Renewal and Teachings of Ascetic Life

Vassula Rydén
Řecko, kláštery Meteora 2004

If we want to truly progress spiritually and follow the Way to become gods by participation, and rule with God, and have a vision of God while on earth, we must know that the more effaced we become for God, the more completely we would be united to God and the greater His works will be in us. We should be humble in a realistic way. Today's Calling from God is for a renewal of spirit and for reaching those ascents that seemed impenetrable and only reachable by the saints. But God is pouring out His Holy Spirit in such a powerful way, like never before in history, reaching just anyone now-a- days to be lifted in the heights of glory and receive a share of intellectual light. All of this is made possible to us by His Spirit, for through His Spirit we are called partakers of God and reborn. With this new birth we enter into the virtues and into celestial realities. By becoming thus adoptive children of God, we will share intellectual lights to start knowing God with a different understanding and perception than what we knew before, when we followed the teachings on things of this earth, understanding them in a limited way with our minds. In a message the Holy Spirit had said:

"I am He who brought you into a filial love with Our divinity to lead a divine Life and become another child, by adoption, of the Father."

It is written in Scriptures that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and that the fear of the Lord is the crown of Wisdom. We know too that our Lord had said that Wisdom is given to mere children. In other words Wisdom will be given to a contrite heart, without malice. Therefore, anyone who approaches the Lord with simplicity and a pure heart, the Holy Spirit will not shy away from that soul, but with delight will come and befriend that soul, instructing her with Wisdom, in a silent way. When people will ask: "from where has this one obtained all this knowledge and instructions on heavenly matters?" The answer will be that knowledge and instructions can only come through the Holy Spirit who immerses the soul in His limpid springs that flow from God's Mouth (Word). And as Moses whom He had enveloped by a cloud, the Holy Spirit could envelope us in a holy contemplation during which our soul and mind would be lifted in the Divine as well as in the Triune Life.

In the messages of True Life in God, our Lord is granting us the favour to teach us, in a simple language, how to ascent these heights and then into greater lights of understanding, penetrating the un-penetrable flames of divine Love if this is not done by the Holy Sprit's grace, penetrating in the depths of Light Himself. Through His teachings we are being not only elevated but renewed as well. Therefore, what is needed to reach those heights is a total surrender of will to God, in order to leave free the Holy Spirit to operate in our soul and understand the language of heaven and be able to transform us into divine beings.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life. All I have given you in written form is an effulgent spring that purifies body and mind, soul and heart, cleansing tar and soot. I, the Christ, have the power to transform your entire being from darkness into light. For the past eighteen years I have been speaking to you in your heart through the power of the Holy Spirit; My Merciful Odes that hold within them mystical revelations and instructions are for you and for this atrophic generation. They are a gift from the Father, from Me and from the Holy Spirit..."5.2.04

"My sayings are Byzantine lectures, raising you from naught into gods, leading you into high levels of ascetic spirituality and practices, to lead a mystical life that is attainable and reached by every human being... My Holy Spirit, the Source of all that came to be, the Source of Knowledge is willing to distribute His gifts to all mankind, giving mankind signs and teachings through His ineffable Light." 31.5.03

The Father promises us that if we are willing to die to our self, He will renew us. He says:

"I will teach them Myself to reach degrees of high holiness despite the emphatic cacophonies of their enemies who will show them neither pity nor charity. I will though give them the spirit of perseverance, a spirit so valiant that their mere presence will shake the foundations of hell, since they will be dressed with the glorious splendour of My Son Jesus Christ."

"I am renewing My creation; this is the beginning of this renewal. This is My passage among tombs, among this vast graveyard. My passage will turn the tombs into glorious Cathedrals with the Fire of My Love within them!"

The Father is calling us to contemplate Him, drawing us into a life of constant contemplation to Him. In heaven we will have an everlasting contemplation of God, but God gives us the possibility to sanctify us so that we start from here, by receiving the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. We therefore can advance, the Lord says, from ascent to ascent by an inward conformity to the likeness of Christ. For this our Lord has given us in such a way His instructions, so that they may be reachable and understandable to everyone.

Jesus said recently: "I have given you instructions of Byzantine lectures to reach the highest contemplation, to reach Me... vagueness and rigid formulations are not My ways of teaching, but My theology is based on Truth and on Divine Love, this is My theology." 9.4.04

In our spiritual journey there are always encounters of danger set by the evil one. This is why our Lord wants us to remain awake and aware of His Presence. For this we have to turn our lives into an unceasing prayer. We must not for one minute take it for granted that because we received the grace of God we can do what we want and go on sinning, because the danger is that we might fall from grace. Here is what the Lord says:

"I am the Light and he who lives in the Light becomes part of the Light... in Me there is no trace of darkness nor any shadow; grace makes part of Me and is light as well. When grace is diminished on someone that persistently offends Me, so then the light given to him diminishes and gradually too fades away...if one remains in My grace, he remains in My Light that widens his knowledge into spiritual realities and riches, since a powerful transformation takes place within the Light, leading him towards higher ascents, deeper in Me, your God, progressing his soul, enlivening him, putting him ablaze and like a straw lifted by fire, in this manner do I lift him into higher ascents of holiness.

But those who fall from grace, fall from My sight and what a fall that is! They fall into profound obscurity in veils of darkness ... all of you are given access to make part of My Light and become one flame; as much as grace is Light, so are the virtues that are in the Light; they too are obtained by those who dwell in Me, in My Light, and through your intimate relationship with Me, these will enliven into becoming light allowing you to grow into piety, truly resembling Me, transforming you into a god and transforming your mind, soul and heart to radiate My glory, for within you will be Nobility Itself, My Kingdom and My Throne and anyone who sees you will be perceiving Me, not you; altogether we shall be one."15.12.03

Once our soul will obtain the virtues in this Divine Light and enliven them through this intimate relationship with our Lord, we would start reaching higher virtues. The virtue of dispassion is a virtue that detaches the soul from any earthly desires and will only desire to love God and neighbour and, serve God.

Our Lord gives us the opportunity to become one with Him. In the messages there is a repetitive call that He can turn us into gods; we, the creatures can be transfigured, and out of the very dust of the earth and out of corruptible matter that we are, exalt us to the supreme heights of divinity, becoming a "sharer of the divine nature." This is why our Lord makes us understand that man can be restored and sanctified and in this high state will make us stand over and above the ranks of even the angels. In the Orthodoxy, our Blessed Mother is worshiped in this manner that She is "more honourable than the cherubim and beyond compare, more glorious than the seraphim," as well as,"sweetness of the angels," and "higher than the heavens."

Therefore, the messages, True Life in God, are a call to lead our soul into perfection and to be the holy abode of God without blemish. We are all called to reach a divine state of perfect love. We are called to obtain the legacy of being the sons and daughters of the Most High. We are constantly called to Him so that He draws us into deification. I have mentioned above that God is renewing his creation and that we are living in special times when grace is being given freely to many of us like never before in history. This is of course an action done by the Holy Spirit to renew God's creation. It is the Visitation of our Lord among us. If one asks, how would we know it is His Visitation? The answer is, by the signs of God's Presence, by the joy and peace our soul obtains, by the tranquillity in which He puts our soul to rest, by the thirst of God within our soul, by the amorous delights and consolations He infuses in our soul, by the desire to serve Him and neighbour. This is what our Lord said: "Tell Me, is there in the world or around you anything that can give your soul more exquisite and amorous delights than being with Me, just Me, alone? What does My Presence give you?" At this I answered with the help of the Holy Spirit, the following:

"Your Presence gives me a foretaste of the beatific Vision. It gives me a contemplation of Your glory. Your Presence gives me an indwelling delight, that which is given to the saints with merits. I have none. It gives me an intellectual awareness that in Your transcending Light, You, the Godhead, who fill all things without being contained by their limits can dwell in me, can dwell in us. I find in Your Presence, joy, light, sighs of longing, longing to penetrate even more in contemplation so that I may see what no eye has seen and hear what no ear has heard."20.1.99

Let us all profit then from the call of God who wants to lead our soul into sanctity; do not allow your heart, as the Lord says, to become like a cracked cistern that will never hold any of its contents in it no matter how much one fills it. But let us be vigilant to God's call and learn from His given Words of Knowledge so that we may go about perfuming the world with His sweet odour, turning the deserts into field of Knowledge.