Vassula in Malawi

19 February 2001 17:23

Here is a very personal report from Gay Russell of Vassula’s visit to Malawi last month.

The preparation since Christmas has been quite ferocious. Publishing brochures for Protestants and Catholics (seperate articles), arranging TV coverage, radio interviews, radio advertisements, newspaper ads, banners across the roads, three venues plus decorations … and then the work of evangelising with other churches. I visited many pastors – some of whom were fairly cool and others who surprised me no end and were BEAUTIFULLY receptive and open. I found the experience very heartening and humbling. I have come to meet so many wonderful missionaries from numerous different denominations who are doing tremendous work, making me feel sadly inadequate and horrified at the negative judgements I had made of them in the past! And as always it was the ones I least expected to listen who were the most open and responsive.

Meantime Pauline and Faustina spent many days trudging by foot far and wide to meet Malawian pastors from many churches – all without telephone or car! Tony was indefatigable with running daily errands, organising the police for traffic and security; making contacts at the Civic centre for various permits; tracking down radio personalities to conduct the interviews etc. and then of course there was Fay who was a real God-send. She shared the whole burden with me and took on all the organising problems – sound systems, cameras for the video recording, confirming venues etc.

But none of it was smooth, every day we had hassles and set-backs – and then as if to compensate our frustration and fatigue we would be given unexpected joys and solutions! It was very obvious that the Lord was totally in control of all arrangements and all we had to do was remain docile to the Spirit at all times and TRUST even when it was extremely hard to do so!! We had venues cancelled on us, interviews cancelled, pastors who were to lead the praise and worship were called out of the country one week before the event etc. etc. Lilongwe cancelled on 5 January and then on 12 January pleaded for me to persuade Vassula to change the whole programme to accommodate them again!

But happily we managed to get everything together by the time of her arrival at 12.30 on Wednesday 25 January. We had the TV news crew filming her as she exited the aircraft, and then we went inside to complete all formalities. Within minutes of meeting her again I felt all the stress and worry evaporating into thin air. Almost as if she had read my thoughts she said straight away – ‘Gay, you can relax now. If only one or two people come for each talk it doesn’t matter – I will still speak to them as if they were hundreds or thousands, the Lord will bring those He wants present and you have certainly done all you can to make it a success, so don’t worry any more.’ I was very touched by her peace and gentleness. Travelling with her for this visit was Carol Chamberlain from Scotland who has now taken a year off work and is living with Vassula and Per in Rome, helping Vassula with all the work, leaving her more free to give time to her husband and social life when he is at home.

>From the airport we went straight to the TV studios where the presenter of ‘Spiritual Bag’ interviewed her for a fifteen minute session to be aired one week after her departure. We had tried to buy the time and have it aired on the Thursday evening, but two days before her arrival they admitted that they couldn’t get organised and offered us a free interview instead to be aired after her departure. We were initially disappointed and then realised that this was probably a better idea, since many who couldn’t get to see her would be happy to watch it later on, and it would keep the message alive a little longer. After the interview we proceeded home where we relaxed over a cup of tea. David came home to meet them and we all had an early supper at 6.15 p.m. since Vassula was speaking on a one hour radio phone-in programme at 8.00 p.m. So we left the house at 7.25 to go to Capital Radio Station.

Vassula said she was used to phone-in programmes but I was slightly worried at some of the questions that might be asked – especially questions about Muslims etc.. But as God would have it the equipment for phone-in broke down and they never managed to receive one call – so they had her answering their own questions for one hour. Sure enough they got onto the Muslim question and asked if she thought they would be saved and how there could be unity with them … and she answered so brilliantly, explaining that on Judgement Day we will all be judged by how much we have loved on earth, and even if a Christian has faithfully attended Mass every week and acted pious and holy – if they have done so without love then that is how they will be judged. On another occasion she expanded the answer to say that all will be judged by what they have been taught in this world. If they have never received Christian teaching then they will be judged by how they have followed their own religion or their own consciences. Everybody knows right from wrong and all will come back to how much they have loved – loved God and loved their neighbour. That was the end of a long first day!

On the Thursday morning we met for breakfast at 9.00a.m. and then departed for another Radio Station at 10.00 a.m. Vassula gave two interviews – one just two minutes for the ‘Morning Basket’ programme to be aired on Saturday morning, and then a fifteen minute interview to be aired to all the outlying villages at a later date. It was wonderful to see how she adapted so extraordinarily well to each situation … the talk to the villagers was so warm and simple – no heavy teachings – just giving her story in a light and amusing way and then explaining how much God loves us and longs for us to speak to Him from our hearts, and how close Jesus is to each one of us at every moment.

>From there we returned home and Fr. Eugenio Cucchi, a lovely charismatic Italian Montfort priest, came to celebrate a quiet house Mass … (how blessed I have been!). At each Mass we couldn’t get over the appropriate readings. On that day it was Jesus saying: ‘Let those who hear and hear again, yet never understand, hear this time.’ We had beautiful sharing and then shared lunch together afterwards. That afternoon Vassula was due to address Church leaders, pastors, priests and religious at the French Cultural Centre at 3.00 p.m. I had arranged that others in the group had the chance to drive her, so I went ahead to check the hall and Fay Alvares and Pauline came to pick Vassula and Carol. We had done a lot of work with the other churches but I wasn’t sure how many would actually come. It was thus a great joy to find that 52 attended from 10 denominations (some coming only to listen but not very hopeful that they would appreciate!)

I gave a very short introduction (at Vassula’s request) and then she spoke for one hour and EVERYONE was enchanted – especially from the Blantyre Christian Centre (the re-born Christians who were so anti-Catholic!). At the end I was so deeply moved that I thanked them for coming and told them how humbled I had felt when visiting many of them to invite them to come and listen. I acknowledged that I had been a bigotted Catholic for years and realised through this project how sad the Lord must be to see how many of us were enclosed in our denomination boxes. I asked if they would all stay for a cup of tea and allow us a chance to meet with them on a social level as a beginning … and all of them agreed!

And then I was nearly moved to tears when a Protestant missionary (Assemblies of God) and a Salvation Army Major told me they had been in the country for 32 years and had never met a Catholic priest – could I introduce one to them …!! And for the next 90 minutes I was introducing Seventh Day to Pentecostal and Anglican to Catholic etc. etc. It was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! That night we were just quiet at home and I was very touched by how Vassula related to David. She knew he didn’t want too much religion so she was happy to talk films or history … and then slowly it turned to spiritual matters with ease. I can’t remember what we were discussing but we didn’t go to bed until around 10.15 p.m.

After Mass I felt quite ill and had to forego lunch and retire to bed for the afternoon. So all day I was surviving on black tea and dry biscuits. Was it a bug or was it just nerves or was it, as Vassula said the next afternoon (out of the blue!) ‘Gay, was it not the Lord just leading you to fast?’ And in fact this thought had struck me in the early hours of the morning because exactly the same thing had happened the previous Friday. So, in fact, Vassula’s comment out of the blue was like a confirmation.

By 5 p.m. I was feeling quite strong again and ready to go to the ‘Ex-patriate’ evening talk. This occasion had been a great source of anxiety and fear for me. I had felt moved to invite all sorts of ex-pats of dubious or no faith, to come and listen to Vassula – and I had no idea how many would respond. But, in the end it was tremendous. 125 came to the Portuguese Club which we had had decorated, and in the adjoining enclosed patio we had tables and snacks for a social gathering afterwards. Everyone LOVED it and one family who are NOT interested in any religion or religious conversation, who had purely come to support me (in my supposed embarrassment!) were TOTALLY overwhelmed!!

On Saturday, I was worried at Vassula’s fatigue, but as she admitted – she only gets tired when she has to answer the same questions that were discussed at her talks (just because the people never bothered to go!) Anyway, she was WONDERFUL when our organising group of 16 arrived on foot or shared transport – all DELIGHTED for the opportunity to meet her quietly. She was SO kind and came to life as soon as we asked her to give us some advice and guidelines seeing as how we were faithful to Medjugorje and Charismatic and now wanting to live a True Life in God as well. She was generous in her talk and then after tea we gave her our gifts (with Chichewa singing and dance!) and happily presented her with the first Volume of Messages IN CHICHEWA!! She was delighted and confirmed that we were the 40th language!!

Sunday was the day for our big talk at the Comesa Hall in the showgrounds. It is a marvellous hall – fully carpeted with very good sound system and suitable for 2,500. In case more came we had organised outside speakers. Early in the morning I had to rush out to the airport and get the aircraft ready for our afternoon flight. From there I checked on the hall and discovered that the man with outside speakers hadn’t arrived and Fay was in a state about the video crew so I sent my driver searching for them all and came home with Fr. Eugenio who was saying the last house Mass.

The weather was not good, there had been continuous rain, and when I reached the hall I was horrified to find very few people. We decided to delay for 20 minutes as people were coming in in dribs and drabs, and thankfully by the time she arrived nearly all the seats were taken. Fr. Eugenio was leading the congregants with some great singing – backed up by the Chilimoni choir and drums. The stage was beautifully decorated in African style with banners, lots of pot plants and cane furniture, with a cane divider and a group of animals in the centre – all God’s creatures!! After some praise and worship (with all singing in Chichewa) I was asked to give the introduction (which Vassula had compiled) and by the time she stood up to speak the hall was FULL with many sitting on the floor. Fr. Eugenio did the interpreting and was quite tremendous …. and as for Vassula – she was just GREAT and the crowd were utterly enthralled.

Because she knew it was a very ecumenical gathering she was very gentle with the Rosary and explained at the end of her talk that as a Greek Orthodox she had never known the Rosary, but Jesus had asked her to learn it and so she had obeyed, and following that obedience she hoped that all would join her in praying one decade – which she led in Aramaic. Finally the thanksgiving hymns/songs and then when I stood up to thank her and announce that books were for sale etc. I also added that if anyone would like to join a weekly prayer group for peace and unity there would be ladies at the back taking names …. and I now have over 160 names to contact!!!

The last talk in Malawi was at the Bwaila Secondary School Hall, all of us aware that Lilongwe was very much a last minute arrangemen and guess what? The car park was full to overflowing, and the hall was FULL and lots of people outside. Those present were so obviously much more affluent and much more English-speaking than Blantyre, so it was agreed that no translation would be necessary. We walked in to some MARVELLOUS singing of ‘Our God Reigns’ followed by ‘It’s the Holy Ghost and Power that is keeping me alive’ as we reached our places on the stage. I was really struggling to keep the tears back when I saw the number of missionary priests and sisters (since their bishop is a great support) and SO many old friends whom I haven’t seen for a long time … all so happy and enthusiastic!

After the talk we sped to the airport where I had to bid them farewell and meet my boss who was arriving on the inbound leg of their flight. I was so sad to see them go, but SO grateful to them, and to God, for the MOST WONDERFUL five days.

Gay Russell