Source
r/Catholicism•
Bounds

Private revelation almost universally opposes the virtue of Hope.

Private revelations, including approved Marian apparitions, consistently speak of the fewness of the elect. We cannot honestly look at ourselves and think "yeah, I'm living a saintly life." If you do, remember that some of the greatest saints regarded themselves as the worst of sinners.

Why do you, personally, have hope that you will be saved? Are you more deserving of God's love than others? Have you made better use of your opportunities and gifts?

Answering for myself, I am not and I have not. So if most people are damned, and I am firmly in the "most people" category by any metric you could choose, why should I have hope? For a person such as myself, hope would seem not to be a virtue at all, but vanity.

Posted Sep 20, 2019, 7:59 PM UTC

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lucryster•

Uh. Stating that you shouldnt have hope is limiting the power and mercy of God. That in and of itself is a sin.

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BoundsOP•

Cool. I'll add that to my list of reasons for why I shouldn't have hope. Well done.

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kiruzaato•

Please don't see it this way.

Remember when Jesus said to the bleeding woman that he didn't come for her people. Yet it is said he was impressed by her faith and she was healed.

Who shall be saved? By ourselves we can't but everything is possible for God. Remember the good thief.

The mention of the elected is to urge us to increase their number by living a faithful and saintest-as-possible life. And to pray for those who don't. Thus, to have hope for us and them. That means that others have hope for you too.

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furiana•

We're not required to believe private revelations. If they're causing despair, you definitely shouldn't.

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BoundsOP•

I can't determinations about what is true based on how I feel.

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furiana•

In this case, you can absolutely choose your beliefs according to what gives you hope.

If this were mandatory to believe, it would be part of the deposit of faith. Private revelation is excluded from the deposit by definition. Therefore, you're not required to believe in it.

For non-doctrine, logic is a wonderful way to separate truth and lies, but logic can be deceptive. If your logic leads you to despair, you haven't actually gotten the truth.

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BoundsOP•

That's a good point. I shouldn't ignore those aspects of the apparitions.

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brtf4vre•

"most people" are not serious practicing Catholics. So if that is you then you are most certainly not in the "most people" category in this regard.

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judasnotiscariot•

You seem to be confusing hope with optimism. Optimism is passive, a feeling. Hope is active. Hope isn't something you "have", it's something you do. Put your trust in the Lord, put your reliance on Him and strive with all your might. If most people will turn away from God (and in many places, they are) and you don't, you aren't most people. Don't give up: despair is from the Enemy.

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till_we_have_faces•

If a gift given by God appears to me to be something else than perfectly good, then I know I'm off track. This is a theological virtue, just as faith and charity are. Any bit of vanity intermingled with them is all us, not God.

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eestimarcus•

I don't deserve God's love - no one does. I have hope that I'll be saved, because God is merciful and forgiving. I don't know for sure, that's not possible to know. But stop looking at yourself and keep looking to Christ. Remember that "most people" in society reject the Gospel and don't look to Christ.

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bingsuforyou•

As it happens I'm listening to a Fr Bill Casey video on Fatima and he emphasises that Fatima is ultimately a message of hope, that the course of events can be changed through faith and prayer, both personal and global events. It might be worth you listening to it, I think it's about the Rosary. Alternatively, there is no obligation to beleive in private revelations and as u/furiana said, if they are causing despair perhaps leave them out of your devotions/study.

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Aman4allseasons•

Are you forgetting how often Our Lord spoke in a similar manner in the Gospel? The Gospel is the ultimate message of hope to the world.

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