Vassula in Japan

June 17 – July 21, 1997

In the early morning of June 17 Vassula arrived in Japan on a witnessing tour that should have included Australia and New Guinea. However, the last two trips were canceled, giving her the possibility to stay in Japan for over a month.

In Japan, though generally shallow, the interest for spiritual values and religion is widely spread. As a matter of fact, Japan is the only country where the sum of the members of each religion is superior to her total population. The explanation of this paradox lies in the fact that a good number of Japanese have two religions, as they want to receive the benefits deriving from more than one spiritual tradition.

The Catholic Church, a small minority of 450 thousand people scattered among a population of about 126 million, shares all the problems that sap her vitality elsewhere in the world, with one additional feature: lack of information. Basic Catholic literature is scarce. Just to give an example, The Catechism of the Catholic Church, which appeared in most European languages in 1992, the most authoritative book given to the faithful to guide and sustain their faith, has not been translated into Japanese. From the hierarchy there is much talk about innovations and adaptation of the Church to the Japanese culture which confuses the faithful. Moreover, many priests are against traditional devotions (like the rosary) which have so far nourished the faith, or forbid the faithful to kneel in church, particularly during Mass, or arbitrarily pretend new things with which the faithful are ill at ease, and the faithful feel insecure and threatened, without knowing where to turn to get light for discerning the way to God. They need to know where the Church stands and what a Christian must believe in order to please God and attain salvation. They are particularly eager to know the tradition of the Church.

Against this backdrop, there appears Vassula with True Life in God, offering very clear messages coming from the Lord himself, indicating a simple and most evangelical way to find Him and to live with Him.

The Japanese recognized in the messages entrusted to Vassula the voice of their Shepherd and accepted it with joy, enthusiasm and gratitude.

Alas, Vassula arrived in Japan with a very bad cold. On top of it, for some days she lost her voice and had to make no little efforts to be heard. However, her voice would return to near normal when she had to talk in public about True Life in God.

The Lord led Vassula to approach the Japanese in a somewhat different way from usual. Many of her encounters with people had not been planned; however, each of them turned out to be providential and very important. For instance, on June 18, as she was stepping out of church after the evening mass, she met a leader of prayer groups who publishes a newsletter with a large readership. This gentleman met Vassula twice and was very satisfied of the straightforward answers he received to many of his problems.

June 20 was a thanksgiving day for the publication of True Life in God and My Angel Daniel in Japanese, and a day of prayer for the success of Vassula’s mission in Japan. Around 10:30 the publisher Mr. Hayashi with his staff and supporters met with Vassula in the Chapel of the Salesian Provincial House, where they prayed the rosary, and Fr. Paolo Faroni, an outspoken supporter of Vassula, celebrated the Holy Mass. One remarkable feature was that, small as it was, the assembly represented all parts of the country. Mrs. Okazaki, one of the participants, would become instrumental in arranging a conference of Vassula in Kobe some days later.

During the agape that followed the Mass, Ms. Hitomi showed some pictures she had taken of a meeting held a few weeks before in preparation of the visit of Vassula. One of the pictures featured a column-like large beam of light, which nobody had been able to explain. Vassula said that such light, which she called shekina, was a manifestation of God’s presence in the group. She explained that that light is a reminiscence of the column of fire that led the Hebrews out of Egypt. She added that this phenomenon only comes out on pictures of people who are talking about God. Vassula has started collecting this type of pictures.

In the evening the same group gathered again with Vassula to verify that everything was in order for the next day conference and for saying one more rosary. They closed the evening with a Japanese-style dinner of raw fish. Noticing the efforts she made to keep the chopsticks together, I couldn’t help thinking she deserved some extra blessing for her determination to adapt herself to the Japanese way of life and please her hosts.

Typhoons are regular visitors to Japan, but not in June. Moreover, even after August, when it is “typhoon season”, they seldom pass through Tokyo, and when they do they are generally week. Breaking the records, on the 20th of June a big typhoon was raging over Japan, heading for Tokyo. Radio and TV broadcasters warned Tokyoites against danger, advising them to stay home on the 21st, the day the typhoon would hit Tokyo, which was the date of Vassula’s conference there. We foresaw few people would attend the conference and thought that even nature had set itself against Vassula to keep people away. Well, against all the forecasts of the traditionally accurate Japanese weathermen, and against our passive resignation vis a vis the forces of nature, the 21st turned out to be a bright sunny day, very rare at this time of the year, and with no wind. The intervention of God was evident.

If the weather put no impediments to the conference of Vassula, Rome did. The notification of the Congregation for the Faith of October 1995 in L’Osservatore Romano had been published in Katorikku Shinbun, the Catholic organ of information in Japan. For the average Japanese Catholic, a notification, a bull, a decree or a dogmatic constitution are more or less the same thing: a command from the Vatican which must be obeyed. Moreover, the bishops interpreted this notification in the most restrictive and negative sense. As a result, Catholic libraries returned True Life in God to the publisher and the priests discouraged the faithful from reading the book and approaching Vassula. A well-known priest who had previously been very close to Vassula disassociated himself from her to please his superior and did not even phone to greet her or to explain his position. Such things were a cause of grief for Vassula and affected the attendance to the meetings. We must, however, say that we know of one relevant exception, which we mention in order not to give the impression that in Japan the whole Church is blind to the manifestations of God. When Bishop Hamao of Yokohama was informed that Vassula had been invited to talk to a group of people in his diocese, he reportedly said: “If that helps them to pray better, let her come!”

The Shiba Seinen Kaikan Hall, with 251 seats, rented for the Tokyo meeting, was full. Most were Catholics, but some were Protestants; and there were non-Christians as well, including some Buddhist monks. To our surprise, there were also seven Roman Catholic priests! Christians and non-Christians alike had actively helped to prepare the hall. People waited for the start of the meeting listening to a guitarist who played music especially prepared for this occasion.

Vassula, as in other conferences in Japan, talked for about one hour and a half. People listened with great interest.

The interpreter of Vassula at the meeting, Ms. Takeko Mitsui, said that during the conference she saw the face of Vassula change three times into the face of Jesus. The morning after the conference a Protestant lady telephoned Mr. Hayashi to witness that she too had seen the face of Vassula change into the expression of Jesus. She further added that returning home she realized that she had been healed of physical and spiritual ailments.

After the conference Vassula said that the Lord wanted her to lay hands on people and invoke the Holy Spirit upon them. She said that the Lord would give graces to everybody, even if they were not aware of it, and that the Lord wanted to heal their spiritual wounds, but may also heal them from psychological wounds or disease. She then invited those who wanted to come forward and line up for the imposition of hands. Almost all attended this session, praying and singing hymns to the Holy Spirit. The ceremony lasted long because Vassula prayed on each person. Many fell in the repose of the Spirit. When everything was over some people were waiting to witness that they had been healed. More people telephoned the following day witnessing the graces they had received on the occasion of this meeting with Vassula. A lady from Kagoshima telephoned to say that she had been healed of a pain in a leg and that in thanksgiving, with two other friends, she would start a True Life in God prayer group in her city.

The Sapporo conference, held on the 23rd, was reported by Ms. Kuriki. Here I will only say that the priests in Sapporo were particularly aggressive against Vassula. The day before, Sunday, during the homilies of the mass, the priests forbade the faithful to attend the conference of Vassula, and some went as far as to menace to refuse the holy communion to those who would attend the meeting. However, those who, braving such threats, showed up at the conference, relaxed not to notice anybody at the entrance to check names and faces in order to report to the pastors. In some countries this attitude of the clergy would be condemned as sheer abuse of power, and could even produce the opposite effect; but not in Japan where people are extremely meek and consider submission to their superiors for the sake of peace a great virtue, and where the Catholics never dare to contradict the priests, God’s representatives!

The Lord consoled his children of Sapporo giving them a most beautiful prayer for Japan. I will append it at the end of this report in order that many True Life in God brothers and sisters throughout the world may join the Japanese Christians to pray for the conversion of a country of 126 million people who cannot tell the right hand from the left and yet, or because of it, are so dear to the Lord.

Though the work of testimony of Vassula continued till the moment of her departure, the official program of her visit in Japan ended with the conference in Sapporo. The following day the publisher Mr. Hayashi, his assistants and some of the people who had helped preparing the meetings met for an evening of thanksgiving to the Lord for the graces bestowed to Japan through Vassula. She led the prayers following the guidelines she had received from Jesus. Here is the pattern she suggested to follow.

1. Dim the lights and light a candle.
2. Place a statue or an image of the Blessed Lady well in sight in the room.
3. Say the Rosary. Start with the Credo. Recite the prayer to St. Michael Archangel before the first mystery. After each decade recite the invocation taught by the Blessed Lady to the children of Fatima: Oh my Jesus, forgive us…
4. End the Rosary with the Salve Regina (possibly sing it)
5. Recite several times the invocation familiar in the Easter Church: Oh Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us sinners!
6. Read the Bible, and talk through it. The Bible, said Vassula, teaches us whatever we need to know.
7. Read the messages.
8. Say freely any word that could be of help to other people.
9. Stand and sing some hymn to the Holy Trinity or to the Holy Spirit.
10. Have a short imposition of hands.
11. Sing some hymn of thanksgiving

The meeting was attended by Christians of different denominations. There was also a young Japanese convert who received baptism in the Copt Church in Egypt and is the only Japanese Copt in the world. He said a prayer in Aramaic and Vassula said the Our Father in the same language. Then the meeting proceeded in the order given above.

When the program was at n. 8, a Protestant asked Vassula if the rosary was necessary. The answer of Vassula was yes. She said she talks about the Rosary to the Protestants also. Once she was invited by a group of Lutheran Pastors. At the end of the meeting, to please her, they gave her a statue of the Blessed Lady. In Stockholm, the Lutheran pastor of one of the largest churches said: “It seems we have a lot of problems because we abandoned the Blessed Lady. Since this is the time of Mary, from now on we must remember her.” She talked to a large assembly in that church and they offered her a statue of the Blessed Lady with the Child. Once, in Sweden, in Lunn, the Pastor of a church where she had given a talk took her to see a picture of the Mary with the Child and showed her that the Child had tears on his cheeks. The pastor considered those tears a grace.

Vassula narrated that once a Protestant asked her why one should ask the intercession of the Blessed Lady if we can pray Jesus directly. At that moment a woman went close to her and said: “Please pray for me!” Vassula asked the Protestant: “Did you hear what she said? She asked me to intercede for her.” Then Vassula continued: “We are deep in sin. The Mother of Jesus who is in heaven has a greater force of intercession than us. When we pray, the Blessed Lady prays with us.” Recently the Father in heaven said in a message that “the wedding in Cana is a sign for all the ages”. Vassula explained that the Fiat of Mary was for all generations. She said that many miracles occurred in Lourdes, but the Blessed Lady always said they were the work of the Father in heaven.”

Vassula spoke about intolerance among Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants and shared an anecdote with the group: once St. Peter heard a knock at the door of heaven. He opened the door and saw three souls. “Who are you?” he asked. One of them said: “I am a Catholic.” Another said: “I’m a Greek Orthodox.” The third said: “I’m a Protestant.” And St. Peter said: “I’m sorry. Only Christians here!” And closed the door.

On the 26th Vassula was invited by a small prayer group (eight people) to their meeting in Shinanomachi, Tokyo. Its members gather every month one or two days after the 25th to hear the last message given by the Blessed Lady in Medjugorje, to say the rosary and to stimulate each other to a life of incessant prayer. Since Vassula was there, they brought many friends, at least 40. After the rosary, Vassula spoke about prayer. She did not use any notes, and everybody felt she was speaking from the abundance of her heart. She made everybody feel that God, the Holy One, is the One who really counts, the loving father, the faithful friend, the tender companion, the one we must incessantly pray.

She said that recently Jesus had asked that many True Life in God prayer groups be formed all over the world.

She suggested that sometimes at the end of prayer meetings the hands be laid on people, and the Holy Spirit be invoked. She explained how to do it. She called two young ladies at her side and did it with them. “Without touching the head”, she suggested, “calling the Holy Spirit to effuse His gifts, insisting saying “more power, Holy Spirit! More power, more, more!” And the person upon whom she had extended the hands fell in the repose of the Spirit. Then she said to one of the ladies: “Now you do it.” No sooner had this lady raised her hands over a person and said: “Come, Holy Spirit!” that that person fell on her back in the repose of the Spirit. And so happened with the other lady. The two apprentices, who were not charismatic, obtained almost the same effect as Vassula.