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Miraculous events have happened throughout the Church's history and many people have been led to an even deeper faith because of them.
The private revelations associated with apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima are one of those miraculous events, especially the "miracle of the sun" that occurred on October 13, 1917.
But are Catholics bound to believe that the "sun danced" on that day?
Still a private revelation
While thousands of people did witness the event, it is still considered a "private revelation," as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:
Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.
The Catholic Encyclopedia echoes this statement of the Catechism, further explaining that the faithful are not "bound" to believe in private revelations:
According to the Catholic Church, there has been no public revelation since the Bible was first compiled.
What's interesting to note about the "miracle of the sun" is that Sr. Lucia saw a different vision than what the crowd witnessed.
The crowd say the sun "dance," but the visionaries saw St. Joseph, Our Lady and Jesus. They did not see the sun "dancing."
Often God will use a miracle to communicate his message to a particular person at a particular time in history. If we are not moved by the "miracle of the sun," we do not have to worry that something is wrong with us.
We are all on our own individual journeys towards God, and private revelations may or may not be helpful for us. What might be helpful for one person may not help someone else.
Whatever the case may be, we should never stop our journey and continually strive to increase our union with God.
