True Life in God e-Newsletter
February 10, 2004
A Letter and Call from Vassula
February 10th The Feast Day of St. Charalampos, The Wonder Worker
A Letter and Call from Vassula
Report from the TLIG USA Retreat with a Picture
A Powerful Testimony from a Veteran Book Publisher
A Letter and Call from Vassula
TO ALL THE TRUE LIFE IN GOD ASSOCIATIONS WORLDWIDE
THIS IS AN URGENT CALL
Dear friends of True Life in God,
On July 25th, 1989, Our Lord said: ” Beloved, the light in this dark world flickers, for the evil one is extinguishing the little light that is left now in this world.”
Therefore, let us be a light for the victims of this hardened world. We should help them and demonstrate God’s Love and Charity.
Beth Myriams are opening around the world, and those that have already opened are doing marvellous work for children, for the poor, for orphans, for all the oppressed. Please consult www.tlig.org and click Beth Myriams for detailed information or click here .
When I was in Bangladesh last February on the invitation of the Venerable Suddhananda Mahathero, who is the president of the Buddha Kristi Prachar Sangha Monastery, I asked him to show me his school/orphanage and meet the children.
Once back in Rome, I realized that God has not made me meet Venerable Suddhananda just by coincidence, and that it is not also a coincidence to thrust me in inter-religious meetings, and it is not a coincidence to know of the orphanage. The young children need education, clothing, nourishment and Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. I think I cannot just ignore what I saw and know. No, it’s not a Beth Myriam, but one would ask why the Lord has drawn me there to hear their cry of help? So are we willing to help them as well?
All the True Life in God prayer groups and Associations in each country should know of this new project to help the Venerable Suddhananda¡’s Buddhist orphanage in Bangladesh. Please inform all your people, especially those who don’t have access to Internet. We are called to help anyone in need, Christian or non-Christian.
We are launching a worldwide campaign to gather funds to sustain the Beth Myriams and this new project, for they are the testimony of the love that the Messages of True Life in God inspire in us and the answer to what our Lord asks of us: “All that you do to the least of My brethren, you do it to Me.”(TLIG April 22nd, 2002)
Please contact all the shepherds of your prayer groups, the generous donors that you know have pledged their donations, to make an effort to donate punctually and regularly, every three months, for example. Once you have solicited the funds, gather them and send them to the new central Beth Myriam bank account recently opened at UBS Geneva Switzerland, so that we can promptly allocate your donations to the Beth Myriams in need worldwide, and to this new project.
A report of our activities will be regularly published in the TLIG Forum to inform you of the wonderful work you do for Our Lord In True Life in God.
Vassula
(Editors note):Here are details of the USB Account forNon-USA residents only: World Wide
Receiving bank name: UBS GENEVA, Switzerland
Account name: ASSOCIATION BETH MYRIAM
Swift: UBSWCHZH12A
Account Nos: 0240 487 422 60A (US$ Dollars)
0240 487 422 70E (EUROS)
queries to:
[email protected]
(click the link or copy and paste the address)
Here are Details for USA Residents
Contributions by check, from the USA, can be made through:
Vineyards of TLIG, Inc.
c/o William and Patricia Potoglou
612 CEDAR Ave.
Elmhurst, IL. 60126
Tel: 630-782-5882
queries to:
[email protected]
(click the link or copy and paste the address)
Checks should be made payable to Vineyards of TLIG, Inc., a tax exempt organization under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue code. Please note when mailing your check that the contribution is for the support of a Beth Myriam. All contributions are tax deductible.
Today is the Feast Day of St Charalampos
This Saint also spelled Haralambos is venerated in Orthodoxy and was a Hieromartyr. He wasput to the test to renounce his faith and worship idols – but regardless of the torture never failed in his loyalty to Christ. He is considered a “wonder worker”. He performed countless miracles and healings. Heendured themost barbarian tortures even being cooked on a spit over a fire and suffered no burns. He worked as a Priest in Magnesia the foremost city of Thessaly in Greece.
In the end he was sentenced to beheading with a sword. During the time of his final prayer, the saint was vouchsafed to behold the Saviour Himself and besought Him to grant that place where his remains would repose, in peace, would be fruitful for people, bringing forgiveness of sins and salvation. The Lord promised to fulfill the request and ascended to heaven, bearing with Him the soul of the priest-martyr Charalampos — who through the mercy of God accepted a peaceful death before execution. Many claim to this day his body which is held at the Meteora Monastery (where the TLIG retreat in Greece will visit) continues to work miracles. For Info on this retreat/pilgrimage write:Theodora Konidaris [email protected] (click the link or copy and paste the address)
Report: TheTLIG Northeast USA Retreat
As the snow’s of winter covered the northeast United States, many were traveling to the first True Life in God Northeast USA Retreat. People traveled from all parts of the U.S. to attend; as far as Wisconsin, Georgia, Washington DC, and Delaware. Also attending were TLIG members from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. God truly blessed us with good weather the day everyone began arriving and the snow only enhanced the beauty of The Malvern Retreat Center in Pennsylvania held Jan. 30 ¨C Feb. 1, 2004. Upon arrival everyone was greeted around the fireplace with a warm hug, and hot cider.
Fr. Tony Sullivan was the Spiritual Director for this weekend retreat. Fr. Tony’s talks on the Spirituality of TLIG relating to such topics as repentance, prayer, the Cross, and Our Lady were received with much enthusiasm. He brought to all attendees a deeper understanding of “the messages” and how they relate to each of those topics.
One of the highlights of this retreat was to have a TLIG Prayer Meeting in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Everyone felt the blessings of Our Lord during this special meeting.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed until mid-night.
A special thank you to members of the Central & Southern New Jersey TLIG prayer groups for all their hard work in coordinating this event with the Malvern Retreat Center.
A Testimony by a Veteran Book Publisher
“In Praise of TLIG”
I have been a Catholic bookseller all my life, in other words I have been promoting, ordering, selling and publishing Catholic books for more than 45 years. I’ve been selling Bibles, Catechisms, books about the Mother of God, books on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Encyclicals, books on the Liturgy, books by the great Doctors of the Church, books by the great mystics of the Church, books by and about Popes, Missals, Prayerbooks, books by and about the Saints of the Church, books by the Fathers of the Church, in other words, the whole spectrum of Catholic publishing. Moreover, I was in the fortunate and unique position of being able to work with Catholic books in all the major languages of the world.
I don’t claim to know everything but, if I may say so, it is therefore unlikely that there is any really important work in the Catholic world that I haven’t at least heard of it. I obviously haven’t been able to read everything there is but please let me tell you that there is nothing that has so profoundly touched and affected me as a series of volumes called “True Life in God” dictated to Vassula Ryden and published since 1991 in the Original Handwriting Edition by Trinitas in Independence, Missouri, U.S.A.
I know of nothing, and I mean nothing where God Himself so repeatedly and so emphatically claims outright to be the Author of a book in question, as He does in “True Life in God”. God says for instance “I Am the Author of this book” (August 16, 1995). Already before this He had said clearly “I AM is the true and only Author of “True Life in God” (Dec. 7, 1993) or again “I am the author of this great work”(December 10, 2001) or again definitively: “I am the Author of True Life in God and I shall prove it by appearing in your place.” (October 20, 1994)
Not only does He say He is the author but He also named the book: “Now hear Me and understand: My Holy Spirit had explicitly named this Work: “True Life in God” (July 31, 1995)
He further says that this is “the noblest of My Works in your times”. (Feburary 25, 1998.) He could not have emphasized the importance of His book more than when He said “greater profit than this Book for your so miserable times you could not have received; greater gift for My Church for its renewal She could not have received”. (February 2, 1999.) He continuously refers to His messages as His Love Hymn and His New Song and most amazingly for me, He says that this Love Hymn, if I have understood correctly, is none other than the “New Song” referred to in the Book of Revelation of the Holy Bible, Apocalypse Chapter 14, Verse 3. (October 25, 1994.) But best of all He calls it His “personal love letter” to each one of us. (April 12, 1993.).
Vassula has dedicated the books to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Lord commends her for this: “I am glad you confided this revelation to My Mother, I tell you, you could not have chosen better” (November 1, 1992.)
In a relatively short period of time the books have been translated into more than 40 languages. This too is a sign that we are not dealing with an ordinary publication. Moreover, I understand the translations have been done by volunteers which is even more unusual since normally translators expect to be paid for their work!
I began reading the books about eight years ago, back in 1995. And I have not been able to put them down since. I have lost track of exactly how many times I have read the volumes but what I have been doing is when I am finished I start all over again from the beginning. I recently realized it had taken me about 9 months to read the thirteen volumes (“My Angel Daniel” and 12 volumes “True Life in God”).
I recently read that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote “God sends prophets to every generation, not to give a new doctrine, but to remind the faithful what they must do to save their souls.” I have no doubt whatsoever that Vassula Ryden is such a prophet for our times.
Hans Enderle
January 13, 2004
(Tokyo, Japan)
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