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 [1]. 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 [2], 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.”