Niels Hvidt recently made mention of Fatima, Garabandal and Medjugorjie as holy places, places of encounter with God, chosen by Him. In the case of the theology to which True Life in God introduces us, there is no specific geographical location – the chosen place is the heart of each one of us who reads the Messages.

These Conversations with Jesus constitute a written record, a verbatim transcript, of a work which God wills to undertake in every human heart – its purification, to make us fit to enter His Courts. This is of interest to me as a monk since our Rule speaks of a transformation of mind and body which we must undergo „to be fit vessels for the knowledge of his truth and the power of his love.“

Having initiated and then led Vassula along this at times „rough road“ our Lord invites us to put ourselves in Vassula’s place and allow Him to be our Teacher, too. How much more than merely an exercise of the imagination this is, becomes apparent as we take up His invitation.

St Benedict described a monastery as a training „school for the Lord’s service.“ These „schools“ were established by those inspired to discern that the church had been so drawn out into the „mindset“ of the surrounding culture as to be unable to offer what was needed for a true life in God, and I would like to propose that something similar is happening today. True Life in God is, I suggest, a Spiritual Family that has been brought into being to be a „training school for the Lord’s service“ to meet the needs of our own times. It is a dispersed community (Diaspora) but modern electronic means of communication such as I am using to write and disseminate this piece enable us to keep in touch with one another and find fellowship with our „classmates“ wherever they are in the world.

Monasticism began in a dispersed way in the fourth century with men and women living in solitude, but in time it was perceived that there was a need for monastics to live together in communities under Rule and coenobitic monasticism came into being. Who knows, perhaps there will one day be TLIG communities in places set apart for the purpose?

I was reading this morning, in Volume 12, our Lord’s words to Vassula;

„…walk with me and I will school you in My rules of righteousness: I will be your Educator and no-one else. I will whisper in your ear the history of all invisible things and inaccessible yet becoming visible and accessible through the Divine teachings of your Master; the Word of Life will be offered to you, freely…after having been schooled with righteousness I shall lift your soul to the next level; the level in which before your birth you were called…“ (June 1, 2002)

I would say that this is precisely the goal and purpose of the Contemplative Monastic life. Our Rule speaks of „the opening of the heart in the Grace of Contemplation.“ This is something which God does from His side. It is the goal, in the sense of ‘End’, of our life of prayer, and at the same time its proper beginning. As one of our founding Fathers writes;

„Contemplation is the appropriate possession of all who would walk with God in prayer. Contemplation is the beginning of any real intimacy with God, to which all are called in Christ. All that precedes in mental and affective prayer is the ascetic preparation.“ (Fr Gilbert Shaw)

God says to Vassula, „how he will, with delight, provide you! He will found in you the Foundation I had been teaching you about; the true theology, that is the contemplation of Me your God; enraptured thus in contemplation your soul will soar in the heights contemplating Me your God in depth; My reign then begins in you.“ (7 August 2002)

In ‘the normal course of events’, that is, according to a human way of thinking, this self-revelation of God to the seeker, and the new life which then begins, is frequently seen as something that lies, if not at the end of the road, then at least some considerable distance along it. But that is by no means necessarily so. In the case of Vassula it happened at the beginning, and she was not even seeking Him. These are marks of authenticity.

The „rough road“ quoted above comes from the Message of March 27, 2002: „my favourite friends travel by rough roads.“ We may compare that with our Lord’s words in the Revelation to John; „Those whom I love I reprove and discipline.“ (Rev.3:19) You may recall the story of St Teresa of Avila who, travelling on some God-given errand one day was pitched from her cart into a cold stream. On struggling to her feet she heard our Lord say, „This is how I treat my close friends.“ „That, Lord,“ replied the redoubtable Teresa, „is probably why you have so few of them!“ I paraphrase here, and hope I have not mangled the story in the telling.