Vassula in Japan

June 17 - July 21, 1997 (Report II)

May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ grant peace, love and faith to all readers of this report.

We are quite certain that the Holy One who began this work of Peace and Love and who named it True Life in God, will see that it is finished when many souls will be touched and converted. In this report, we would like to share with everyone the privileges which we obtained through His grace, in our country.

In the early morning of June l7th, Vassula with Carlo Chiesa, the interpreter for our emperor and empress on their visit to Italy in 1993 arrived at Narita Airport, to further disperse the tremendous blessing our good Creator was pouring on our country through the messages of True Life in God.

Vassula's son, Fabian, also came to take a summer course in a university in Tokyo. So, the first few days of hers were spent in helping Fabian settle in this completely new environment.

From the first night, however, Vassula was led to share the messages with Japan's souls, hungry for spiritual food and help them through the divine messages and progress them in faith so that they increase their joy in Christ.

In the evening the night before Vassula's Tokyo meeting, more than ten people, who had volunteered to work and put up the necessary arrangements for the meeting, were gathered at Mr. Hayashi's office, who is the editor of TLIG; a very spiritual man, devoted to the Lord and our Lady. They invited Vassula so that she meets all those who offered their services to the Lord.

The eve before the meeting, Tokyo was hit by an unexpected typhoon, but the following day, June 21st, was bright and sunny, also very rare and precious in this rainy season. The Shiba-Seinen Kaikan hall, with 25l seats, was just the right size for those who would attend. What was remarkable to see, was the zealous efforts of non-Christians and non-Catholics to help make the conference a success. The flower arrangements and the guitar performance sung as overture to Vassula's messages, were all expressions of this spirit of welcome.

Among the more than 240 that gathered, were Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and fervent Buddhists, many of whom stayed for the healing service and who rested in the Holy Spirit during the healing service. The Spirit of the Lord was very manifest that late afternoon. More than one witnessed Vassula's face transfigured into the merciful face of Jesus. A grace that Jesus gave Vassula to show that what she says comes from Him; effacing her entirely He favours certain faithful people to see His image.

Among those who witnessed this phenomenon, was Mrs. Takeko Mitsui, the main interpreter for Vassula. This was at one time when she found it hard to understand her words, and while she was concentrating on the movement of Vassula's lips, looking at her from the right side, she saw Vassula's head turn and look at her.

Mrs Takeko then saw the transfiguration; she saw the tender eyes of Jesus looking at her... This happened three times and later, she was shown the picture of Jesus which was placed in front of the desk of which Vassula would be speaking, she recognized in the picture the eyes and the face she had just seen on Vassula's face. Takeko also experienced the change of Vassula's voice. She also commented that when Vassula's face was replaced by the one of Jesus', the hair became curly. The next morning, a lady (Protestant) phoned Mr. Hayashi. She had also witnessed Vassula's face change to that of Jesus. She further added that on returning home, she found herself totally recovered of both bodily and spiritual ailments. Praised be the Lord!

Let us share a passage of TLIG, when Jesus said.
"My Spirit will teach you to know yourself and to listen to My Calls; and when you do, a light will shine inside you revealing Me, your Triune God, in all My Glory..." (1.12.95)
Here, Jesus was trying to tell us that once we become His entirely, we will discover His Love, Mercy and Peace, we will discover Him entirely and we will get to know Him. At the same time He enjoys to favour certain people by revealing His Holy Face while His message is echoed by the one whom He chose to become His Echo.

The main message that Vassula addressed to us was that in humility, love and goodness, the Lord will reveal Himself and make Himself known to us. From thereon, the soul that would come to know the Lord in the Holy Spirit will be forever transfixed by His Love and cannot and will never ever forget Him. So, she tells us, that the soul that loves and thirsts for God, will always be mindful of the Lord and of His Love He has for every creature.

Another lady witnessed her own recovery after receiving Vassula's prayer to the Holy Spirit. Her name is Tetsuko Honda, a lady from Kagoshima. She was healed of a pain in her leg. Returning home, she, with two others, have begun a prayer group starting from July 3rd, in thanksgiving. - May the Lord of peace Himself give us peace all the time and in every way...

Before the Sapporo meeting with the faithful, on June 23rd, a pastor had threatened those who planned to attend Vassula's prayer meeting to ex-communicate them. (It has been reported later on that he did not do it). He had never read TLIG's messages or ever seen the leaflet introducing My Angel Daniel. As a result of these threats, some gave up the idea of attending, while others who came, 85 in all, were deeply moved and were favoured with many graces. Many of them witnessing to healing and inner joy, thanking Mrs. Kuriki and the TLIG Sapporo staff, who had joyfully hosted Vassula.

These were the three official meetings scheduled beforehand. But, thanks to her son, Fabian, Vassula found herself obliged to prolong her stay, until she completely settled her son. This resulted in several other meetings and encounters. It was, as Vassula said, something that God only would do to use her so as to strengthen His message in Japan and give to them as much as possible His spiritual manna.

Every other Friday evening, a young lady, Miss Kiyoko leads a rosary group in a chapel in Tokyo. Her conversion came by reading TLIG. She was then advised by Fr. Quennouelle to create a prayer group. She invited Vassula in the evening of June 27th, where Vassula explained about the other TLIG prayer groups that were formed and are being formed. She suggested that even two or three people can gather together and start prayer groups in Japan too. Vassula explained that in a prayer group there should not arise a spirit of competition ever, but everyone should consider themselves less important than all. It is as St. Paul says to the Philippians (ch. 2:3): "There must be no competition among you, no conceit, but everybody is to be self-effacing. Always consider the other person to be better than yourself, so that nobody thinks of his own interests first but everybody thinks of other people's interests instead. In your minds you must be the same as Jesus Christ."

On Monday, June 30th, Vassula, her son Fabian and Carlo Chiesa were invited by Mr. and Mrs Okazaki. In the afternoon, a meeting was organized so that Vassula addresses the people of Kobe. Vassula suffering from a cold, had lost her voice entirely that same afternoon. She told us that this would not be an obstacle for her and she addressed the people in whispering in the ear of the interpreter. This, I believe was the first conference ever given in whispers! In spite of everything, Christ was proclaimed and glorified even in her whispers....

Late that afternoon, Fr. Faroni, an italian priest residing for many years in Japan, drove Vassula and all of us to the Sacred Heart statue of Takatori, that became known worldwide and throughout Japan after the Kobe earthquake. Vassula considered this, as a personal gift from the Sacred Heart. "0 Lord, how you love your creation! The soul invisibly beholds your grace, and in awe and love returns reverent thanks unto you." This statue had remained standing when, in that terrible earthquake everything had collapsed. God's grace had been revealed to us to go and be near that statue which was a Sign to all of us. A Sign to remind us that He loves us and with open arms He waits for us to thrust ourselves in His embrace.

On Vassula's return from Kobe, she was asked to be interviewed by Gakken Publisher for its monthly magazine "MOU". Mainly young people who are interested in anything spiritual will be introduced to Vassula and her messages by this interview article, focusing on the topic of angels, in its September issue. So then, while you are reading these lines, give a small prayer that the Lord may touch those hearts of these Japanese young people.

Every first Friday at the Franciscan Chapel Center of Roppongi, Tokyo, there is s fervent vigil to the Two Hearts, with the rosary and the Mass led by the Filipinos. On July 4th, Vassula was asked to speak briefly and then later give a healing service. Fr. Eugene, who offered the Mass, welcomed her warmly. During the healing service, there were those resting in the Spirit in what appeared great pain, but gradually were delivered and liberated from their former state.

Also for the Filipinos and other foreigners living in Japan, Umeda Church, in the northern part of Tokyo. became the first parish church to invite Vassula to speak from the pulpit. On July 6th, Vassula was invited to address the people for 10 minutes during the English-speaking Mass. The conference scheduled that same afternoon was originally meant for the Filipino community. Unfortunately there seemed to be a spirit of competition and rivalry among a charismatic Filipino group, which we will spare by not giving their name, who hindered many of their group to attend Vassula's meeting. Their leader forbade them be present, nevertheless, one of them came, saying: "I believe that the messages are divine," and attended. If someone asks, "why does the Lord reveal Himself to some by grace and not to others?" maybe one should reflect on these words given by the Archimandrite Sophrony: "If the Lord does not reveal Himself to many people it is because of their intellectual pride, yet they, still think they possess much knowledge. But what is their knowledge worth if they do not know the Lord, not knowing the grace of the Holy Spirit, not knowing how this grace comes and why it is lost?"

God's ways are not our ways, for here we planned all along that this meeting would be given to the Filipino community, and instead it ended up being addressed to the Japanese, who in the meantime had filled up the parish hall to the surprise of everyone. Knowing that Vassula would be addressing the Filipinos in English a language that most of them did not speak, and yet, in their hunger of God and their thirst for the Holy Spirit, this language obstacle did not matter to them, so long as they would be just there. So God called the Japanese again to obtain His graces and the meeting was interpreted in Japanese...

The address that Vassula gave was this time of a deeper level and later on she explained that what she says is different each time so that through audio or video tapes we can all grow in spirituality.

On July 11th, Vassula visited Etsuko Maruo's model Japanese house in Yokohama. She had gathered more than 20 people to listen to Vassula. Again, Vassula, was obeying the command of Jesus who had said to her: "revive My Church, embellish My Church, unite My Church." In the end of her meeting, a traditional Japanese dance evoking God in the mountains, was exquisitely performed by Mrs. Shizuka Ebizuka.

The eve of Vassula's departure for Switzerland, the Filipino community that did not belong to that charismatic group, invited Vassula to speak to them. They prepared it at the Forum 8 of Shibuya in Tokyo. Fr. Campion, the former pastor of the Franciscan Chapel Center, came for this occasion all the way from their retreat house of Kiryuu, more than two hours from Tokyo. He joyfully offered Mass with Fr. Eugene and Fr. Schneider of the Bible Center, prefacing Vassula's address. God had called 74 devout Filipinos who listened for the first time to our Lord s messages, True Life in God.

The number of people attending Vassula's conferences may not have been in thousands, but in each place, little prayer groups are sprouting out as in Kagoshima and TLIG Tokyo. We had our first prayer meeting at Tenshikan on Sunday, July l3th with Vassula. Mr. Hayashi expressed his desire to edit Vassula's address and publish it to make the contents available to anyone who, for instance, could not attend Vassula's meetings. To begin, the manual for TLIG Prayer Meeting will, hopefully, be soon distributed to all the little Prayer groups and those who ask for them throughout our country.

Pray for us, dear readers, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Reported by Mrs Hitomi