“As regards the guidance of human acts, the prophetic revelation varied not according to the course of time, but according as circumstances required, because as it is written (Proverbs 29:18), ‘When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad.’ Wherefore at all times men were divinely instructed about what they were to do, according as it was expedient for the spiritual welfare of the elect.” (Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., [b. 1225 A.D. in Rocca Secca, Naples, Italy - d. Wednesday, March 7, 1274 A.D. in Fossa Nuova, Italy], Doctor of the Church, Summa Theologica, Part II-II, Question 174, Article 6, Body; emphasis added).
“The prophets who foretold the coming of Christ could not continue further than John, who, with his finger, pointed to Christ actually present. Nevertheless as [Saint] Jerome says on this passage, ‘This does not mean that there were no more prophets after John. For we read in the Acts of the Apostles that Agabus and the four maidens, daughters of Philip, prophesied.’ John, too, wrote a prophetic book about the end of the Church; and at all times there have not been lacking persons having the spirit of prophecy, not indeed for the declaration of any new doctrine of faith, but for the direction of human acts. Thus Augustine says (De Civ. Dei [City of God] v, 26) that ‘the emperor Theodosius sent to John who dwelt in the Egyptian desert, and whom he knew by his ever-increasing fame to be endowed with the prophetic spirit: and from him he received a message assuring him of victory’” (Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., Summa Theologica, Part II-II, Question 174, Article 6, Reply to Objection 3; emphasis added).
Therefore, Private Revelations are not to be despised and/or ignored.
