that it is God who is speaking gives me the
assurance that I am in touch with truth itself. It gives me a
certitude which is beyond verification by any human way of
knowing“.
Private Revelation
 ‘Private revelation,’ refers to all the visions and
revelations which have taken place since the
completion of the New Testament“.
 When the Church approves private revelations,
she declares only that there is nothing in them
contrary faith or good morals, and that they may
be read without danger or even with profit; no
obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to
believe them.
Remember:
 To disbelieve knowingly and deliberately anything God
has revealed in such a way that it requires divine and
Catholic faith is to commit mortal sin.
 However, since God has not issued private revelations
with this degree of certainty, the burden is not imposed.
 Thus, such a message can be a genuine help in
understanding the Gospel and living it better at a
particular moment in time; therefore it should not be
disregarded.
 Private Revelation is a help which is offered, but which one is
not obliged to use.
Role of Private Revelation in the Life of
the Church
 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called
private revelations, some of which have been
recognized by the authority of the Church.
 They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith.

 It is not their role to improve or complete


Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live
more fully by it in a certain period of history
Private revelation
as a mission to the Church
 A private revelation consists therefore not in its
particular material elements but in the
imperative marking a shifting of
accentuation within the possibilities of
Christianity...
 Hence the private revelation as a mission to the
Church can be conceived as a heavenly
imperative interpretation of the particular
situation of the Church at a particular time.
A Private Revelation answers the question as to
what is most urgently to be done here and
now in accordance with the general
principles of the faith. `
Attitudes regarding alleged instances of private
revelation which have not yet been the subject of
official Church investigation and perhaps never
will be

 One should always recognize that the final authority


regarding private revelations rests with the Holy
See of Rome.
 One may personally act upon these messages of private
revelation if a person observes that they contain
nothing contrary to faith and morals and that they help
bring one closer to God.
Our Lord has said:...a sound tree produces good
fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree
cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear
good fruit. (Mt 7:17-18).

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