The Lebanese True Life in God group invited Vassula to come and sign the Arabic translation of her bestseller book “Heaven is Real but so is Hell” at the Beirut 60th International Arab Book Fair 2016.
Friday December 9, 2016:
Vassula Ryden and Fr. Rolf Schönenberger arrived in Beirut on Friday December 09, 2016 in the afternoon. They were greeted by Georges and Yolla.
At 7pm that evening, Vassula and Fr. Rolf joined us at our Beth Myriam Christmas party, hosted for all the families and kids that we serve at our Beth Myriam. There were around 50 children and almost 35 adults.
We were honored to have with us the presence of His Eminence Bishop Simon Atallah, MP Nabil Nicolas, Fr. Valentino El Ghoul, Fr. Nabil Abou Jaoude, Fr. Emile Abou Mrad and local politician Mr. Michel Mkattaf.
As usual, the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, from the Muslim area, were present with the children that they serve.
Our big gift at this event was the presence of a small group of True Life in God readers and members from Beth Myriam Syriam Syria, mainly Fr. Assaad Youssef and his two brothers.
They drove all the way from Homs to be with us.
Yolla opened this event with a PowerPoint presentation about how God called Vassula and how our lady then called her to establish the Beth Myriams. Vassula then presented a small speech, saying that when Jesus is speaking to her, He is also speaking to us because He said that we should remove her name in the messages and replace it with our own name.
She explained how the Beth Myriams got started and said that Jesus and Mary know all our needs; that is why everything that people receive from the Beth Myriam does not come from us, but rather from our Lord and our Blessed Mother. She asked everyone to applaud Jesus and our Mother.
The party continued with the kid’s program, the food, the Christmas cake, and Christmas gifts.
The event was filmed by Noursat (the local Church TV), and the reporter Lea Maamary interviewed Vassula and the guests.
A particular case surfaced that evening around a boy who was roughly nine years of age and called Charbel; he attracted Vassula’s attention. He had the same name as the great Lebanese Maronite, Saint Charbel. Vassula said that he was deeply moved by the fact that Jesus was speaking to her and he was asking her deep spiritual questions, ‘like a grown up’, Vassula remarked. His thoughts regarding spiritual matters were rather advanced, coming to him in a most natural way; so much so, that Vassula asked him if he wanted to read the Messages, to which he eagerly nodded. We gave him the book and he held it close to his chest. At the same time, the other boys surrounding him were also listening with much interest.
Saturday December 10, 2016:
The next day, Vassula and Fr. Rolf were hosted on the local morning show MTV ALIVE at MTV Lebanon with host, Roula Safa.
Roula asked her “Do you know why God chose you?” and Vassula said that God told her, “Did you not know that wretchedness attracts me? Through your wretchedness I will show my Mercy. In your nothingness I shall show My Authority, My Power and that I AM.” Yes, indeed, the power of God is clearly seen best in weakness. The truth is that our inadequacy may actually prove to be our ultimate qualification in serving God. Such is the case when Jesus said to St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).
The next question asked was about her mission. Roula asked her if she believed that God has chosen her to send messages to the rest of the human race. Vassula replied that this message is for everyone. It is not only a calling for reconciliation and repentance, but also, and as is the harder part of her mission, a message to tell the Churches that Jesus wants them to unite in diversity.
Fr. Rolf answered a question about his relationship with Vassula; he told the story about when he hosted her in Russia. The best ever retreat he had ever experienced occurred during her stay. Fr. Rolf said that he was especially touched by the detailed prophecy that Vassula had for Russia, because only God would know what was happening in Russia. What the Message claimed about Russia came true. The True Life in God Message that Vassula received talked about the transfiguring of Russia just before the fall of communism.
Vassula said that the answers to everyday questions that people have in their minds are in the “Heaven is Real but so is Hell” book and also in the book of the True Life in God Messages because many people who have read the Messages have come to her to tell her that their questions were answered.
She also said that we pray for the skeptics. She was not asked by God to convince anybody about the authenticity of the Messages, but to transmit them; people are free as to decide whether or not to believe.
Roula further asked Fr. Rolf about the report that was written in the Vatican on Vassula and the Messages; he responded by explaining what transpired through the dialogue between Cardinal Ratzinger with the CDF and Vassula. This interaction produced a positive result.
To watch this interview in English and in Arabic, you can view it on this YouTube channel: TLIG Lebanon. Search for “Fr Rolf & Vassula interview on MTV 2016 about HIR book”.
After the interview, Georges and Yolla took Vassula and Fr. Rolf to visit the Tomb of St. Charbel.
At 4pm that day, the second big event, which was the signing of the Arabic translation of Vassula’s autobiography “Heaven is Real but so is Hell” at the Beirut 60th International Arab Book Fair 2016 took place. We had previously launched a Facebook advertisement of the book, and we attracted almost sixty-thousand persons from the various religions in Lebanon. At the book fair we distributed around 2000 flyers, advertising the book to people from different walks of life and different faiths.
At the signing Fr. Rolf and Fr. Assaad Youssef were with us and Noursat was present again to film the event. It is interesting to note that three Muslim Kurds came to the booth and bought the book. One of the organisers asked them how they discovered this book; they replied, saying that they were told about it from a person called Ahmad in Syria.
Later that night Vassula and Fr. Rolf were invited to the Magical Palermo Christmas Concert. At the end of the concert the soloist Mirna Chaker welcomed Vassula and invited her to say a few words. Vassula got up on stage, thanked Mirna and invited everyone to offer their entire heart as a gift to Jesus this Christmas; not partially, but entirely because love is missing in this world.
Sunday December 11, 2016:
Our day started with Holy Mass at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke. Fr. Rolf Schonenberger co-celebrated Mass with the His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al Rahi.
In his homily, Patriarch Rahi welcomed those in the True Life in God family who were present.
After the Divine Liturgy, we went to the reception hall where the Patriarch meets his guests. Vassula presented her new book “Heaven is real but so Hell” to His Beatitude. She showed him the pictures inside the book and explained them to him. She also mentioned her inter-religious meetings with Muslims and Buddhists who gave her the Golden Peace Award for propagating peace. Patriarch Rahi thanked Vassula, promised to read the book and asked a few questions about it. Vassula told him about the existence of Beth Myriam in Lebanon and about the Christmas party that they hosted two days prior.
His Eminence Bishop Hanna Alwan, Maronite Curial Bishop, was also present at this meeting and was sitting next to the Patriarch.
Towards the end of the meeting, the Patriarch asked us all to take a picture with him. He was holding the “Heaven is real but so is Hell” book in the picture.
After this meeting, Vassula visited a friend of TLIG Lebanon at the Patriarchate: His Eminence Bishop Roland Abou Jaoude.
Also earlier, before our patriarchal meeting, right after Mass, His Eminence Tanios el Khoury, the Maronite Bishop Emeritus of Sidon, Monsignor Maroun Kiwan and two other priests met Vassula outside the Church and she offered the HIR book to each of them.
After we left the town of Bkerké, Vassula had lunch with the organisers of TLIG Lebanon.
That evening we had our third big event: the conference around the HIR book.
The conference started with the Lord’s Prayer. Then Yolla gave a small PowerPoint introduction about Vassula and her mission. Following Yolla’s introduction, Bishop Atallah talked about Vassula’s call. He called her mission a ‘life reading.’ He said that God has given her the grace to read her life because she has proven that all her intentions are honest; she has no falsehood in her life. He said that God touches the heart of a person with honest intentions. St. Paul and St. Augustine had committed some horrible acts, but they had honest intentions and so God looked at that. He ended his talk saying that Vassula’s call tells us to repent in order to build Unity; this can only be done through Love. He called Vassula a messenger of Love.
Subsequently, Fr. Rolf gave his testimony; it was similar to the one he gave on TV the day before. In one of his anecdotes, he told us about Vassula’s visit to the Russian Patriarchate, while wearing pants. Normally women go there only in long skirts. Vassula did not want to be a hypocrite. Since she comes to Jesus in pants and He does not refuse her, she then has the liberty to visit the patriarchate in pants. Fr. Rolf said that the Secretary of the Patriarchate thanked her for coming as she was without faking it.
After Father Rolf’s anecdote, Vassula started her talk by reminding us that this charisma which she does not deserve is not for her. It was given to her so that she would give it to everyone without any distinction between Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists etc… God sent her everywhere in small steps. Then she said that the “Heaven is real but so Hell” book is her story as well as God’s story with her. The book gives an idea of how God works through the person that He chooses as an instrument. It describes how patient, sweet and tender God would be with that chosen person. She previously did not know God and she had a very severe image of Him, as if He was unapproachable.
It was the Father who started speaking to her after her angel; He told her that He was her Father. She said that when God speaks it is not as if a human person is telling us “I am your father”. When God speaks it’s differen