The teaching of the Church distinguishes between 'public Revelation' and 'private revelations' Public Revelation is given to or binding on all Whereas, Private Revelation is limited. The authority of private revelations is different from that of the definitive public Revelation.
The teaching of the Church distinguishes between 'public Revelation' and 'private revelations' Public Revelation is given to or binding on all Whereas, Private Revelation is limited. The authority of private revelations is different from that of the definitive public Revelation.
The teaching of the Church distinguishes between 'public Revelation' and 'private revelations' Public Revelation is given to or binding on all Whereas, Private Revelation is limited. The authority of private revelations is different from that of the definitive public 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).