What are we supposed to get from "gloom and doom" apparitions and prophecies?

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Limoncello4021

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This is a serious question I have lately. Approved Marian apparitions such as Fatima and Akita etc, and unapproved but authentic sounding such as Our Lady of Revelation etc focus on how sinful human nature has become and how God will soon punish us with dreadful events. Some saints’ prophecies and visions say the same. After reading some lengthy compilation of these last evening I found myself seriously depressed and wondering what in the world we are supposed to “get out of” such announcements. Serious Catholics are going to be prepared for death, confessing their sins and striving for virtue, no matter what. Non-serious Catholics and/or the general non-believing public are not going to pay attention whatsoever to such apparitions/prophecies. So are they only given to us, then, to make serious Catholics scared and depressed? The Blessed Mother often says things like, “If people don’t mend their ways, “X” will happen.” Well people never mend their ways! It is a given! And so it goes…
And, yes, I know our Blessed Mother said at Fatima that her Immaculate Heart would triumph, and we as serious Catholics of course know and believe that God never loses and will triumph in the end. We don’t need apparitions to tell us that. So how are we supposed to live with such gloom and doom knowledge about terrible things about to happen to us, our neighbors, and the world dangling in front of us all the time?
This question is a sincere one. I am not in the least questioning the authenticity of approved apparitions, just wondering what they are in the long run “good for.”
 
I think it is to give us some reassurance when those bad times come. Telling us ahead of time gives us some reassurance that God is in control.

It’s similar to me to the “doom and gloom” sayings of Christ Himself. For example, when He says “many are called, but few are chosen” it gives a bit of reassurance that even the Church being seemingly overwhelmed by the wicked is not a cause to lose faith, since He predicted it.
 
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These call Catholics to pray, fast and amend their lives, Then such events in fact can be averted.
I would think though if they only make you depressed, that perhaps you should let up on reading about them. People are very different, and that could be your best response.
 
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I think people do mend their ways. . .maybe it’s ‘only a few’, maybe it’s a silent majority.

Catholicism is such a wonderful religion and partly it is because it is a paradox. Life comes forth from death. The last will be first and the first will be last. The cross itself is a paradox; you can’t have it without two beams that ‘meet in the middle only’.

So yes the Gospel is “Good News’ and the Fight has already been won, yet we don’t just ‘stand on the sidelines’ and though Heaven is bliss we only get there through a vale of tears.

Jesus told us to pick up our crosses and follow Him—-to death and then to Life eternal. But ‘His yoke is easy and His burden is light”.

Don’t look to right or to left (not just politically) and just focus on God, on hearing His Good News, and testifying to others, either by example, by word, or by both, love God and your neighbour, remember the Four Last Things not from servile fear but because you want to prepare yourself to be the best possible person for God on earth so that you can ‘continue’ that way in Heaven;
Pray, hope, and don’t worry.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
unapproved but authentic sounding such as Our Lady of Revelation etc focus on how sinful human nature has become
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Our Lady of Revelation is “approved for faith expression”. My understanding is that it will never be fully approved because of “the character of the seer”, in other words he was much too sinful before he reformed due to the vision of Our Lady.

He also got a bit into the anti-Islamic bag before he passed away, claiming to have received additional apparitions, it was a bit of a La Salette situation I think. But who knows what the Church might decide to do in the future?

Nevertheless I have not seen that as a “Gloom and Doom” apparition at all. It is Our Lady exhorting us to pray for sinners so they will be saved, just as she converted the seer Bruno.

I spent a day visiting her shrine last year at Tre Fontane and I found it a peaceful and uplifting place of prayer. While Mass was being said, suddenly at the Consecration a huge wind came from nowhere (it was a peaceful and sunny day) and blew very hard over the top of the tent that covers the Mass area. I thought immediately, “It’s the Holy Spirit!” It was just one big gust and then no more. Also at the Shrine are many testimonies of people who were healed there or received graces there.

Whenever I think of my visit there or to Fatima I feel quite uplifted and happy that our Mother cares for us and encourages us to pray…it’s not scary. Maybe this is a glass half full/ glass half empty thing but as you note, the sin is with us all the time, and we can’t tell the effects of our prayers - for all we know without Mary exhorting us to pray, the world would be like Potterville in “It’s a Wonderful Life” and we’re keeping it Bailey’s Corners. I like the idea of praying to save people.
 
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Nobody is bound to believe in private revelations. In general private revelations aren’t something that can be found only in Catholic Church.
Many people converted because of private revelations. Fatima - sinners. Simple example.
Limoncello4021 said:
just wondering what they are in the long run “good for.”
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Private revelations should remind us of already revealed truth in Public revelation. There cannot be anything new in faith and morals in private apparitions. Private revelations aren’t for all times. They are for particular times and particular people but must not contain anything against revealed truth, that truth cannot be changed or anything added to it.

This could be helpful to recognise what makes private revelations authentic. Then you can conclude what is purpose of private revelation.

Limoncello4021 said:
So how are we supposed to live with such gloom and doom knowledge about terrible things about to happen to us, our neighbors, and the world dangling in front of us all the time?
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Well, some things will happen no matter if we know for them or not.
Also, all that Our Lady said in Fatima is actually gift of God’s mercy. We should be thankful for it. Our Lady told us what will happen if we don’t convert. She also said what will happen if we do something (consecration of Russia - fall of communism). Pope didn’t die in the end - some things were changed because we changed something through Our Lady’s warning.

I suggest you not to read unnaproved revelations unless it won’t have negative impact on you.
Maybe better to read Church’s official review/notice on some unnaproved revelation.
 
Come to think of it, has Our Lady chosen to reveal herself to a hardened atheist?

I mean she shows herself to mainly already very pious children as in Fatima and Lourdes, or to nuns like St. Faustina.

Sure some Catholics will pray and fast but that doesn’t do much since the rest of the world will continue as it pleases and they get punished along with those who haven’t repented.

What use is it? I’m not seeing it.
 
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Sarcelle said:
Come to think of it, has Our Lady chosen to reveal herself to a hardened atheist?
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She sure did. Vatican Approved Apparition of Our Lady of Rome (aka Our Lady of Sion):


We also have this testimony from a more modern atheist. It’s not Church-approved, but it seems to have made an impression on him.

Sarcelle said:
I mean she shows herself to mainly already very pious children as in Fatima and Lourdes, or to nuns like St. Faustina.
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She also showed herself to Bruno Cornacchiola at Tre Fontane, who was an ex-Catholic turned SDA who hated the Church, bragged about pushing a priest off a tram and breaking his legs, and was engaged in writing a speech for an SDA meeting calling Mary vile names when she showed up.
 
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There are a lot of Marian apparitions at various stages of approval other than Fatima and Lourdes (and Knock and Guadalupe).

I would say in general she tends to appear to pious people, especially children or persons who are very humble and simple and less likely to embellish or mess up her message. But she can and does appear to others too - educated people, atheists, those who hate Catholicism.

Of course, Catholics are not required to believe any of this.
 
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**[John 5:19] 19 Jesus gave them this answer: "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

We would certainly all fail left to our own devices. Without God we can do nothing. I have to ask God to give the will to do what does not come naturally to me. Sin comes natural to me. If I ever hope to see the kingdom then I have to ask God to give me the will and desireto convert. St. Pio would have not been a Saint had he not asked God for the will not to sin.

I fall over and over, but I have to go back, and I have to keep asking God for the will to be converted till my last breath. That’s just the way it is. But I’ll tell you something, my lfe is 10 times better than it was before the first time I decided to pick up my cross and follow. Is it really that miserable? Sin is miserable.
Doom and gloom? Doom and gloom looks more like someone has no intention or desire to give up evil ways. The three days of darkness are a cake walk compared to what things could be.

I want to be remade, and have pure desires and to have that I have to ask God to give me that desire. That is happiness. Not the garbage I would be pursuing otherwise, that is the real doom and gloom.
 
It is an “admonition” which loosely translate as “A kick in the butt” so that we wake up and start putting attention on what is REALLY important. Our eternal life.

Peace!
 
There is nothing wrong with shock as a didactic tool. In fact, we need more of it. You should not be depressed by these prophecies, only strengthened in resolve.

Some feelings aren’t right. Depression is one such feeling.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
After reading some lengthy compilation of these last evening I found myself seriously depressed and wondering what in the world we are supposed to “get out of” such announcements.
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First, you have it right that we can “get out of it.” These “predictions” are like what I said when I saw a very young-looking teen driving fast and erratically: he’s headed for an accident!

Sure enough… he crashed. He was 15, had no license, and it was his brother’s car he’d taken without permission, and the car was really wrecked.

The thing is, the boy could have “gotten out of” my prediction by slowing down and driving in the lanes, right?

First step: stop the bad things which are leading to the prediction

Second step: pray for God’s grace for yourself to continue in the right path

Third step: pray for God’s grace to come to others so that they too may follow the steps

Fourth step: help others as much as you can: by your example, by your attitude towards them, by direct help, and by (when appropriate and likely to be heeded) gentle admonition when needed
 
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Annie said:
First step: stop the bad things which are leading to the prediction
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Some will heed the warning, most won’t, but those who do, will still get punished along with those who didn’t.

So what is the use of repentance if you will just get punished along with those who didn’t repent?
 
I think it’s part of human nature to take a perverse glee in having insider knowledge of others being punished.
These non-endorsed apocalyptic chastisements seem to always be aimed at the great un-washed someone else.
 
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I’m glad that the Church teaches that even if an apparition is approved, we can place as much or as little emphasis on the message as we each decide for ourselves. I personally look at the approved apparitions as a call to amend my life as needed, but I don’t use the dire warnings to try to persuade others to change their ways. I think the Gospel, the Good News, should be enough for that.

The way I see it, it’s like the carrot or the stick. Some people are more moved by the positive, while others prefer to dwell on the negative.
 
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Sarcelle said:
So what is the use of repentance if you will just get punished along with those who didn’t repent?
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First, you don’t know that you will experience the punishment–you might suddenly win a trip to Las Vegas and be sent out of harm’s way or something 😉

And second, if everyone thought that way nothing would change, but if you contributed a small amount, and another stranger also did, and other stranger also did, all those little parts might work to at least reduce the punishment.

Look at Abraham bargaining God down to 5 righteous men wrt Sodom and Gomorrah. Imagine if later you found out 4 people had repented and you were supposed to be the 5th!
 
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