Private Revelation and Catholic Eschatology

Wow, just the title is a mouthful, and a brainful. Many have studied eschatology (study of the end-times) and have gone away more confused after much information than had they never broached the subject at all.

Well, (deep subject) I'm confused and I honestly haven't even started. I know I really need to read a book, and I know of several, but instead, I'm going to muse about this because it's been on my heart. I think my blog is my surrogate Spiritual Director...some of the stuff I'd tell an SD I'm sharing with all y'alls--because I don't have an SD. So congrats...you, my readers, have been elevated to the realm of "Spiritual Director". After all, I know a great number of you likely have attained a higher degree of knowledge, and more importantly, sanctity, than I have...thus you are qualified to lend your opinion and your knowledge.

Anyway, here's the situation.

I have several dear friends who are into private revelation. They are all solid Catholics, recieve the Sacraments, love Jesus, and to the best of their ability, live and preach the Gospel.

The other day, one of these friends and I were discussing some current affairs in the world of religion. She was not aware that the local Cub Foods is using "pay by touch" (they use your fingerprint and basically associate it with your bank account---how is this POSSIBLY a good idea?). This lead to a discussion of the microchip some companies are using to implant in people as admission into the door every day. And is being touted as having even greater usage in the future. We may all be required to recieve this chip.

I can't remember what exactly was said on this topic, but my friend said that "we're not supposed to do that, it's bad." ("We" meaning "believing Christians of all faiths, especially Catholics because that's what we are).

I asked her why "we're not supposed" to do it...says who? She became defensive, even though I expressed that I agreed with her, but wanted to know who she was citing in their alleged authority. She couldn't tell me. She could only express that someone had told her that someone had written about it and we're not supposed to recieve the micro chip because it's bad.

I pressed her for info...if I'm going to argue against it, I want all the info in my arsenal. She couldn't provide it. Then she said, "I'm going to wait to see what the Blessed Mother says about it."

Big red flags went up in my mind. It's not as though the Blessed Mother is hanging out at the corner, talking audibly to all of us...thus my friend is referring to certain mystics, both in Medjugorje and locally, who claim to recieve messages from Our Lady. She was expressing her dependance upon these alleged messages.

I'm no enemy of private revelation, mind you. It has a great history in the Church and has lead many out of a life of sin and back to the Lord. But that does not mean we should cross lines.

I have long worried that she and some others I know have been too dependant and too devoted to these mystics, and it has sent up red flags for me for a long time now. As some of you know, I used to be involved in the occult..I used to read palms and even consult my own for guidance...I used to consult Tarot and psychics and I could even tell fortunes through the use of everyday cards. (That started as entertainment, also). In other words, I used to rely on some other percieved "authority" to direct my actions, although I denied it at the time.

My friend's comment displayed that this is exactly what she is doing...she is relying on private revelation to direct her actions.

Thanks be to God, she has the Church and the Sacraments, but she does not have as much knowledge as I had thought about the Church...and she's not seeking to learn or experience anything more than Medjugorje. She and her mother are both telling me to go to Medjugorje, and so is her husband. I will not deny what the trip has done for them and for their marriage and their faith..far be it. However, we must all be careful not to put too much trust in something untried. The faith is good, the practice of our faith is good...but the over-focus on the untried is NOT good.

I tried to express this to my friend, and explained to her that she need not wait for anyone to speak for the Blessed Mother on this issue...I expressed to her that we can argue against the microchip through the citation of Civil Rights violations and the like. The potential for abuse. After all, I can tell you that the BCA and the FBI both have my prints on file due to jobs I held in the past, and quite honestly, the government thus has enough power to mess with my identify if they so chose to become a Tom Clancy novel.

The reality is that we do not know what the "mark of the beast" really is, in the Book of Revelation. But I get ahead of myself here.

After that conversation, I spoke to some friends, although I'll admit the Holy Spirit warned me not to...(see, I'm a friend of private revelation). I expressed my concern about my friend and her over-reliance upon these mystics, explaining it thus:

(paraphrased)

"I heard Father Mitch Pacwa explain the place of private revelation in terms of a meal. Jesus (the Eucharist) is the Bread of Life, that Substance without which we cannot survive. The Gospel and Sacred Tradition (and Magesterium) is the meat, and the writings of the Saints are the fruits and vegetables of the holy meal. Private revelation is dessert...we can live without it, although the reality of it completes the meal and provides a certain emphasis."

I doubt I was that eloquent, but I was quoting the good priest. I daresay he could explain his own example much better than I, so if you hear his allegory anywhere else, put your stake in his version, not mine.

My friends became quickly defensive and indignant, stating that "dessert is good" and that some people "need" private revelation to come to the Church, etc. I agreed with them but tried to explain that we need not and SHOULD NOT rely on it...they argued nonsensically that the Church can't approve apparitions until the mystic in question has died. I agreed, but I was floored by their lack of logic. Here were people I had respected as they are solid Catholics. They are involved in a local prayer group which meets on occasion with a local mystic (whom I have met and love), and apparently they are a bit too attached.

My understanding of these mysitcs is that they only seek to lead people to the Church...not to themselves, and if they realized the dependance of their followers upon them, what would they say? That might be telling.

I should have listened to the Holy Spirit and not had this discussion with my friends...I had to back off as tempers began to flare, and I was flabbrergasted at this. I did not expect that they would disagree that private revelation was only a side dish...but their defensiveness displayed a "fruit" of mysticism that I had not previously recognized. I praise God for revealing this to me.

Now, I want to caution you all...I am not decrying against the mystics. They are orthodox Catholics, they are obedient to the local bishop, and they are dear women in the faith. My concern is with the individuals who place too much emphasis upon the revelations.

That leads to eschatology. Where to begin? According to Catholic teaching, the Book of Revelation has already occurred, and actually is occurring every day...the description of the Mass is contained, in part within this book. (Read "The Lamb's Supper" by Scott Hahn).

But then we have talk of the "end times" and "chastizements" and the like. The mystics are talking about chastizements and the coming of Christ, and while I do not doubt this, I think we all need to have a better understanding of eschatology.

One of the Spiritual Directors of one of the local mystics points out that none of us knows the day or the hour the Lord may come, and that the messages are all about repentance, returning to the Sacraments, reading scripture, etc. He points out that as long as we are doing this, then we are safe, but we must continue to pray for the world's conversion. This has been preached since Jesus entered the earth!

I do think the world needs to be cleansed and I have no doubt that this is going to happen..but not before it gets worse. I believe we need to repent, we need to pray for conversion and yet, we watch the moral decay of civilization go on and on.

We, as Catholics, do not believe in the Rapture of the "Left Behind" fame, and this is of course a very new theology, which alone makes it wrong. Jesus never preached this fallacy. The Church has ALWAYS taught that we have been in the end times since the death of Christ (or birth?), and none knows the day or the hour...and I have not seen one of the local seers give a specific date or time. They have always been ambiguous about the sign to come from the east...sounds like springtime, but no month is given, other than maybe an expressed "guess" from the seer.

But it is not about the apocalypse...it is about chastizement.

What it comes down to is this: we must convert, we must pray, and we must spread the Gospel. If we rely on private revelation, we will not become knowledgeable in our faith, but we will become fat and looking to the skies for signs that may not come in our lifetime.

I can't express this enough...I am not against private revelation, but we have to be very careful that we are not RELYING on their unproven mesages from the alleged Blessed Mother to guide our actions...especially when we can use logic guided by what we KNOW to be true in order to defend against the poisons of the world.