Anne,
Why do you place a private revelation from one who is not even a saint or doctor of the church, ABOVE the teachings of the Magisterium… The faithful are not required to believe in private revelations - period. Yet you persist unrelentingly with your erroneous interpretation of doctrine. Why not write to Rome, or to one of the bishops and listen for a change to how the Church interprets her own teachings…
Who do you think declared *Venerable *Mary of Jesus… well, venerable?
Do you doubt the recounted miracle of her bi-locations? Do you doubt that other Saints have, in the past, done the same?
You make an assumption in assuming I have not consulted anyone in authority on this Dogma of the Faith.
Nonetheless, Fr. Michael Muller, CSSR (who’s work I quoted above) was a priest in good standing with the Church and his book (which I linked to above) was printed with the permission of his superior.
Furthermore, Bishop Hay (who was a good Bishop, in good standing with the Church) wrote in his book, The Sincere Christian:
“If ever there was a time when this conduct of the Church was necessary, the present age seems particularly to demand it. At present the gates of Hell seem opened, and infidelity of every kind stalks lawless on the earth; the sacred truths of religion are reviled and denied, the Gospel adulterated by countless contradictory interpretations; its original simplicity disfigured by loftiness of speech and the persuasive words of human wisdom. A thousand condescensions and compliances are permitted in the unchangeable doctrines of Faith and the pure maxims of morality and “the narrow way that leads to life” converted into “the broad road that leads to destruction.” This observation applies particularly to that latitudinarian opinion so common nowadays, that a man may be saved in any religion, provided he lives a good moral life according to the light he has; for by this the Faith of Christ is made void, and the Gospel rendered of no avail… the above free-thinking maxim is diametrically opposed to the light of revelation; for there we learn that the Son of God became man and appeared among men, in order to instruct them in the knowledge of those Divine truths on which their salvation depends; and therefore that He absolutely requires true Faith in Him, and, in the sacred truths which He revealed, as a necessary condition of salvation. There also we learn that He instituted a holy Church on earth, to be the depository of these truths, and that He absolutely requires all to be united with that Church in order to be saved.”
"Q. 5. But if a man act according to the dictates of his conscience, and follow exactly the light of reason which God has implanted in him for his guide, is that not sufficient to bring him to salvation?
A. This is, indeed, a specious proposition; but a fallacy lurks under it. When man was created, his reason was then an enlightened reason. Illuminated by the grace of original righteousness, with which his soul was adorned, reason and conscience were safe guides to conduct him in the way of salvation. But by sin this light was miserably darkened, and his reason clouded by ignorance and error. It was not, indeed, entirely extinguished; it still clearly teaches him many great truths, but it is at present so influenced by pride, passion, prejudice, and other such corrupt motives, that in many instances it serves only to confirm him in error, by giving an appearance of reason to the suggestions of self-love and passion. This is too commonly the case even in natural things; but in the supernatural, in things relating to God and eternity, our reason, if left to itself, is miserably blind. To remedy this, God has given us the light of Faith as a sure and safe guide to conduct us to salvation, appointing His Holy Church the guardian and depository of this heavenly light; consequently, though a man may pretend to act according to reason and conscience, and even flatter himself that he does so, yet reason and conscience, if not enlightened and guided by True Faith, can never bring him to salvation."
(notice how closely this last excerpt is reflected in
Lumen Gentium #16)
Sirach2:
You never miss a beat with respect to this topic, and I see you in all of the threads relating to it - never listening to anyone’s presentation except your own. I ask you, do you really, really think God is the “gotcha! God” who awaits with severity to send everyone who is not yet Catholic to hell?
This demonstrates you have either a) not read my posts, and or b) not read them very carefully.
Where I have ever presented God as anything other than extraordinarily merciful?
You act as though it’s the hardest thing in the world to become a Catholic, and so we have to excuse all who are not Catholic. This is wrong. It’s the easiest thing in the world to become a Catholic (all one has to do is ask!), and God will not deny the helps necessary for salvation (cf.
Lumen Gentium #16) to anyone.
Sirach2:
…Why not read testimony from the Church’s canonized saints who had missions of proclaiming His divine mercy, rather than an isolated venerable, whose message is also likely to be misunderstood by you?
There are numerous accounts of Saints (canonized by the Catholic Church) who performed miracles-- even resurrection from the dead, in order to baptize persons, as was necessary for their salvation. You can read some of those accounts in Fr. Hebert’s book Raised from the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles
amazon.com/Raised-Dead-Stories-Resurrection-Miracles/dp/0895552515/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275854022&sr=8-1
etc.
This is getting very old.
