Upon arrival to Catania on Saturday, June 5, 2005, Vassula and I were told that Mt. Etna had started to erupt. There is a history in Catania of this volcano pouring lava onto this island. Black lava formation can be seen all over Catania.

We felt that the Almighty Holy Spirit is so powerful that even nature is affected, reacting to the Good News that Vassula brings: His "Love Hymn, True Life in God, for their Spiritual Renewal.

Map of Scicily, Catania on the East Coast

Map of Catania

The lava in Catania

We met Sister Martha O’Daly in Rome and flew to Catania together. Father Giorgio Balestrire, the organizer of Vassula’s presentation, came to the airport to pick us up. Sister Martha was a big help to Father Balestrire in promoting this event. We also met Francis Mifsud (who translated English to Italian) and his wife at the airport.

The city of Catania

Father Balestrire brought us to stay at the La Perla Jonica in Acireale, where the event was to be held. Everything is on the same grounds, making things convenient. We went to see the place that the organizers were preparing in their big hall for the next day’s meeting. Angela Leonardi worked very hard along with Father Balestrire to put the event together. They asked Vassula to say a special prayer over the organizers which Vassula did. Vassula then thanked the organizers and invited them to the next Pilgrimage in 2007. She briefed them on the TLIG Ecumenical Pilgrimage that had just taken place in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The 2005 Pilgrimage

Vassula blessing the organizers

After that we went for dinner. Since Acireale is by the sea, the restaurant had beautiful fresh fish and all of the traditional Italian foods and fresh fruits.

Vassula with Father Giorgio Balestrire and the choir members

Father Balestrire showed his excitement about the preparations when he was telling us that for the next day there would be about six to eight Pullman buses arriving filled with people from the surrounding towns. He told us that his Bishop had given him permission to host Vassula after the Bishop saw the CDF booklet (read about the CDF) and the letter from Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope.  

On Saturday, June 5, 2005, we had an extra hour in the morning because of the time change. It gave us an opportunity to have breakfast with Father Giorgio, as we’re now calling him, at a more relaxed pace. Father Giorgio has been reading the Italian translations of the True Life in God Message for many years. When Vassula showed him the original handwriting edition it was the first time he saw the original handwriting of Messages. The Handwriting

The day’s program was full. After the Rosary, Vassula gave her talk followed by Holy Mass, then lunch. Vassula also spoke in the afternoon before the adoration of the Eucharist. There were approximately 800 people in the Hall.

The program of the event

Vassula preparing to speak, Sr. Martha O'Daly (right)

The Catania audience

A Holy Mass that took place during the event

There were all kinds of people that had come: old, young, men, women, and couples with their children. After Vassula’s talk, she prayed over the children. People brought others who were physically handicapped so they, too, could share in this special day. They lined up one by one and she prayed over them with the crucifix that contains the relic of the True Cross.

One of the people, a young man who presented himself to be prayed over, had an apparent experience of exorcism. The entire incident is captured on video. He violently expelled a grotesque slime from his mouth in very large quantity. Vassula continued to pray over him for several minutes until a priest in the audience came forward - who also happened to be the local exorcist for the church. After being prayed over, the peace that came over him was visible. He reported to us later he thought someone had attempted to put an evil or black magic on him and had given him some sort of physically or spiritually contaminated food to eat. The actual facts of the case are he expelled this material while Vassula prayed over him and felt much better afterward. If this was an actual exorcism I cannot say, I only report what we witnessed.

Vassula explained to the people that Jesus had said, "You shall bless my people with this crucifix." There have been healings and the crucifix has shed some myrrh. Vassula does this under the command of Jesus. He gave her a prayer for healing and deliverance that everyone there recited.

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen."

"Blessed be Your Name, O You who hear [our] prayer. Blessed are You my Lord who removed [our] soul from the pit..." May 29, 1995

People were holding up photos of their loved ones who could not attend in hopes of interceding for them also. The people in attendance were so patient the whole day, and that really left an impression on me. You could see they set aside this entire day for this full program of prayer, worship, adoration and spiritual renewal. They were not rushing to go anywhere else!

Vassula praying over a child who is physically challenged

People lining up for Vassula to pray over them

Vassula praying over the children lining up

While Vassula was praying over the children, you could see adults trying to get in line so they too could be prayed over. Vassula then told them that God is a God of order, and so we must keep order. She promised them that after lunch at the end of her second talk, she would pray over everyone. Imagine! All eight hundred people!

Vassula blessing a set of twins

Vassula with a Consecrated Religious who was helping with the event

Vassula started her first talk by introducing True Life in God. She told them how Pope Benedict XVI is asking for Unity between the Orthodox and the Catholics. It was Pope John II who had started the way and prepared the path of Unity for Pope Benedict. Vassula believes Pope Benedict XVI will do great things for Unity. She mentioned to the audience that she had had a meeting with him four months before he became Pope so that she could thank him in person for what he did to clarify her situation by sending her the Vatican’s five questions which she had answered to the satisfaction of the CDF, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church. As head of the CDF at that time, he even asked her to publish the questions and answers in Vol. 12, and these now also appear on the website.

Vassula explained that she had not always been welcome to do presentations, especially in Italy, but since Cardinal Ratzinger had sent out the CDFs clarification, things are much easier. She said, "Praise to the Lord!" This was her big meeting in Italy after so many years. She believes that this is the beginning of the True Life in God Messages becoming known throughout Italy, just as well as they are now known in many of the other sixty-three countries where she has been invited.

Various Churches invite Vassula since she brings a message of Unity. She went on to name the Catholic, Armenian, Lutheran, Orthodox, Coptic, Baptist, and other Churches and Rites who have listened to her speak. Thousands of people know about the True Life in God Messages since she has given, to date, about eight hundred presentations. The Messages have been translated into forty-two languages; enabling many more people to read Jesus’ Love Hymn.

"Italy, it is your turn to read them," she invited them with joy. She instructed them to take away her name and put in their name so they will realize that the Lord is speaking to them directly. God still speaks to His people and gives a charism of the sort given to her; a charism is always for the benefit of the Church and it is not for Vassula’s spiritual benefit alone.

Speaking to Catania, Father Giorgio Balestrire (right)

The Lord is calling everyone to become a Living Altar for him. She told them that she comes from the Orthodox Church, and that before this happened, although she had been baptized, she had never prayed nor went to church, and was just living in her own world. Like many people out there, she used to live for herself and her family. After her powerful conversion she now lives for God first of all. She said that without God, our table is empty, but with God, our table is full. God’s word is a wealth of riches and is a banquet and everyone is invited. The call is a call to repentance first, and unity, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and she said, "Repentance is so important because it will lead us to confession and will lead us to become one with God."

There is a new fervor in the people and this comes from the Holy Spirit," Vassula was explaining. "This thirst for Jesus and the Blessed Mother is the Holy Spirit Who is reviving you, Who is taking away the scales off of your eyes, Who gives you light to see invisible things and understand the invisible things that have been hidden from you. It is the Holy Spirit’s action to renew the Church through repentance, and to unite the Church, and this will be for the Glory of God!"

Vassula explained how the biggest rival to God is our ego and our will. She said as long as we don’t die to our will and our ego, God cannot fill us up with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit needs space and if He finds it He will invade us and fill us with His presence. People ask what God’s will is for them and she answers that only through the Holy Spirit will we know God’s Will.

"The Holy Spirit cannot come to someone who is in debt to sin. Jesus says the first thing we do is to REPENT. Ask to the Lord to forgive us for the sins we are not even aware of in that we don’t know to distinguish our left hand from our right hand. Repentance is the gate to Heaven. Repentance brings us tears and burns within us. We need to be sincere with ourselves and ask the Lord to show us who we really are; what we are to God and how He sees us, and then CONFESS. Then the Holy Spirit will really come upon us. We will be shining from within and without. With the light of the Holy Spirit even our members, all of ourself will be light and will be part of the light that is the action of the Holy Spirit. Only then, the Lord says, can you say, you are walking with God because you will be in the same path with God. You will not be behind or in front. The Lord says He is the Way, the Truth and the Light."

She continued to tell them about the activities of TLIG such as that many prayer groups have been established worldwide and that TLIG is Ecumenical because it is for the Unity of the Church. We are praying for the Unity, Reconciliation, and for the Peace of the world and to have more Love. The people in prayer groups are on fire with the fire of the Holy Spirit. Vassula told them of the establishment of the Beth Myriams, houses of charity, and how they came about. As in Holy Scriptures it says, "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:20; 2:17; 2:26) You can read it here for yourselves. Beth Myriams

We are created to serve God, and to serve one another. Why is God speaking to us in our times? Our Lady is appearing in different parts of the world because these are special times in which we are living. We have fallen into Apostasy and the Devil is very active so God intervenes because He doesn’t want to lose His people.

Vassula speaking to an audience of about 800 people

It is the time of Mercy. Jesus has given us warnings. Read about warnings

Jesus says our generation is far away from God. There is lack of prayer. Many are celebrating Christmas only as a secular Holiday; they worship the Christmas tree much more than his Holy Name.

"I come today and offer all mankind My Peace but very few listen; today I come with peace-terms and a Message of Love, but the peace I am offering is blasphemed by the earth and the Love I am giving them is mocked and jeered in this Eve of My Birth; mankind are celebrating these days without My Holy Name; My Holy Name has been abolished and they take the day of My Birth as a great holiday of leisure, worshipping idols;" Dec 24, 1991

The Lord has given us for a deeper conversion, a true conversion. You can define it with a single sentence as in the First Great Commandment: Love your God with all your heart and all of your strength and the Second is Love one another as I love you. (Matt. 22:37-38; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27)

On Judgment day Jesus says we will all be judged by the measure of the love we have had on earth. Be good, holy, and loving. Love one another. Prove your love. Be generous with one another. Generous means being kind to one another. We can do all this in the small things we do, day to day.

Jesus tells us how He is disappointed that we don’t TRUST him enough.

"We should do our best and He will do the rest." Dec 16, 1994

Vassula explained, "Unceasing prayer is your desiring God all day long. It is when you live perpetually in God and They (the Trinity of the Divine Persons)live perpetually in you. When you long for God all day long, when you thirst for God all day long, it is a prayer without words. It is the Heart that speaks. It is the Contemplative prayer. It is the top prayer because God sees inside your Heart. God is calling us, all of us to exhort us to pray for peace."

She then read them a message, "I make my voice be heard from above, I shout aloud so that everyone hears. Indeed my voice has reached the ends of the world. The good for not doing exactly My Will and for not praying in the right way; many of them approach Me only in words; the bad, for committing mortal sins without ceasing because of their hardness of heart and their indifference towards Me; but I will tell you what happens and what I mean; Scriptures teach you all, that once the hand is laid on the plough, no one should look back, for you will not be fit for the Kingdom of God;" May 21, 2001

Vassula continued, "To make Peace with God is to stop rebelling against God and to return to God’s favor and Intimacy after a period of estrangement and rebellion through sin and transgression. When you accept to live God’s law, which is the law of love, putting God first in your life, then you make peace with God. God gives us hope, which is the Holy Spirit."

"I would be greatly distressed were you to die now before having understood Me; many of you are busy with your daily chores, which please Me if they are done with love and they are according to My Mind, but all of this would be incomplete if you do not open to grace and acknowledge Me in My intimacy; so come and accept My familiar companionship and I, in My good pleasure, I will take you into the mysteries and the hidden secrets of Our Heart; you and We, will become inseparably united in Our Love for ever end ever." Nov 2, 1997

May God bless the TLIG people in Italy for having started a renewal for True Life in God. May all of their efforts and work produce more and more fruit. We thank all of the organizers for doing such a spectacular job for Jesus!

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