Rationalism holds that reason and knowledge alone should guide our actions and opinions, as opposed to the intangible or emotion, and especially, religious beliefs.
The past five decades, in particular, have seen this mindset tear away at the hem of mystery, bringing all things miraculous, supernatural, and transcendent under a dubious light. The poisonous fruit of this deceptive tree infected many pastors, theologians, and eventually lay people, to the extent that the Liturgy itself was drained of signs and symbols that pointed to the Beyond. In some places, church walls were literally white-washed, statues smashed, candles snuffed, incense doused, and icons, crosses, and relics closeted see On Weaponizing the Mass.
Worse, far worse, has been the neutering of childlike faith in vast portions of the Church such that, often today, anyone who displays any kind of real zeal or passion for Christ in their parishes, who stands out from the status quo , is often cast as suspect if not cast out into the darkness. In some places, our parishes have gone from the Acts of the Apostles to the Inaction of the Apostates—we are limp, lukewarm, and devoid of mystery… a childlike faith.
O God, save us from ourselves! Deliver us from the spirit of rationalism! Conforming to prudence and sacred accuracy, people cannot deal with private revelations as if they were canonical books or decrees of the Holy See… For example, who could ratify in full all the visions of Catherine Emmerich and St. Brigitte, which show evident discrepancies?
Peter Bergamaschi who had published all the unedited writings of Benedictine mystic, St. Perhaps all this is precisely why God has, mercifully, left this unbelieving generation with unmistakable confirmations of His divine stamp on many seers — from the stigmata, to miracles, to weeping icons and statues in their homes or presence. Luz de Maria de Bonilla or Luisa Piccarreta ]. In this vein, our translator Peter Bannister, MTh, MPhil, put together a list of links to weeping icons in the Eastern Church that have, or are occurring throughout the world.
