Catholic Vitamin W: Wonders

Our guest on Catholic Vitamins this weekend is WAYNE WEIBLE. Twenty seven years ago, he was a self-made newspaperman and journalist. Wayne also was teaching in a Lutheran Church, but he says that he was skeptical about the whole faith thing. During a Sunday School class, someone brought up the subject of Marian apparitions. Oh, that’s ‘Catholic stuff!’ But that was the beginning of Wayne’s travels to Yugoslavia – so named at the time, and to the town of Medjugorje.

Many Catholics may wonder about the confusion and the commotion concerning Medjugore over three decades. And yet, many Catholics (and certainly now many Protestants and Jews) know people who have been to Medjugorje and they have had profound changes take place in their lives. Many have claimed miracles. Deacon Tom and Dee know some people personally who claim dramatic results. These are people we know and trust.

And so — we present this show on WONDERS along with some extended words about Public Revelation versus Private Revelation. We hope you may find this helpful — and there are some resources you can look to for further information.

Public Revelation is the action of God as contained in Holy Scripture. Both the Old and New Testaments share Public Revelation up through and including the life, death and resurrection of Christ, our Savior.

Private revelation is composed of visions, locutions and revelations. They may be accompanied by miracles and wonderous events. The use of the word ‘private’ doesn’t mean that only one person or a few people know of these revelations. In the case of Fatima, it is told (and reported in newspapers) that more than 30,000 people witnessed the ‘dancing of the sun.’ Private revelation will never supersede or replace the covenant we’ve been given by God in Scripture.

In a recent e-column by Jimmy Akin (SECRET INFO CLUB dated June 8th, 2012), Jimmy shares these thoughts.

“The value of private revelations is essentially different from that of the one public revelation: the latter demands faith. . . . Private revelation is an aid to this faith, and it demonstrates its credibility precisely because it refers back to the one public revelation.”

Just recently, the bishop of the area spoke at a confirmation and seemed to be softening his stand on the results of Medjugorje. Though opposed to the claim of apparitions in Medjugorje, local Bishop Ratko Peric says the town can be a (new) Jerusalem and a site of the action of The Holy Spirit.

MUSIC ON THE SHOW

We thank Billie Tarascio who was a guest on Catholic Vitamins a year or so back. On this show, we played HAIL MARY from Billie’s album SEND ME.

Fergal O’Neil provided us with the theme for the International Eucharistic Congress taking place in Ireland even as we podcast. The song we played is THOUGH WE ARE MANY – a lovely theme of our unity in the Eucharist.

Dr. Russ Rentler, another earlier guest on Catholic Vitamins provided us with a wonderful song for use on this feast of Corpus Christi – BREAD OF HEAVEN.