Vassula in India

November 16 – December 1, 1999

Mrs. Vassula Ryden of Rome, Italy has been receiving messages from the Holy Trinity and Mary our Blessed Mother since 1985. She has been commanded by God to travel all over the world to proclaim and witness these messages and has given well over 600 public prayer meetings. The messages have been printed and today there are over 37 different language editions available.

Vassula was invited to speak in India in November and December 1999 by 5 different groups in 5 different parts of the country in 18 scheduled prayer meetings. In January 1998 she had already spoken in Bombay, Goa, and Kerala. People from those 3 areas had asked that she return there to speak. There were new invitations in New Delhi and Calcutta as well.

She readily accepted these invitations even though she knew that she would have but 4 or 5 days of rest after having been in Sweden in late October where she had twice addressed the Scandinavians. She attended her eldest son Jan’s (29) wedding in Sweden, which happened to be around the dates of her meetings. Then in early November, Father Eugene Nicolau, a Greek Orthodox Archimandrite, invited her to New York City to address his community for the first time. Then she had spoken a few times in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at a conference Nov. 4th to Nov. 7th. And then only 3 days after the return from India she would leave for more than one week in South America giving her testimony to 2 different countries.

I had arranged this trip over a number of months and it had not been easy. Fortunately all inviting people had access to E-Mail on the internet which is much more efficient than fax or telephone as it is never busy, keeps a record of every message and always assures that the message arrives. There was a late unexpected cancellation as well as a need to switch dates in 3 places but finally all was arranged.

I have almost never traveled to any extent with Vassula but she asked if I would like to join her on this trip. I immediately said yes as I have always been intrigued by the idea of going to India and had never even been to Asia before. I really had no idea what it would be like.

Because of the need to make last minute changes, direct flights to New Delhi on the day we wished to travel were full so Vassula finally had to leave Rome Nov. 12th, two full days earlier than originally planned. We met in Geneva and had our first problem already in normally trouble-free Switzerland on trouble-free Swissair. My «confirmed» ticket was unexpectedly only a «waiting list» ticket. But a few telephone calls to our travel agent straightened this out. We had to sleep one night in Bombay where our Bombay hosts had arranged the extra night’s lodgings for us.

On Nov. 14th we were to fly Bombay to Delhi at 5 P.M. However at check-in we discovered that we were booked on two different 5 P.M. flights in two different terminals so we had to change our tickets and take a later plane together. We both felt that behind these minor trials « someone » was trying to make things tough for us on this trip, even to the extent of possibly making Vassula miss the important first scheduled meeting.

Delhi (Nov 15th and 16th, 1999) The first stop was Delhi where organizers Doris and Ben Samson had arranged an initial meeting at 10 A.M. on November 15th with an important ecumenical group known as the Delhi Fellowship Society. It is comprised of members of the Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic churches. Among the 16 religious leaders present were Fr. Eletho Ecluppattu of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Collin C. Theodore of the Church of North India and His Grace Archbishop Alan De Lastic who is also President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

After a short introduction by Fr. “X”, the members listened very attentively to Vassula’s one-hour talk. She explained that one of the major themes of True Life in God given by Jesus concerns the Unity of Christians and she read and explained a few of these messages. A discussion among group members confirmed that church unity is indeed also one of their goals and so they were happy to hear it from Vassula who quoted the messages.

During the lunch that followed the conference, Archbishop De Lastic asked Vassula to come to his office in the afternoon for a cup of coffee. At that meeting, after a warm welcome, talk turned to the topic of Mother Teresa. Vassula shared with His Grace that right after her death she had prayed to her. In her prayer Vassula said that now that you are with Jesus, you know my mission. So why don’t you open the door of India? I’ve never gone there before. Within about 1 week she received 3 separate invitations from India, which resulted in her first, speaking tour there in 1998.

That same evening Vassula spoke (in English) in the main Delhi cathedral, Sacred Heart Cathedral, just one week after the Pope had spoken there. The church was overflowing with over 700 people. Following the evening mass, Vassula witnessed about the beginnings of the messages she receives, particularly the very first contacts she had with her guardian angel Daniel when she lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Then she explained how Jesus himself began to communicate with her, her initial fear of Him, the purification she had to suffer, and the catechism He Himself began to give to her in and through the messages. She explained that in the True Life in God messages readers should remove the name of Vassula and replace it with their own as these messages are for everyone. The crowd was very attentive and her words were obviously well received by all.

Calcutta: (Nov. 17th and 18th) On the morning of Nov. 17th we also visited Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity house in downtown Calcutta. Vassula met Nirmala, the new Mother Superior, who had not originally even been a Christian, and gave her a complete set of the TLIG books. Local organizer Fr. Stephan Raphael and Fr. “X” celebrated mass for us there in the chapel where Mother Teresa’s tomb is also located. All present then prayed together for a moment next to her tomb.

Later that same morning Vassula and a few of the local organizers had a meeting with Archbishop Henry De Souza in his offices. After a very cordial and open welcome Vassula explained her mission to him. Both of them shared together their views on the dialogues that are being made between Churches for unity. When His Grace asked Vassula on what subject would be her talk, she answered that it would be focused on how to pray and come closer to God, and that people should reconcile with God and neighbor.

Before leaving, the small group and Archbishop De Souza prayed together, and then he blessed Vassula and the organizers. That afternoon Vassula spoke outside on Protestant church grounds to over 5,000 people for the public meeting. This was a surprising turnout in view of the fact that this was a Monday, a workday. During the opening procession 6 women did a local dance, anointed our foreheads with oil, symbolically washed our hands, and laid a beautiful flowered wreath over our necks. After an introduction again given by Fr. “X”, Vassula spoke in English, starting again with the beginnings of the True Life in God messages. Then she explained the intimacy of Jesus – His desire that we include Him in our daily tasks and thoughts. This, she explained, can be accomplished by using the “We/Us” method which consists of including Jesus in all we do: “Jesus, Let’s now go to work, Jesus Let’s drive the children to school, Jesus Let’s do the cleaning, etc.”. She explained that in this way we become intimate with Jesus and He becomes part of our life, which is what He wants.

On the morning of Nov. 18th a meeting was arranged for religious and priests to explain the more advanced messages, especially those that regarded their mission. About 130 people in all attended. As I was leaving the hall, I noticed that a sister from Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity had been touched during the meeting and was discussing with two friends of hers. I discovered that she was overwhelmed because during the talk she saw Vassula’s face transforming into Christ’s Holy Face, with beard and mustache, blood on the forehead, and streaks of blood in the hair. She didn’t know it but this is a phenomenon that occurs now and then while Vassula is witnessing. Many people around the world have been given the grace to see Christ on Vassula’s face while she speaks.

Father Stephan Raphael, about 50, had organized everything for this visit. He has a parish of 9,000, directs a school, an old persons home, and a hospital! He put us up in the Daughter’s of the Cross Convent next to the school where the 30-plus sisters took care of us very well. They even sang for us beautifully on arrival and departure. Father Stephan took us into the city of Calcutta “The City of Hope” once. We saw some of the poor shantytowns but went on to his niece’s house where we had a typical Indian meal, which was excellent, and the people of his family received us very warmly.

Goa: (Nov. 19th and 20th) On the evening of Nov. 18th we had to fly all across India from Calcutta to Bombay and stay over one night in Bombay before going on to Goa the next day, a 1 hour flight to the south of Bombay. Goa is like a state with Panjim being the main city. It is on the coast and is a beach resort kind of place. It is quite western in look and the people we met all spoke very good and clear English. The Portuguese left that area 25 years ago and we saw no influence of anything Portuguese except for the names of some of the people. I guess I’m not “with it” but I learned that Goa is very well known as a former and current “hippie” and resort place. I saw a few “sixties-looking” hippies walking around and learned that there are still “hippie beaches” with nightclubs, etc. The day we flew in we were told that 20 charter planes had also arrived that day, many from the UK, the most that had ever landed in Goa in a single day. November is the best (= coolest) month to go there and it attracts a lot of people from the west.

Panjim: On the evening of Nov. 19th, Vassula spoke in Kala Academy, an open-air amphitheater-type place in Panjim, which was packed with well over 2,500 people. Please see the well-documented report written by Dr. Sielda Gomez for details of this meeting.

On Nov. 20th there was a meeting with the local organizers. Following Vassula’s first visit to Goa in January 1998, True Life in God has now been well established in Goa. It is led by Mr. Francis Baretto and has a strong following. This group has organized the printing and distribution of TLIG books as well. It is evident that they have done and will continue to do excellent work for Jesus.

Margao: On the evening of November 20th Vassula spoke in Margao, Goa, India to approximately 1,500 people. Vassula began by speaking of recent trips and upcoming trips. Then she spoke of some of the basics of the messages; that TLIG is like a school and that the books should be read in order the same way that you progress through the various grade levels in school each year.

Kerala: (Nov. 21st to 29th) Vassula had a big meeting scheduled the very next evening in faraway Cochin, Kerala on the southwest coast. However just three weeks before our departure the only scheduled plane service from Goa to Cochin had been unexpectedly cancelled so we had no choice but to take the overnight train 17 hours to get there, to arrive but 3 hours before the meeting. The train ride turned out to be rather pleasant and was much better and less tiring than the road travel in Kerala that awaited us.

Kerala: Overview Kerala is a state on India’s southwest coast and is very green and tropical – quite different from the other places further north we had visited. The population is 1/3 Moslem, 1/3 Hindu, and 1/3 Christian. It is not uncommon to see large images of Jesus or Mary on billboards or even on the backs of trucks. There were no beggars in Kerala, unlike the other places in India we had passed through. The English they speak was a little hard for me to understand and they had some trouble with my “Geneva English” although they perfectly understood Vassula, who speaks very clearly. There I saw absolutely no women in western clothes – almost all were attired in sari’s, the wrap-around style dress or a very few in knee-length blouses with pants. It got dark early, about 6:30 P.M., but the streets and roads were full of people until almost midnight. Then I noticed that it was only men!! No women were to be seen outside after dark! And the women never eat at the table with us – always afterwards. The children we saw were all well behaved. 99% of the men in Kerala wear long skirts, which they usually tie up around their waist to make it a knee length skirt. I was one of the few not in sandals or barefoot.

The coordinator for all the meetings in Kerala was John, a professor at the local university and his wife Salilama, who works at a bank. Their 13-year-old daughter gets up at 4 A.M. every day to finish her homework before school starts at 9 A.M.! They also have a 15-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter in a school in Trichur. We stayed in their beautiful private family home John had recently had built (in “Pala”, also known as “Palai”) surrounded by rice paddies and banana trees. For each meeting we traveled from this house and returned in the evening, which allowed us to have a home base and sleep and eat breakfast and dinner in the same place. This proved to be a good solution-, which was much less tiring for Vassula- and also gave her the privacy and rest she needed.

Since I had informed them in advance that I am 6′ 9″ tall (2m 05 cm) they had even built an extension on the bed and mattress for me! We ate the local food, which is a lot of rice (18 different types), vegetables and fresh cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes, a lot of pineapples, mangoes, and bananas, and little meat. The main dish is chicken curry. We had a little pork and lamb and no beef. We had absolutely no alcohol served or offered to us during the entire trip nor did we even see anyone drinking alcohol (except in the hotel in Bombay). They wanted to serve us what for us was dinner-like food even in the morning but were glad to offer us our usual eggs and toast with coffee or tea. We actually ate but twice a day (our choice) due to the heat, usually skipping lunch as Vassula often spoke at 2 P.M. and doesn’t like to do so on a full stomach. We both thus lost 10 pounds during the whole trip. We never got sick and avoided any potential problems by drinking only bottled liquids.

Vassula spoke publicly in 7 different places in Kerala, to a total of over 50,000 people. It was translated each time into Malayalan, the local language of Kerala but again many or most people understand/understood Vassula’s English. She spoke in the 4 major well-known Christian retreat centers there and also in a few churches, including one Orthodox Church. We traveled 30 minutes to 3 hours each way each day to the meetings in air-conditioned (for us only) cars. Vassula also met privately with 2 more Archbishops, 4 bishops including one Orthodox, and one Vicar General. It is actually a bishop in the Vatican in the Unity section known as Unit 1, with whom Vassula is in contact, who encouraged her to present herself to local high authorities of all religions wherever she goes to present the TLIG messages and her mission to them. In doing so she offers to be completely frank and open as to what she is doing in any place she speaks and establishes communication with them all. I attended all her meetings with the clergy in India and all went very well.

St. George’s Forane Church in Edapally (Nov. 21st) Vassula had not slept very well on the 17-hour train ride from Goa. But as I have seen countless times over the last 10 years, her fatigue was swept away at meeting start and the Holy Spirit just took over and gave her more than the necessary energy to give another great talk. I have seen this happen so many times that I am sure that she is getting assistance from above.

Highlights of topics presented at this meeting – St. George: Vassula told the 4,000-plus people present that she was very pleased to begin her speaking tour of Kerala at St. George’s Church. She explained that this is because St. George is her Patron Saint. She once saw him in a vision as a young man with black curly hair sitting in a chair. A voice said, “This is St. George. Ask him to pray for you”. Vassula answered, “St. George, can you pray for me?” Then another scene appeared with St. George on his knees with his hands raised. That was a sign to Vassula that she should ask for his prayers.

Die to your passions: Vassula explained that we need to remove the rivals inside us, which block the Holy Spirit from performing His Divine Action. To do so we need to die to our passions, die to ourselves to give the Holy Spirit a place. Our biggest rival is our will. She quotes from the TLIG messages “Lower your voice so that you can hear My Voice, lower your head so that you can see My Head, lower yourself so that I can lift you. Be nothing.” She said that Jesus doesn’t impose Himself- he always asks for your permission. The Holy Spirit can transfigure your soul into a garden; the Holy Spirit can transfigure your soul into a