considerations of medjugorje

Benchmarks

The terminology used to describe supposedly mystical experiences is not consistent.
Sometimes distinctions are made between terms like apparition, ecstasy, vision, or trance.
There are those who insist each term is precisely defined and describes a distinctly posited reality.
For most of us the terms are used interchangeably and are not precisely defined.
Let us imagine I am having an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
It's an apparition because she appears to me to be there.
It may also be a vision if I think I see her with my eyes regardless of whether I may be seeing her in the room or in my mind.
If I really get into the mood, it may be a trance.
If I get extremely happy about the whole thing, we might call it an ecstasy.
If I get even happier, it could be deemed rapture.
The terminology is notional rather than definitional.
The truth is we don't have an Ur Visionary, a benchmark against whom to measure our understanding.
We don't have someone that we can ontologically say that without doubt, that person has experienced a supernatural vision.
For this reason the Catholic Church has never instructed the faithful that they must believe in any visionary.
At times the local Church will express a measured approval.
More impressively over hundreds of years, sometimes the broader Church worldwide will take a positive attitude towards a claim of visions.
But no vision is an article of faith.
With regard to claims of Marian apparitions, I have said that the ones I have most hope might be true are Lourdes and Fatima.
Medjugorje is a study because it is happening now and embodies certain factors and dynamics that may show up in any claim of apparitions.
I still do not suggest that Bernadette of Lourdes, or the three scamps from Fatima, are Ur Visionaries and that we can assess all other purported visionaries by comparison to these.
In the absence of a benchmark visionary, there is a constant necessity for each of us in these matters to aspire to truth without posing as possessors of scientific rigour.
Goodwill and integrity between investigators of mystical as well as physical reality is a sound keynote.
I unreservedly emphasise the importance of goodwill and integrity gentle travellers of the internet while adding that it is not always people of faith who dissimulate.
Indeed there are scientists and rationalists who tell pork pies on a scale that would embarrass the most fraudulent visionary.