Mission To Asia

March 6-24, 2016

“Do you realize that through Me, My Message shall be known; I hold the key to all doors; (…) take now My Hand and let us climb”  (April 13, 1990)

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”  (John, Chapter 10)

Sunday, March 6th

Jesus occupies the primary place in Vassula’s life, along with His command to go and yield fruit everywhere! So late on Sunday evening, right after the wedding of her nephew Athanassios, her sister Yannula’s son… her mission to Asia began. After a 13-hour flight, the plane landed in Manila, Philippines. At the airport, Micaela and Aris, friends and TLIG organizers, welcomed us with love and took us to the home of the Lutz family, where we stayed for three days.  This was about the amount of time we needed to recover from the jet lag caused by the time difference, which makes it difficult to adjust.

FUKUOKA – JAPAN

On March 10, early in the morning, we departed from Manila for the first stop in Vassula’s mission to Asia, Fukuoka in Japan. Fukuoka is the sixth largest city in Japan, with a population of 2.5 million inhabitants. Japanese friends of TLIG travelled to Fukuoka from the other different cities of Japan to help with the organization of this two-day spiritual retreat in this city. As Vassula had been officially invited to this event, she responded warmly to the invitation and travelled once again to far-away Japan. At the airport, we were welcomed on behalf of the organizers by Nancy, along with Keiko and Fr. Imada, who were with us throughout our stay, making Vassula’s stay in Fukuoka easier.

Welcome at Fukuoka airport

On March 11, at the Daimyo Machi Catholic Church, the two-day spiritual retreat began. Satoru, who was responsible for TLIG communication in Tokyo, opened the TLIG retreat and welcomed those present, along with Vassula to Fukuoka, expressing his joy and gratitude to God for this blessing. He reminded participants that it was the anniversary of the day when the earthquake and tsunami took place in Japan in 2011 and asked everyone to pray for the victims. He then informed people that there are TLIG prayer groups in Japan and that those interested could fill in an application form with their details, so that they could be informed about TLIG news. He asked participants to contribute by making a donation, at the prescribed time, during Mass, towards the expenses for this spiritual retreat. At this retreat, many people from all over Japan took part, especially from Fukuoka and Kansai.

Satoru and Fr. Jokiel on stage

Then after we had prayed the “Our Father” in Aramaic, Satoru asked Fr. Jokiel, a German national who has been living in Japan for the past twenty years, to say a few words. This is what he said after having greeted the audience and Vassula:

“I’ve heard Vassula’s talk and read the messages a lot. I can’t stop reading the messages. It’s really by God’s grace that so many people are here. This special event is proof that we have heard God’s Word and have responded to it. I’m so thankful of God. Long ago we had prophets.  And to this day, God is still at work; He’s alive, working among us and giving us messages today, to this generation. In experiencing God and by hearing Jesus’ message we are truly receiving a big blessing here today. Many bishops and clergy have read the messages and have come to love God deeply. Thank you!”

Shortly before Mass, while the priests were getting prepared, people sang praises along with a choir and Satoru played the harmonium. It was impressive to listen to the Japanese sing with beautiful voices, like a professional choir. They sang the “Ave Maria”, “Spirit of the Living God”, “Bless the Lord”, and many more hymns of praise! Mass was then celebrated and Fr. Jokiel in his sermon spoke about the gift of prophecy and people’s responses to this gift throughout the years.

After Mass, Satoru led us to pray the “Stations of the Cross”, since we were in the Lenten season, according to the calendar of the Catholic Church.

Shortly before Vassula’s speech at 15.00 p.m., the organizers observed a minute of silence for the tsunami victims in their country, and then their melodious voices resounded throughout the church as they sang in honor of the victims and for the glory of God. One of the most pleasant things about this retreat was that most of the participants were listening for the first time to Vassula talk about the TLIG messages!

Vassula thanked the people that had filled the church, especially the priests, saying that she was very glad to be in Fukuoka on that special day.  She asked those who were listening to her for the first time to raise their hands. A spontaneous “Ooooh!” came out of her mouth and she began to talk about the beginning of this revelation. Keiko was simultaneously translating from English into Japanese.

Vassula with Keiko interpreting Vassula’s talk into Japanese

The priests are sitting in the first row

The audience

In her address she talked especially about God’s Mercy and about His Love for humanity; she spoke about the great Apostasy in Europe today. “The world refuses to glorify God, glorifying themselves instead. Baptized Christians willingly reject the divine Truth and reject Christ.” She stated that many Cathedrals in Europe are being sold and have become restaurants, hotels, cafés, bars... these are the signs of the End of Times, she said; a spiritual battle is going on right now, in which we all take part.  The path of virtue lies ahead of us and each one of us can walk in this path, if we decide do to so, of our own free will… at the end of this path, Jesus Himself is waiting for us, if we decide to live our lives for Him…

Vassula spoke to the audience about the importance of our free will, which God does not want to violate; it would be our salvation if we offered our free will to Him. She reminded the people that God’s gentleness and kindness towards His creatures is unparalleled; God uses the words: “Allow Me”, saying it to Vassula, or “permit Me to use your hand”. The attendants were delighted in hearing how God is so delicate and meek with His creatures and how He lifts each of our souls filling them with hope!

Vassula went on to say that: “God represents goodness. But very few go in the right direction. Most people pursue pleasure, comfort, financial power, material goods that drive us away from God. We live in a selfish and materialistic world…” “Is it possible for us to change?” The audience asked… and she replied by reading a message:  “If you are like a desert and dry, I can transfigure you with my Holy Spirit into a garden…where I can rest in you!”

In her speech she went on to talk about the importance of Love, stressing that Love is our passport to Paradise.  It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, which we should seek, but first we need to repent of our sins… So love comes through REPENTANCE. Love is to live in the TRUTH…” and she concluded her speech with these words from the messages:

“In the morning sow your seed of Love;

At noon sow your seed of Peace;

In the evening sow your seed of Reconciliation;

Then go and collect your harvest and offer it to Me, your Father in Heaven and I will tell you: 'In your graciousness My child you have obtained your reward in Heaven’.” (June 18, 1994)

Saturday, March 12th-2nd day of the spiritual retreat

The second day began with a strong testimony from Fr. Nobuo Masakawa: a Claretian Missionaries Priest from Osaka, whom I am citing: “My Road to Conversion through My True Spiritual Director” (testimony)

Fr. Masakawa

The program continued with the Rosary prayer, praying for Christian unity and the conversion of the world, along with hymns and confession. The participants had been confessing to the priests since early in the morning. Then Mass was celebrated. In his speech, Fr. Jokiel stressed that “Jesus is alive; that is why He speaks today. Through His TLIG messages, He helps us understand the scriptures. Jesus Christ is suffering today as he was then… Let us work for Jesus so that this world can be healed and become a better one.”

In her speech on the second day of the retreat, after she had noticed that there would be a long wait for confession, Vassula discussed the manner in which it should be done. She stressed out that when we go to confession we should do it right. We should confess our sins to the priest. We are not there to justify ourselves, insinuating that we are the victim and that it is others who are to blame. Confession is neither a place nor the time to tell our life story or our problems to the priest. Confession is a time and place to pin-point our sins, what our conscious says we did wrong, and after having recognized our guilt and sin we ask to be forgiven.

She then shared with us a few stories from the first three years of the secret teaching she received from Jesus Christ; no one had as yet heard about this revelation. “Allow Me to form you the way I want you to be…” After three years in Bangladesh and seventeen years in Africa, she said that in these developing countries, her Angel Daniel prophesied to her that she would be sent by God to Switzerland, to spread the seeds of the TLIG Messages from there. She spoke about her first speech and the grace that she felt when and after she spoke, filling her body like a warm liquid, which obviously was the Holy spirit providing her with confidence and the certainty that Jesus would give her the words to enable her to testify  about God’s Love, His Tenderness, and His Mercy. She spoke about her ignorance and the way she used to talk to Jesus Christ, citing a conversation she had: “Jesus: Peace be with you. Vassula: And also with You…” She said that when Jesus began to teach her, He would never come with the authority of a professor, but with the simplicity of Wisdom. She explained the meaning of “We-us”; she spoke about the Mother of God, Our Lady, about God the Father, and stressed that simplicity of heart is the way in which we should address God.  Of course, she also spoke about the power of the Rosary Prayer.

She reminded us that our Mother, our Lady, says that with our prayers we can change the world. She said that we do not thank God for the blessings and the goods He has given us, but that many of us are taking them for granted instead. We are always unsatisfied and only look at the negative side of things. Even when bad things happen to us, it is for the purification of our soul. That the Lord asks us to annihilate ourselves, to crucify our ego, for God wishes to transform us…

“Ask and it shall be given to you, knock and it shall be opened…”

Vassula’s testimony was a reminder of the Word of Christ, a reminder of God’s Love and His promise that He will guide us till the end, if we remain faithful to Him and His commandments!

After her speech, Vassula explained the process of the Healing Prayer that would follow, as well as the action of the Holy Spirit. She explained that people are often slain in the Spirit: the blessings and healings that take place when we invoke the Holy Spirit with faith.

The organization of the spiritual retreat in Fukuoka was excellent, perhaps one of the best I have seen, as I have accompanied Vassula on many of her trips in recent years. The organizers gave all participants a booklet which outlined the daily church services, the readings and the songs in Japanese and English. Simultaneously, Shery was translating the speeches on her computer from Japanese into English, and the Mass, the sermon, as well as all that followed as part of the schedule. The translation was projected onto a big screen. So Vassula and I, even though we do not speak a word of Japanese, could attend and participate in the whole program, knowing at any time what was going on and what was next!

Here is the program of the retreat in Japanese and in English, along with the big screen

Later on, we had the opportunity to speak with some of the people who attended the spiritual retreat.  We admired yet again, the way in which the Lord approaches each soul. A Japanese friend, who had been seeking God, began to read the Bible. One day, he visited the library in his town, where he found the 1^st volume of the TLIG messages in Japanese. When he read them, he was impressed by the similarity of the book to the Holy Scriptures.  He then he heard that Vassula would speak in Yokohama. This was the beginning… his participation in the Fukuoka retreat followed. Jesus had lit the flame of faith in his soul.

Another friend, after thanking Vassula for her journey to Japan, said that his father publishes books, including the TLIG messages. “By chance” he read one of the books and then he sought the other ones, along with more information about TLIG… Subsequently, he heard about the spiritual retreat in Fukuoka…

Vassula thanked the organizers, as well as the roughly 300 people who attended the two-day spiritual retreat in Fukuoka. The TLIG books, translated into Japanese, soon disappeared from the counters as they were very popular. On the last evening, we said goodbye to the friends who came to Fukuoka from many different Japanese cities in order to help with the organization of this retreat: Satoru, Keiko, Sheri, Nancy, the priests… and so many others whose names I do not know.

On Sunday morning, Nancy, along with her husband and another TLIG friend, took us on a short tour of the city. We visited the tower of Fukuoka, 123 meters in height, and from the last floor we admired this beautiful, clean and modern coastal city. They accompanied us to Fukuoka airport, from which we departed for the next stop in our mission, Manila. They said goodbye to Vassula and me with love, and wished us great success. They themselves would travel by car to their town, a seven-hour drive…

Photo of the city of Fukuoka from the last floor of the tower

The mission to Japan had been completed. The meeting in Fukuoka concluded with the hope that the people who participated and derived spiritual benefit would go on to create prayer groups and spread the TLIG messages to others. The Holy Spirit will continue His work. Glory and honor belong to our Heavenly Father forever and ever. 

In Christ

Gethsemane Vlaserou