Jonah and the prophets do not fall under private revelation.
The Church teaches us that no Catholic is bound by private revelation (even approved apparitions) - so if sticking with what the Church teaches is minimalistic so be it. One thing is for sure - sticking with the Church on this is never the wrong thing to do.
What do you mean by 'sticking with the church on this is never the wrong thing to do?" Do you mean once the church approves an apparition we should respond to it? I would agree to that.
To clarify what I am saying: I am not saying what the church teaches is minimalistic…I am saying people who stick to that statement as a reason to suppress private revealtion are acting in a minnimalistic way toward God’s gifts.
.I am saying that the church is saying this because not every person will understand or even know about these private revelations, Therefore the church says believing and following them is not essential/ for salvation-- for their sake. But those who do know about them and know they are church approved and “worthy of belief” are not following the Church by dismissing them either.
The church teaches we are responsible to respond to graces given to us by God and I would say private revelations fall under that category. “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts” that comes from public revelation because it is in the Bible… Jonah is part of the Bible…the purpose of this is to show us how to react when we have similiar events not included in the bible…
Church approved private rvelations and modern day prophets are like Jonah, Jeremiah, eic… Of course,they wouldn’t be in the Bible because they are occuring in our lives and our times.That doesn’t make them less real. It doesn’t make our responsibility less IF WE KINOW ABOIUT THEM. Again,it is part of the teaching of the church that we are responsible to respond to graces given to us by God…
Public Revelations is sufficient for the essentials for salvation. You can even come to know many of the things in private revelations just by being faithful to public revealtion, but God gives us so much more…even the bible says that it cannot contain everything about Jesus ,and about God…
Too many people misuse what the church is teaching by using that statement that private revelations are not ‘essential’ as an excuse to disregard them and not talk about them.
I feel they are not understanding the purpose of the church’s statement and they are causing harm to people who would benefit from hearing the messages given at those apparitions by suppressing those messages.God has a purpose for sending us these apparitions.
Isn’t there a parable in the bible about the servants who bury their gifts? Apply that to private revelation being suppressed…
And what about the parable in the bible about the vineyard left to the stewards who beat up the messangers sent by the vineyard owner? Apply that to private revealtions and people who suppress the messages…
God Bless, maryJohnZ