On Private Revelations

The topic of private revelations, especially where ecclesiastical approvals are in suspense mode, certainly proves to be a touchy and divisive topic even among orthodox Catholics. It is no wonder that Catholic Forums bans discussions on private revelations where no ecclesiastical approvals have yet been given. Recently, CMR posted something on Medjugorje, which elicited an avalanche of entries in the combox (99 and counting). Patrick probably had an inkling of what was about to transpire when he noted at the bottom of his post: Please try not to destroy the furniture here at CMR discussing this one. Lately in CatholicFriends, a similar discussion coincidentally was going on. Well, I could see some furniture flying as well. Anyway, here is my take on the topic as a response to some of those posts.
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Certainly Catholics are not obliged to believe in private revelations. In this regard, there are two kinds of beliefs that must be taken into consideration: 1) the belief requiring the assent of human faith; and 2) the belief requiring the assent of divine faith. We can not be obliged to give an assent of divine faith in private revelations nor is it possible to do so, for the simple reason that it does not add to the deposit of faith. It is on the assent of human faith that we are afforded some leeway by the Church. In your post above, the Bishop of Lincoln admits "the possibility of venial sins of pride and lack of prudence in such doubt or denial". Since the good Bishop did not state outright that the venial sins of pride and lack of prudence automatically follow with non-belief (he only mentions the possibility), there must be a qualifying condition/s on the part of the disbeliever that could give cause for the instantaneous or subsequent commission of the venial sins mentioned. When Catholics of good standing do not make an assent of human faith to a matter that the Church officially declares as "worthy of belief", there must be a charitable way of doing so while avoiding the venial sins of pride and lack of prudence, and without challenging the decision of the Church. Perhaps you have more Catholic material expounding on this aspect.
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I think we can all agree that the Church has not come up (yet) with an official, definitive and final declaration for or against the supernatural nature of the facts of Medjugorje. To quote from the article you posted from CUF:

"Until the Church renders her official judgment, the faithful are free to accept (or reject) any private revelation if nothing in the message or concurring phenomena is contrary to faith and morals."

In emphasis, when we claim that something is contrary to faith and morals, we look for guidance from the official statements of the Magisterium. The 1991 declaration made by the Bishops' Conference of the former Yugoslavia supposedly apparently still holds, which partly states:

"On the basis of the investigations so far it can not be affirmed that one is dealing with supernatural apparitions and revelations".

The statement does not affirm - yet we must also note that it does not condemn.

Fr Colin B. Donovan, STL, provides an answer for EWTN that is quite instructive, from which I will quote from its ending statements (emphasis mine):

"...This means that once a private revelation has achieved Papal approbation it is unreasonable, i.e. imprudent but not against the faith, to not accept it as authentic. The contrary would also be true. If Rome judged a private revelation to not be supernatural, the reasonable person would be satisfied with that conclusion. Would they sin if they did not accept it? They might sin by imprudence, rash judgement or the like, but not against the faith or the obedience they owed the Holy Father. Catholics must always, however, following the external precepts imposed by the Church in such matters, that is, what they may or may not do, as opposed to what they think.

As far as theological judgments made at the local level, therefore, the standard could not be any higher, and is certainly lower. The issue of Medjugorje, therefore, cannot be resolved solely on the basis of the local Church's finding that there is no evidence to date of supernaturality. This is even more clear in light of the statement of Archbishop Bertone that the Bishop of Mostar's 1998 statement that it is certainly "not supernatural" is his own personal opinion. Others are therefore entitled to their personal opinions, also.

What the Church permits. As the already cited statements note, Catholics may go to Medjugorje. Such pilgrimages may even include priests acting as chaplains, as opposed to officially sponsoring them. Also, the Church has not suppressed discussion of Medjugorje, therefore, it is allowed. Common sense, however, says that Catholics on both sides of the Medjugorje issue should exercise prudence and charity in speaking of others who believe differently. Medjugorje is not a litmus test of orthodoxy, though every Catholic will have a moral obligation to accept the judgment of Rome, in the manner Pope Benedict explained, should it ever be rendered...."
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Not a litmus test of orthodoxy. Please pass the chair. Oops...
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Quotations of the day - 1/6/10

"This was not a failure to collect intelligence, it was a failure to integrate and understand the intelligence that we already had."

- President Obama, after meeting with national security advisers about a terror plot to bring down a commercial jetliner on Christmas Day.

Translation: "We were just plain stu...".
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"In the next few days you will see the actions of the PNP principally and all other agencies to dismantle private armies...We can do it. Just wait and see."

- Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, expressing optimism that the Philippine National Police could beat the deadline set by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the eradication of private armies in the country.

Translation: "We can do it, just wait and see... in the next few centuries".
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"We’re scheduling another inquiry as soon as possible when Congress convenes. The inquiry will determine what more can be done to effectively prevent maritime accidents and save lives"

Bacolod Representative Monico Puentevella, chairman of the Congress transportation committee commenting on the spate of recent sea accidents.

Translation: "Rewind, rewind, then replay everything that was said again and again every time a maritime accident happens".
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The Perfect Wife

A repost dedicated to my wife of 22 years by today.
(From Proverbs 31:10-31)

When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.
Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.
She brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.
She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands.
Like merchant ships, she secures her provisions from afar.
She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household.
She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms.
She enjoys the success of her dealings; at night her lamp is undimmed.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle.
She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.
She fears not the snow for her household; all her charges are doubly clothed.
She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing.
Her husband is prominent at the city gates as he sits with the elders of the land.
She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs at the days to come.
She opens her mouth in wisdom, and on her tongue is kindly counsel.
She watches the conduct of her household, and eats not her food in idleness.
Her children rise up and praise her; her husband, too, extols her:
"Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all."
Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her a reward of her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.
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ON NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

The New Year's prayer-resolution of one anonymous elderly goes:

"Lord, grant me the grace and senility to forgive and forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones that I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference.".

One's New Years resolutions changes to a certain relevance with the passing of years, although I know of one guy who makes the same resolution year, after year, after year. Usually, he would keep up with some determined, painstaking effort to fulfill his resolution for about a month, then his willpower would give in by the next. This year, I good-naturedly advised him not to make any New Years resolution anymore, instead he should just make a New Months resolution month after month. That seemed to please him. In turn, he advised me to make a New Weeks resolution every week. I said fine, but from now on I'll be keeping a close watch over him, or else I would advise him to make a New Days resolution day after day.

The Catechism says that our human nature is burdened by concupicence - a certain struggle of tendencies between "spirit" and "flesh" (CCC 2516). Thus the secular view insists that it is futile to battle natural tendencies. Such a worldview however, discounts the necessity of cultivating cardinal virtues (CCC 1805-1809) without which our world will be a world of chaos once we all give reign to our "natural tendencies". But how do we win in the "struggle"? Our sheer willpower alone would be sorely lacking, so much so that St. Paul says in Ephesians 4:13:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Everything is possible through Jesus Christ, even the fulfillment of New Years resolutions. I myself resolve to keep more healthy and fit, as I am not getting any younger either. Thus my New Years resolution would be to adapt a more healthy lifestyle. I will research and read a lot more about health and physical fitness. That is, if my eyesight does not fail me. So, may God strengthen my eyesight, and my will overall.

Happy New Year to everyone, and may you all have meaningful resolutions blessed and strengthened by the Lord.
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Away in a manger

My youngest son participated in a Christmas play recently. These school nativity plays abounded the past few days. In once such play, the two main child actors are dressed up as Joseph and Mary. They cross the stage on their way to the inn at Bethlehem. Meanwhile, farther back is a boy in a shepherd's costume on his mobile phone.
He is calling the inn desperately trying to make a reservation.
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Luke's account of the birth of Jesus (Lk 2:1-20), narrates that Mary "wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn". Various reasons have been proposed as to why Joseph and Mary ended up in an apparent stable, which was certainly far from being an appropriate accommodation for a mother about to give birth. The situation was that the governor Quirinus issued a decree for an empire-wide census, and Joseph had to register in his hometown. Naturally as a consequence, there could be a dearth of accommodations in Bethlehem due to the heavy influx of registrants. Joseph and Mary were obviously too late to secure their accommodations ahead of the rest. The straight distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 70 miles - a tough call for a woman heavy with child, riding a donkey, with her husband patiently walking beside her. But then again, Bethlehem was Joseph's birthplace, and presumably he was supposed to have many relatives in the area that could strive by any means possible to provide decent accommodation for a relative with a pregnant wife about to give birth. Surely, an expectant mother should have been given priority accommodation over the rest. However, much as the popular rendition suggests, there is no biblical record of an innkeeper actually turning down the couple. At any rate, assuming Bethlehem was filled with others who needed to be counted for a census, guest rooms in homes would have had multiple people in them. Not a good place for childbirth, adding the need for privacy and isolation according to Jewish customs. We cannot dismiss the customs of the times, and we have to understand that childbirth rituals would have rendered any vicinity "unclean", and would have displaced a multitude of residents at any inn for quite a time. Perhaps the stable, usually located in the inner or lower area instead of the upper room, was a more suitable compromise after all.

Reasoned guesses and plausible speculations aside, we can be sure of certain things. Jesus our King came as a Messiah stripped of the trappings of pageantry, power and riches. He was laid in a manger, amidst the most humble of surroundings. Our God is revealed in ordinary and bare circumstances -- because He came to serve and not be served

God is with us.

The King and the humble Maiden

The King and the humble Maiden
(forwarded email)

My former teacher in the subject Revelation at the Loyola School of Theology shared with us a story by the famous Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard:

Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist-no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind? Would she be happy at his side? How could he know for sure? If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross the gulf between them. For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal.

The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her. Clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise - the king took on a totally new identity - He had renounced his throne to declare his love and to win hers.

Odds and Ends 12/21/09

ELEPHANTS ATTACK IN ORISSA EXACTLY AFTER ONE YEAR OF PERSECUTIONS

Recently a strange and dramatic event took place in Orissa, which has many people talking and wondering.

In recent months, herds of wild elephants have begun to storm villages that are home to some of the worst persecutors of Christians during the troubles. In one village, where in August a year ago the Christians had to run for their lives while their homes were being destroyed by rioters, a herd of elephants emerged from the surrounding jungle exactly one year later, in July 2009, at the same time of the day of the attack.

These elephants first attacked a rock crusher machine owned by a key leader of the persecution movement. They then went on to destroy his house and farms...Gaining momentum, they rampaged through other non-Christian homes, demolishing gardens and singling out the home of persecutors, leaving Christian homes untouched.
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Divine retribution?
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Sisters willing to stake life on Aquino’s integrity

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – “I can stake my life on it: my brother will not tarnish our family name and steal in office,” Aurora Corazon “Pinky” Aquino Abellada said of her brother, the late-blooming presidential aspirant, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
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Oh great. The presidential contest is all about who does not steal and who does. Integrity should be a given! Let's forget about platforms, track record, and competence.
Ugh.
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Estrada, Revilla top senatoriables survey

MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Jinggoy Estrada leads the senatoriables in the latest Pulse Asia Pre-Election Survey, with 55.1 percent of respondents saying they would include him in their senatorial line-up if the elections were held today...

Following Estrada is Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. (52.7 percent) ...
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(Sigh)