Love is all there is

14 January 2001 08:46

The following is an extract from the testimony of a Protestant living in Switzerland, written in 1999:

I told a colleague that I had read Vassula’s first TLIG book, “It is very repetitive, so much about love”. I remembered I was in church, regretted my comment, and heard myself add “But I suppose that is all there is”.

“Love is all there is” remained with me, and the guilt of a literary criticism totally out of place. One evening we were speaking of handwriting, and I wanted to show my daughter-in-law the most beautiful handwriting I had seen, without reference to its source. Brigitte, my daughter, went to retrieve the writings from her studio where they had remained hidden for six years as, with the dustbin lid in my hand, I had hesitated to throw them away at the last second. Tidying the room at 10 o’clock that fateful night I wondered what to do with the papers. The first was dated 20 September 1986, and I began to read.

Amazingly the pages spoke to me immediately and I knew that this was God. The hours passed in total concentration while I experienced powerful emotions, some hitherto unknown. As I learned from Jesus I was astounded that because of my sins He had suffered. I had always thought of myself as part of a sinners gang with whom God was disappointed, even cross, but He knew how life on Earth was these days. Now I became an individual answerable for myself and as guilty of wounding Him as those who had forced the thorns into His forehead. Tears of sorrow trickled and I wanted to obey the writings to the letter to make amends, and become one of His trustworthy children. His love for sinners filled me with awe; when He called for our conversion I knew that it had just happened in my sitting room In His presence. This was the most important event in my life, indeed a miracle. I wanted to wake Brigitte, the revelations were so stupendous, but went to bed towards 3.00 a.m. thankful that I had been chosen to receive this wonderful news. Thankful that God loved and forgave sinners, for I was a living proof.

Early that morning I called Brigitte to come to share THE GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY. I felt the excitement of those who had heard Jesus preach long ago and had rushed to say to neighbours “Listen to this, life on Earth must change – He is our salvation.” She came quickly and we read, shared a Bible side by side and discussed all day long. She felt the truths as personally as I and we resolved to grow in love for Him. I secretly knew that I had to obtain the Sacrament of Confession as quickly as possible. Having been emptied out I wanted to be obedient avid cleansed to really start afresh.

I now hope to grow as He desires, structure my days to make more room for prayer and really live as though each day were my last. I intend to confess to a priest regularly as I feel and understand the wisdom of Church Tradition, I feel privileged that my mind was opened to accept all the doctrines of which I, as an Anglo Catholic, was previously unaware. For the first time I perceive the richness of the panoply of Faith. There is no need to look elsewhere for salvation or sensation because the great news of the millennium now passing is that the Heavenly Family have been communicating with us all along. To be told that TLIG will endure to the end of times, as will the Bible, makes it awesome to be among the first army of readers avid believers, so aware of its power to convert. From the outset I marveled at the gifts within gifts. The beauty of the instruction leads us to unimagined levels of feeling and understanding. Second and third readings reveal still more and I often have to double check that I have indeed read the work in question.

I have read that God can turn even evil into good. I do not want to lose the memory of my suffering when my head was permanently inhabited by wrong thoughts. I want to strive for a head and heart permeated by God at all times, when instead of fretting to free myself I shall open more and more. That was my enormous sin, I had a false god and gave to that god what belonged to the one true, living God. I hope that the lessons of TLIG remain with me until I die. During my infidelity I asked several times not to wake in the morning and that a sick mother about to die should have my life instead.

How thankful I am now to be alive. I thank the Good Shepherd for having found this willful lost lamb, He must have shuddered when he put the putrid carcass on his shoulder. We thank Vassula for giving her life to be the instrument through which we can be saved.