Italy 2006
Rome, Assisi and Eupilio, April 18-24, 2006
Rome
Blessed be God forever! On Tuesday, April 18th, 2006, Vassula and Patti Potoglou arrived in Rome where Sr. Martha O’Delli and Christian were there to greet us and take us to stay at Villa Maria Pia, where we were welcomed by the Sisters of the Congregation of the Religious of the Holy Face . Niels Christian Hvidt was also there to welcome us. That evening we met with Sr. Martha and her companion to discuss Vassula’s itinerary for the upcoming week.
Wednesday, April 19th, was a warm and sunny day while we kept to a rigorous schedule within the Vatican City surroundings. We met with the beloved Fr. Prospero Grech, O.S.A. who is Consulter of the Congregation who wrote the letter to Vassula on behalf of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith asking the “five questions” of April 4th, 2002. Besides his incredible gift for photography, another amazing point of interest about Fr. Prospero is that he is one of the principal collaborators in the translation and literary revision of the First Edition of the Jerusalem Bible whom the Editor, Alexander Jones names. The opportunity to acknowledge this fact to him was made and in a timidly humorous way, he seemed pleased to receive the sincere compliment. Then we went for an interview with a gentleman who has read the True Life in God messages in the Chinese language and is very enthusiastic to continue sharing them.
By the morning of Thursday, April 20th, Vassula, Niels, and Patti were going to meet with Monsignor Fortino who is an eloquent voice amongst the ecumenical efforts being made in the world today. He spoke with us over an hour in a private meeting room about the progress taking place with unity and said, “Russia seems to be more open than ever before.”
When we bid our farewells to Monsignor Fortino, we continued our journey by squeezing in a mini pilgrimage to Assisi and pray at the Portiuncula and tomb of St. Francis. While Niels was driving, we began talking about what we should request of St. Francis’ intervention and Vassula said, “We should request St. Francis’ intervention for the church that is in ruins and for the renewal and unity of the Mystical Body of Christ.” Of course, those present totally agreed and so we did!
We returned to Villa Maria Pia and prepared for Saturday’s departure to the Retreat House of Fathers Barnabiti , in Eupilio, located in the province of Como.
Eupilio, oasis di pace of the Barnabiti Fathers
On Saturday, April 22th, Vassula and Patti were met at the Milan airport by Mr. and Mrs. Francis Mifsud, who would interpret for Vassula at the retreat. We were driven there by a wonderful young lady and arrived approximately an hour later and found we had truly entered into an “Oasis of Peace”, Fr. Barnabiti’s Retreat House of Spirituality. We arrived at night and could not see the landscape but the air was fresh and the breeze slight with the fresh smell of pine trees near by. One of the main themes undertaken by the founder is ‘Light and Silence welcome everybody.’ One of their primary lessons for the person going on retreat in this place is to enter into their interior silence to contemplate God.
We were greeted by Fr. Antonio Gentili who manages the Villa St. Anthony M. Zaccaria like a Swiss clock. Fr. Gentili is a most gracious man whose enthusiastic personality captivates the heart. While together, we ate and Fr. Gentili handed us a pre-packaged itinerary for the weekend and explained the daily schedule, information about the Retreat House and its founder, the punctuality expected for the Mass times, talks, all which were to be given by Vassula, free times etc.
Vassula was pleased to see that the entire weekend of April 22nd thru the 25th was devoted solely to the Spirituality within the True Life in God messages. This was impeccably prepared in a seminar format by Fr. Gentili and the people who coordinated it with him. We soon began to see people arrive and settle into their rooms and on the average, no less than 80 people participated daily in the retreat including those who traveled to and from the Center daily.
After Fr. Gentili’s brief introduction, Vassula explained that there would be four themes she would talk about during the course of the weekend:
first, the theme entitled 'Why Go Back to God?'
second 'The Ways to Go Back to God'
third 'The Book of Revelation', and then
fourth 'The Return of Christ and Unity'
She gave a short over-view of the call of True Life in God explaining to those who were new to reading the messages, which called for “a very personal encounter with God – contemplation…”
and that “the Lord planned a mission and to serve God without loving or knowing God – it will be empty…”
Vassula talked about the first volumes explanations of the meaning of intimacy and fear of the Lord and how in the later volumes, Our Lord began talking about the division in the Church and how it is opposite of God’s Will and that the number one virtue is Love and it is the key to Unity and that with Love and Humility, Love is like a mother to the other virtues; the more love given, then more virtues are given. The later volumes also have pages and pages on the Holy Spirit. Before Vassula began speaking about the specific themes she wanted the people to know that “…when God speaks in our times it is so that we pass on His Will and today it is a call to repentance, living our lives as an unceasing prayer and to pray for the unity of the Church.”
1st part of Vassula's witnessing (Saturday, April 22, 2006) :
Why Go Back to God?
“Everybody is welcomed to become a living Altar for God. God does not come by force to violate our liberty or to condemn us, but He comes to us our of his boundless Mercy with peace terms… reminding us that we belong to him and that we should return to Him… He invites every soul to Him so that He gives freely to that soul the fullest knowledge of His Will…”
Vassula explained “Satan’s Hour” as us “living in times when the world has grown cold, icy cold in the love of God and where this world has climbed at the peak of its apostasy and Godlessness… So long as the Church is divided there will be no peace in the world… and today the world refuses to give glory to God and instead glorifies itself, playing God. People give more importance to false religions nowadays and follow all sorts of systems like channeling, bio-energetic exercises and the power of healing from crystals, putting all of this above the power of the Holy Spirit…”
“We come from God and we return to Him. This is the law of the whole creation. So we must allow ourselves to be transformed by God in order to be identified with Christ; how else will we enter Heaven? When we read carefully the Scriptures we should understand that if we were one of those that have gone astray losing thus the essence of God we would be as those dry branches of the Vine that Jesus was talking about. Without us going back to God and being grafted on Him we will eventually dry up and die. And just like those dry branches we will be good for nothing and will be thrown in the fire. (John 15:5-7)…”
“Nevertheless, despite our wretchedness, God sends His Spirit of Grace daily on us to enliven that flickering flame within us that is about to extinguish. We really have no excuse, grace is there. Yes, we have a long journey in front of us to reach our goal and be reunited with the angels. But, are we not daily sated with Divine Love? Can anybody say that we were not called to become gods by participation and deified after we die to our self? Can anyone deny of having heard our Bridegroom invite us to enter the wedding chamber of His Heart?...”
Vassula continued saying, “Our relationship is when we pray and when we are in contemplation to Him. Prayer unveils God. As it is we know that we live in God, we breathe in Him, we move in Him and we draw our life from Him.” Then she gave the example of the fish in the water. Having spoken thus far, the people were continually taking notes and listening attentively as though they had never heard of this language of such love. Their pens especially kept up when Vassula began to speak of how “God is offering us to give us back our divinity, divinizing our soul to enter Eternal Life. If you allow the Holy Spirit to flow in you, He will transfigure your soul into a heaven, transfiguring it to be fit for His dwelling place.” She stated that, “There are many reasons why we should go back to God and here are only a few:
- God is Our daily Bread
- Our breath and our life
- Our Father
- The Unction of the poor in spirit
- Guarantor of your well-being
- Luminous Godhead and Source of Sublime Love
- Sovereign and Bridegroom of all creation
- Restorer and Lamp of our body and soul
- Consoler of the persecuted in the cause of right
- Balm and Ointment of the sick and the dying
- Companion and Friend to all His creatures
He is the One who ceaselessly gives Himself to us to perfect our image which has been deformed by all our sins. He is the One who elevates us by grace and through grace our sight is restored to see the invisible things that never wear away…”
Filling us with “His transcendent light, we will be filled with the absolute fullness of Their Triune Deity.” We will be taught with “Wisdom to understand that the act of surrender is when we will incline our head in humility, love and self-effacement.”
2nd part of Vassula's witnessing (Sunday, April 23, 2006) :
The Ways to go back to God
“The Lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with Light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness.” (Mt.6:22-23).
The Lord sheds more light on this passage: “…The Lamp of your body is the Holy Spirit within and will seek the true virtues and not the vices… filling you with the treasure and splendors of the Kingdom. These are the virtues. Where there is light there is virtue. Where there is darkness there is vice…” It is the Holy Spirit “who can guide us back to God. But to obtain the Light of the Holy Spirit it should come through our repentance. REPENTANCE IS THE GATE THAT LEADS SOULS FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. Repenting SHOULD BE DONE IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE SOUL must REPUDIATE NOT ONLY ITS EVIL ACTS, BUT EVEN ITS MALICIOUS THOUGHTS. IT IS AN ACT OF HUMILITY. The Lord says that the humbler you get to be the easier His Holy Spirit will find its way in you and if you give Him this space He will shatter all impurities and imperfection that confront Him in order to prepare you for this perfect union with Him… Everyone who desires salvation will feel the need to repent and God will listen to his repentance. The greater the repentant is sincere, the greater God’s friendship. Repentance is not a one-time action. As we are asked to turn our life into AN UNCEASING PRAYER, so it is with repentance. In a message, God says that each word that is uttered to Him in truthfulness draws His friendship closer, for His friendship ensues in proportion to the repentance given to Him. The fruit gathered after repentance is love and dispassion.”
“We are asked to die to ourselves – but what God sees are hardened hearts that cling to earthly substances, ignoring Him and He says, “Generation, you have still not set your minds for Me; …take My mighty Hand and I shall help you glorify Me, …I need your consent; I need your abandonment; I need your will; your heart and your entire “yes”. Once I have your consent, My Will shall be done in you.” So, “To obtain sainthood one must die to oneself and allow God to do His divine Will in you.”
3rd part of Vassula's witnessing (Monday, April 24, 2006) :
The Book of Revelation
This talk was given on Sunday, April 23rd on the Greek Orthodox Easter date and Divine Mercy Sunday. This talk and the next one will be written in their entire text so they will be read in the full clarity they provide.
“We are reminded by God that we are living in a time of ineffable grace and mercy because the Holy Spirit is powerfully renewing the creation.”
“But in our modern times you will have people trying to assess God. How can it be possible for any man to fathom His Greatness and his Marvels? And yet some think they can. Being too ready to show they know, shows their shallowness of mind. This is why the Holy Spirit conceals His Treasures from them and keeps them for the lowly.
In many ways our Lord made it known to us through the ages that He exalts in the lowly and routs the proud of heart. He has never disdained the poor in spirit but stood by them always and everywhere.
God is intervening in our times with a Salvific Plan, the plan of renewing His creation. He approaches the simple of heart. He delights in child-like faith. One has to open to grace, since God is pouring on us grace upon grace. One has to really be blind not to have noticed all the signs of the times. But the beast of course (that is the devil) is waging war against God and His children.
Although the dark forces are doing their best to stretch their tentacles over the Church and if possible abolish the Blessed Sacrament, denying the divinity of Christ, denying that our Lord resurrected with His Body, our Lord says that they will not prevail to achieve their evil goal. They are powerful forces that contaminated our generation and are feeding it, as our Lord says, “A PORTION OF RATIONALISM ONE DAY AND PORTION OF NATURALISM THE OTHER DAY AND SO ON, APING THE TRUTH, MY WORD, WISDOM AND THE LANGUAGE OF MY CROSS.”
“They want to subdue My Voice. And as Scriptures say, in (1Macc 7:17); “they will scatter the flesh of your devout and shed their blood all around Jerusalem and no one to dig a grave!” because, (Ap 11: 7-8) “the beast that comes out of the Abyss is going to make war on them and overcome them and kill them; their corpses will lie in the main street of the Great City known by the symbolic names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified;” (This means, by subduing the mouthpieces, in other words, the chosen souls, who are sent by Christ and the Virgin Mary and who carry the Word of God to make it known to the people, they are actually killing the Word of God in a symbolic way, by denying the fact that Mary and Jesus are witnessing, willingly or unwittingly they are waging war on them.)
A well known populous city of Christ, known as the Eternal City will never cease rejecting Our Calls. Like Sodom’s rejections, yet they will be claiming their openness and their openness to Our Spirit: but it will be the contrary, they will be crucifying all My given Words, nailing them to the wood. At this, many priests will stand in tears before the altar… Then a time will come when Our Household will have no way over these powers of Satan and the dark forces, and still, they would not be understanding, even when they will be witnessing the sword raised against the Cross. The governor of the evil powers will be confiscating It (the Cross) from public places and together with the beast and all his followers they will pursue their plan to de-Christianize Our people…”
“Our Lord, in these messages describes the Antichrist as in the Johanine epistles. (1 Jn 2:18,22; 4:3, 2 Jn 7) There are many antichrists today, antichrists in the Heriarchs, “because when one denies the divinity of Christ he becomes an antichrist. When one suggests and sows seeds of doubts on the Resurrection, claiming that Jesus did not resurrect within His Body but that it is only symbolic then they too are persecutor of the Word. Today this spirit of rebellion thrives. The spirit of rebellion severs this intimate union with God. Christ explains that by cutting the union with God it also cuts off the flow of the River of Life which is His Holy Spirit that nourishes the soul keeping it alive.
Jesus compares this union with God to a navel string that nourishes an infant. Her are Christ’s own words (25.7.89):
“Feel how My Sacred Heart lacerates, how It bleeds to see this dead era struggling to cut off their umbilical cord attached to Me, so that they may delightfully call themselves Godless, so that they may say: “No need to think about to whom we belong to; see? We are freed. We shall now go out and construct a Tower of Babel, have we not done this before? Why be attached to God? What do we gain by His Law?” They are doing all these things because they have never known The Father nor Myself. Most of this generation are worshippers of Baal. Yes, they are the descendants of Baal, their ancestors who worshipped false gods. All they do is wither their souls, for they snapped their navel string attached to Me which nourished their soul. They are heading willingly into the eternal fires.”
“Their rationalism pushes them to free themselves from God’s Law to make their own law, with the desire to be like gods themselves believing they will know good and evil; believing that their eyes would open, but in fact they go blind instantly once this union with God is cut out.” Then “Satan will set to work,” (2 Th 2:9). Satan will aim on what is most holy. His aim would be to ABOLISH THE PERPETUAL SACRIFICE IN THE SANCTUARY. In Matthew, Chapter 24:11-12, Jesus warned us of these times, He said: “Many false prophets will arise; they will deceive many, and with the increase of lawlessness, love in most men will grow cold.” Then, “So when you see the disastrous abomination of which the Prophet Daniel spoke, set up in the Holy Place then those in Judea must escape to the Mountains etc.”
These false prophets are the false teachers. The most dangerous ones are the Neo Theologians who are multiplying today and because of their apostasy are propagating their own self-made conventional and rationalistic law. The Lord says that their law is like poisonous food. They teach that Christ’s Resurrection is symbolic and that the miracles Jesus made are also symbolic, and for them the miracles that occur today simply do not happen. Here are Christ’s own words from the messages: (13.12.92) “BEWARE OF THOSE FALSE TEACHERS WHO TELL YOU THAT MY HOLY SPIRIT CANNOT DESCEND TO PERFORM MIRACLES AND WONDERS. BEWARE OF THEM WHO CONDEMN MY HOLY SPIRIT WHO TODAY REMINDS YOU OF YOUR FOUNDATIONS. BEWARE OF THEM WHO KEEP UP THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF RELIGION, BUT REJECT THE INNER POWER OF MY CHURCH, THE INNER POWER WHICH IS MY HOLY SPIRIT.” As they reject all the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, calling them all nonsense. They close their ears to God’s salvation calls of today. They limit God as they are limited and make out of God a dumb image.”
“Not only do they attack God’s Divine Action, but they censor It as well, forbidding Him to act freely today. They suppress the Holy Spirit and do not allow God’s Spirit to flow and renew us. They do not allow the Holy Spirit to prophecy, under the pretext of prudence, but in reality it is because of their incredulity.
Imbued by rationalism, their voices rise higher than God’s voice and their teachings are based on the light of their apostatic spirit and not on the Divine Light that comes from God. God is replaced by beliefs like self-realization. From the outside they might appear they are doing great things, like: progress of the environment, progress of the youth, etc., but in reality they do not give space for the action of the Holy Spirit to breathe in them and renew them. These apostates are constantly rejecting the salvation calls that descend from the Holy Spirit and attack the action of the Holy Spirit. This is how the soul ends up as a blasphemer against the Holy Spirit, committing the unforgivable sin. Here is an excerpt from one of the messages:
“I WENT IN ALL WAYS, SEEKING TO GATHER YOU AND REMIND YOU TO LIVE HOLY SINCE I AM HOLY, BUT ONLY A REMNANT PAY ATTENTION WHEN I SPEAK. I HAVE SPOKEN THROUGH WEAKNESS AND POVERTY, BUT YOU MADE A CULT IN PERSECUTING MY HOLY SPIRIT THAT GUIDES THEM, TO THE POINT OF FRENZY!!...INDEED YOUR BATTLEFIELD IS DRENCHED NOW WITH INNOCENT BLOOD BECAUSE MY HOLY SPIRIT OF PROPHECY HAS BECOME A PLAGUE TO THE WORLD. THEIR FRENZIED PERSECUTIONS AND TOTAL REJECTION THEY HAVE FOR MY MOUTHPIECES ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE OF SODOM. THEIR STUBBORNNESS TO OPEN THEIR HEART AND COMPLY, THEIR REFUSAL TO OPEN THEIR EAR AND LISTEN TO MY VOICE TODAY, HAVE GONE BEYOND THE STUBBORNNESS OF PHARAOH IN EGYPT… MY HOLY SPIRIT IS CALLING YOU ALL TO A TRUE DEVOTION AND TO A BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF MYSELF, YOUR GOD. I SHALL NOT STOP CALLING YOU NOT UNTIL I HEAR FROM YOU THE WORD. “ABBA”.
“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!”
“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.”
New Heavens and New Earth :
“I AM PREPARING YOU TO LIVE UNDER THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH BECAUSE THE TIME IS DRAWING NEAR NOW WHEN LOVE IS TO RETURN AND LIVE AMONG YOU. SOON YOU SHALL BE HEARING LOVE’S FOOTSTEPS ON THE PATH OF RETURN AND IT IS FOR THIS REASON ALL” “AROUND THE EARTH MY VOICE IS HEARD, AND IT IS FOR THE SAME REASON YOUR YOUNG ONES SEE VISIONS. I HAVE SAID THAT I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND AND THAT YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY AND THAT EVEN TO THE LEAST I WILL GIVE MY BLESSINGS.” (10.1.90)
What Jesus means here is the total renewal of our hearts. We are the Dwelling Place of God, we are God’s Property, we are His City, His Tent, His Sanctuary, His Tabernacle, His Altar, His Garden, His Palace, His Eden.
The new heaven and the new earth are the renewal of our soul; the holy city, the new Jerusalem, is the RESTORATION of our soul, REBORN from the Holy Spirit. Today this generation’s soul is drier than wasteland, but tomorrow our soul will be turned into a Garden of Eden, because the Holy Spirit of God, the Giver of Life, will purify our soul.
“COME AND LEARN: THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH WILL BE WHEN I WILL SET MY THRONE IN YOU FOR I WILL GIVE WATER FROM THE WELL OF LIFE FREE TO ANYBODY WHO IS THIRSTY. ALLOW MY HOLY SPIRIT THEN TO DRAW YOU INTO MY KINGDOM AND INTO ETERNAL LIFE. LET EVIL WIN NO MORE POWER OVER TO DIE… ALLOW MY HOLY SPIRIT TO CULTIVATE YOUR SOIL AND MAKE A TERRESTIAL EDEN IN YOU. LET MY HOLY SPIRIT MAKE A NEW EARTH TO PROSPER IN YOU SO THAT YOUR FIRST EARTH, THAT WAS THE DEVIL’S PROPERTY, WEARS AWAY. THEN ONCE AGAIN MY GLORY WILL SHINE IN YOU AND ALL THE DIVINE SEEDS SOWN IN YOU BY MY HOLY SPIRIT WILL SPROUT AND GROW IN MY DIVINE LIGHT.
ALLOW MY HOLY SPIRIT TO COME TO YOU AS A ROARING FIRE AND PURIFY YOU BY BURNING ALL THE DRY PLANTS (sins and bad habits) REMAINING IN YOU AND REPLACE THEM WITH CELESTIAL SEEDLINGS AND DELIGHTFUL VINEYARDS (virtues). THEN, FROM THAT DAY ONWARD, I MYSELF, SHALL BE THEIR KEEPER… LET YOUR OLD EARTH THAT IS NOTHING ELSE BUT DEVASTATION AND RUIN, NOW CALL OUT TO ME AND I SHALL TAKE PITY ON YOUR DISGRACE… YOUR FEW REMAINING TREES NOW ARE DRY AND BROKEN, READY FOR FIREWOOD ONLY, SO ALLOW MY HOLY SPIRIT TO TURN YOUR SOUL INTO ANOTHER PARADISE, A NEW EARTH WHERE WE (The Holy Trinity) WOULD MAKE OUR HOME IN YOU.
I then asked: “What about the New Heavens?”
“THE NEW HEAVENS? THEY TOO WILL BE INSIDE YOU WHEN MY HOLY SPIRIT WILL GOVERN YOU IN HOLINESS. MY HOLY SPIRIT, CONSORT OF MY THRONE WILL SHINE IN YOUR DARKNESS LIKE A SPLENDID SUN IN THE SKY, BECAUSE THE WORD WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU TO EXPRESS THOUGHTS AND SPEECH AS I WOULD WISH YOU TO THINK AND SPEAK. EVERYTHING EXPRESSED WILL BE IN ACCORDANCE TO MY IMAGE AND THOUGHT. EVERYTHING YOU WILL DO WILL BE TO OUR LIKENESS BECAUSE THE SPIRIT OF YOUR FATHER WILL BE SPEAKING IN YOU. AND YOUR NEW UNIVERSE WILL MARCH WITH MY HOLY SPIRIT TO CONQUER THE REST OF THE STARS (Symbolic for people) FOR MY GLORY AND THOSE” “WHO HAD NOT OBSERVED MY LAW AND WERE FULLY DRAWN AWAY LIKE A PASSING SHADOW INTO DARKNESS, NEVER KNOWING THE HOPE AND HOLINESS I WAS RESERVING FOR YOUR TIMES.
THE NEW HEAVENS WILL BE WHEN MY HOLY SPIRIT WILL BE POURED OUT TO YOU ALL FROM ABOVE FROM THE HIGHEST HEAVEN. YES, I WILL SEND MY SPIRIT IN YOU TO MAKE A HEAVEN OUT OF YOUR SOUL, SO THAT IN THIS NEW HEAVEN I MAY BE GLORIFIED THRICE… AND AS THE PATHS OF THOSE WHO RECEIVED MY HOLY SPIRIT WILL BE STRAIGHTENED SO WILL THEIR DARKNESS AND GLOOM TO BE ENLIGHTENED AND RESTORED INTO BLAZING STARS ILLUMINATING THEIR DARKNESS FOR EVER AND EVER. SOON, THIS EARTH AND HEAVEN WILL DISAPPEAR BECAUSE THE RADIANT GLORY OF MY THRONE WILL SHINE IN YOU ALL.” (3rd April 1995)
“And we are living now right in these times. 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.”
4th part of Vassula's witnessing (Tuesday, April 25, 2006) :
The Return of Christ and Unity
“12.04 “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, you 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.
“In the messages Christ several times has been saying that His Return is imminent; that it would be a great Return. Many people were confused by this statement and had all sorts of theories in their mind even by proclaiming that there must be some sort of intermediary return of Christ. When once I asked in the beginning what He meant, our Lord’s response was still enigmatic. He simply said; “Love will return as love…” But one day He favoured me with a more complete understanding. He said: (31.10.00) “So many of you ask: ‘How shall He come?’ to this I reply: do you not know that since time began and man was set on earth, the triumph of the wicked was always brief? The triumph of the wicked is almost over now because it will be swallowed up by My Triumph. Just like the staff of Aaron that I turned into a snake and swallowed up Pharaoh’s snakes, in this same manner My Triumph will strike and swallow up the wicked man’s triumph. So that in this Triumph you will all extol My Holy Name! Then I “will be among My people and you shall journey with Me, your God. You will walk with Me. You will walk with the One you once thought inaccessible… you will talk with the One you had once put out of your mind, you will converse with My divinity, for I, the Godhead, will be present in your heart revealing, as a good counselor, the path of Life to you…
Yes, it is possible for you to see God in this life too; it is possible to contemplate Me while still on earth, yes! It is possible for you to penetrate the depths of Me, your God and all, and possess Me while still on earth. This will be the beginning of your new life, for you will not know Me only by hearsay or from words and books, but in truth and by a metanoia through grace given to you by the Holy Spirit. To behold Me is life in itself since it offers you immortality. This will be the manner I will be visiting the earth. My children, have you understood My mystery?”
(1.6.02.) “Christ marches with majesty across this desert and He makes the earth rock, to announce His imminent return. But the people have not understood. Some say; “Christ is coming in flesh and bone”, others argue groundlessly, “God will come and smash the heads of His enemies,” – but they have not understood the Psalms… Like the phantoms of a midnight dream, they wonder… In the beginning too I had simply failed to understand, even though I was constantly in Your Presence; even when You held my right hand to write.
It is written: “The Lord gives his couriers the news…” and so He does… When God’s footsteps approach and are heard, the virtuous rejoice, exulting and singing with joy; they say: “Build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Christ, and exult at His coming!”
“At Noah’s time the heavens deluged at Your coming… at the coming of God… but had not seen You in flesh and bone… And now, the earth will be put aflame with Your Son’s return; at the coming of God… Christ will descend from the heights; just as thousands of myriads of divine chariots You, Lord, had left Sinai for Your sanctuary; David said: “God You have ascended to the height, and captured prisoners, You have taken men as tribute, yes, taken rebels to Your dwelling, Yahweh…” (Ps 68:18) but they had not seen You in flesh and bone… yet You were there… When you approach the virtuous they rejoice, they do not see You in flesh and bone… but You are there. When You had set Yourself then at the head of Your people, and marched across the desert, You did not come in flesh and bone… yet You were there… and so it will be when Christ, in our days, declares that His Return is imminent… the heavens and the earth will be set aflame and He shall turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the hearts of children towards their fathers… yet, no one will see You in flesh and bone…
Love will return as love… for all of us will be in the True God, consuming Fire, Triune and Holy…”
“The Lord responded: “you have now given a spiritual testament, this will be the road of My imminent return… My return will renew you and free many of you from your transgression; when the renewal takes place many will be vested with Myself and all the saints and angels will give thanks for the gift of My Holy Spirit.
…and as you said, daughter, at Noah’s time the heavens deluged at My coming, and now the earth will be tested and put aflame by fire. My Day is imminent and woe to the corpses on that Day of My Return. Alas for those who centered their lives on material things, when My Day comes. My appearance will be fire. Already My footsteps are heard and My Footprints are seen by many. When I reveal Myself to those who did not acknowledge Me, when in these times of grace, I presented Myself as Mercy and as a Lamp, I will reveal Myself then as a consuming Fire… Why did anyone believe I will pass by unnoticed? Do you still believe the Master will pass you by without any retribution? It is therefore good to repent daily…”
“I would like to explain when our Lord is speaking of the “Day of the Lord,” or speaking about “Fire”. To start with you can compare God as “Fire”. His approach is like fire that consumes our sins, iniquities and our impurities, burning them to the root. The day of the Lord too is a divine visitation by Fire. When also our Lord speaks of putting aflame the earth, again it means, the visitation of our Lord, because the approach of God will make people be conscious of their consciousness revealing it to them as a revelation. The Lord says that His divine Fire will turn the inflexible heart into a lenient heart in His Day. That Day, the earth will be fully aware in consciousness and soul of its failures and its deficiency, its corruptibility and its lawlessness and not say the least, the infamous rejection of His Resurrection and His Omnipresence in our daily life.
In another message God says: “Have you not understood that I am Fire? A Fire putting aflame everything I seize? Anyone whom I seize, totters in flames of divine Love. Have I not declared in the Scriptures, My fire? Have I not declared it several times in this Ode?
Although your spirit in its sinfulness will shrivel with fear and with unbearable pain when recognizing Me, at the same time I will be exulting My Fragrance and your soul, in My Presence, although terrified upon seeing itself naked and in decay from sin and transgression from not following My Law of Love, will delight that I her creator and her God, is visiting her. When this day comes upon you, the day I call the Day of the Lord, the scales covering your eyes will fall off and you will look at your real self. My Fire will reduce you to nothing to your dismay. But, do not gasp with fear, be of good cheer, for how else would you see yourself by My side? Any remaining evil tendencies will be rendered inactive. This purification is to turn your soul not to venture here and there aimlessly, but to Me who am your sole divine Bridegroom… How else am I to bring those souls to repentance? Only when I strip them naked with My Fire and they see themselves in what state they are in, only then will they realize how they were the possession of Satan, in those whom My Divine Fire will be blazing, purifying them, by this immaterial Fire, I will consume them awakening them and making them finally aware of how they are being transformed… Transformed with pain but with joy as well, by the Love of My transforming Fire. Anyone who in body and soul already possess Me and I possess him the Day of the Lord shall not come upon him nor will he experience it. Why? Because the “Holy Spirit already had made His passage felt in them. They have had the Day of the Lord come upon then…” (13.9.02).”
On Monday, April 24th, Vassula spoke more about how God gives us opportunities everyday to love Him more and be in divine union with Him when we practice “we, us”. She shared with the people the 1986 vision she received regarding the Three bars of iron and that the very basic message of True Life in God is the reconciliation we must have with one another. This reconciliation = unity. In the evening we met with three couples, one from Milan, another couple was from Venice and another from Turino. These people were very willing to begin TLIG prayer groups in their areas and are working on preparing the International Prayer Meeting Guideline booklet in Italian.
During the course of the weekend we asked those present to answer the following questions and are able to share only a few of these testimonies with you:
1) How did the talk of Vassula impress you?
2) Which theme will you remember; meditate upon the most?
Testimony Number One:
“First of all, I never knew anything about Vassula and never read anything about True Life in God. The words of Vassula impressed me because it shows a Word that doesn’t come from her. A Word that man cannot express. A Word, that has a Supernatural Power. From the way she expresses, it is clearly seen, her mission. A mission she pursues in a very clear and determined way: being a channel of Christ, being a docile instrument of Divine action. Her image, her way of being is witness in itself that the messages are effective and reflect the truth.
I was particularly impressed by the subject of Redemption because today this is an underestimated reality, especially in the clerical religious environment (we feel too much “in the right”), justifying and softening every action, every more or less evangelical choice. I think we’ve lost the sense of sin so everything is turned into our own interests, everything becomes a “good thing”, everything is permissible, nothing sinful. A superficiality towards God in our relationship with God makes us blind and doesn’t allow us to see ourselves as we really are.
I will personally, deeply meditate on this to find my dignity again: redemptive creature. I will put myself in front of myself with the utmost humility in order to see, by the Holy Spirit’s action, my real image that I’ve lost on the journey. I need a truer faith,… It’s urgent to find the faith that’s been sucked-out from the scatterings of everyday life, by having a sincere and deep journey of conversion.
I want to thank Vassula for her testimony and for the gift that she is and does for the Church. I ask her to pray for my conversion and for my intention (regarding my conversion). Sr. Susanne.”
Testimony Number Two:
(This is from the mother of baby Sara. They were at almost every talk. Vassula also prayed over Sara holding the relic of the True Cross upon her and with Fr. Gentili by her side. Fr. Gentili asked everyone to lift their hands and hearts over Sara for a complete healing if it be God’s Will as he anointed her with Holy Oil upon a cloth. Little Sara’s system does not process enzymes within her biological system and although she is about 2 ½ years of age, her physical stature and muscular structure is in tact yet she cannot speak, walk or eat without assistance. She is completely reliant upon her Mother, Father and family to provide constant care.):
Sara’s Mom: “Hearing the voice of Vassula is like hearing the voice of God Himself. It gives me very strong feelings. Being here for me is like realizing a dream. Jesus has given me the opportunity to be here and I love Him with all my heart. When Vassula talks, she’s so transparent and confident that only a person who speaks for Him can be. When she smiles her face lightens up like a face of a child and this happens when she speaks about Jesus.
Jesus is “leading” me in a very special way: He made me read Volume One of True Life in God about a year ago during a very difficult moment. I found the answers to many questions and the capability of abandoning myself to His Will. So, although the journey will not be easy the consciousness of Him next to me makes me overcome every fear.
The first subject, “Why Go back to God”, was my favorite one. Even if I read messages in the books, too hear them directly from Vassula’s voice was wonderful, the way she enters deeply into them and the way she explains them. I will meditate on the love of God who is so fatherly to all of us. I will meditate on the love of Jesus and His presence within and next to us. I will meditate on the importance of emptying our soul from the ‘rocks’ so that it can be freed and once emptied, will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
I really hope that Jesus will help me to love Him as much as He wants and desires and that my life will become an exchange of love between Him and my brothers.”
Testimony Three:
“Vassula transmits to me the messages of God, that illuminated my life, increased my faith, love and devotion to the Holy Catholic Church. I feel it transformed me and united me more profoundly to God. Thank you Vassula, because you provided a means of communication to me---the holy words of Jesus, who changed my heart.
It is necessary to carry the messages of “the True Life in God” to those that we will meet in life, offering to everyone a word that encourages their conversions and then pray for (them). The talk that I will recall the most will be: To carry the message, of which we are nourished, to others-to pray for conversions. Also, I will reread “True Life in God” looking to deepen their […], with which I must nourish my soul.”
Testimony Four:
“For certain, she has a strong “charisma” (or spirit), the explanations are precise, direct and easy to comprehend. The things that she says can impress you: above all, those who have never read her books and those currently who have little spirituality.
The talk that I will remember the most from this day and that is left with me is that God enters our heart like a flame and leaves us to urge on in the desert and to experience repugnance after purification with repentance to understand how much we are without value, praising us the same because we are like sick lepers before God, “facendovi colpire” from God, from his law of Love and only with him who will be our teacher, but also our friend. He will be everything (everybody) for us.
The talk that I’ll meditate on more is repentance and the road towards sanctity. And the verse that says: That the courageous person does not brag of his courage, that the wise man does not brag of his wisdom, but he must boast “in the fact that he knows and understands God”.
Testimony/Interview:
Prior to leaving the “Oasis of Peace” on Tuesday, April 25, 2005, I requested a small interview with Fr. Antonio Gentili, C.R.S.P., of the Order of Barnabiti:
Although Fr. Gentili has written numerous books and articles, he has written La Vera Vita in Dio – Incontri con Gesu, True Life in God – Conversations with Jesus, an Introduction for the Fourth Volume of the TLIG messages, 1992, Edizioni Dehoniane – Rome, Via Casale S. Pio V, 20. (He has given me written permission to have the above mentioned Introduction, to be translated into English, so we will share it with our International associates in the near future.)
Through the help of Iovanne, who translated for us, I asked Fr. Gentili about his relationship with Vassula and he stated that she too, was an “oasis of peace” and a very natural, disarmed, simple person and he felt it to be a sign that she was there after being ‘rejected’ by the ‘City’. Fr. Antonio said that Vassula “Speaks with incredible simplicity on themes that are highly theological and her simplicity is transparent. It is clear that her words do not come from herself but from the Divine.”
I asked him, while we sat in his highly acclaimed Library which was meticulously kept, “Why do you recommend people to read these messages while amongst all these rows of famous writers you could reach for something else? (The writer of this article knows why but asked anyway.), and Fr. Antonio, with folded hands and looking that of a gentle teacher said to me, “First, it is of a mystical language to be learned and of mystical context and mystical realities must be understood in a mystical context. Secondly, the way Vassula expresses herself is similar to Song of Songs which are an expression of God’s language of Love and tender intimacy.”
How did you hear about Vassula and the messages? Fr. Gentili said, “A friend told me about the books of messages and I read the complete writings! I have found the writings especially compliment the contemplative spirituality my guests come to learn here. By grace and applying the discipline of intellect, these two things interact and opening the mind to the messages, the Teacher elaborates…”
In Him with you – Patricia Todesco-Potoglou
. Congregation founded by the Blessed Mother Maria Pia Mastena, blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on 13 Nov., 2005.
. Barnabiti, Chierici Regolari di San Paolo, Opera ritiri, via S. Antonio Maria Zaccaria 17, I-22030 Eupilio, Galliano, Como, Italia
|
