Testimonies 11

08 September 1998 21:26

This testimony was written in March, 1996, some two years after the incident related in it.

My name is Patricia Bayliss. On June 15, 1994, Vassula Ryden was a guest in my home from lunchtime that day until late morning of the following day. On the evening of June 15th she addressed an audience on the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, campus. She did this at the invitation of Father Edward D. O’Connor, C.S.C. It was her second visit to Notre Dame.

On this particular occasion, Vassula was accompanied by her spiritual director, Father Michael O’Carroll, and by Mr. Patrick Callahan, the publisher of her writings in the United States. After having lunch together at my home, Father O’Carroll and Mr. Callahan were taken to the homes where they would be staying.

Vassula remained at my home and went upstairs to the guest room, which a friend and I had prepared for her. As she explained it, she needed to spend time alone with Jesus. My only concern was that my household would be quiet enough for her, because it was summertime and my children and their friends, who were out of school, would be coming and going. Vassula was sequestered for approximately three hours, during which time a great silence came over my house. The telephone never rang, and my children all spontaneously scattered elsewhere to visit friends.

After her talk that evening at the University, I brought Vassula back home with me. She was very tired and very thirsty. I gave her a large glass of water, and had her sit down in the most comfortable armchair I own; it is the same armchair in which I sit to say my morning prayers each day.

My youngest son, then twelve years old, was quite taken with Vassula. He and I sat on the edge of a large coffee table opposite the armchair in which Vassula was sitting. My son had his arms around our dog, and he asked Vassula if she had a dog back home in Switzerland. Vassula began describing her own little dog and then told my son that in Switzerland, some people even have wolves for housepets. This information surprised both my son and me. Vassula explained that wolves are only dangerous when they are in a pack; that alone, a wolf by nature is a coward.

As Vassula made these remarks about wolves, I was looking sideways at my son, and was thinking about how Jesus himself must have felt as though he was surrounded by “wolves” – during his Passion. I turned to look at Vassula, but the face I saw was not hers. It was the face of Jesus, looking straight at me.

His hair and face and eyes had the same coloring as Vassula’s and the same shape, but he had effaced her completely. It was as though he was borrowing her countenance. His face was full of a radiant brightness. He was looking right into my eyes with a look of great tenderness and love – and ENJOYMENT. His mouth was smiling in a bemused sort of way, and though no words were spoken, he was communicating to me. He was saying by his look that here he was, sitting in the very chair where I pray to him, and that it was so very nice to be there in my family room looking at me – a mother sitting with her son and his dog and talking about something as ordinary as what makes a good house-pet.

I was filled with a sense of peace and love, but was startled as well. I turned to look at my son to see if he noticed anything unusual going on, but he was still looking at Vassula and chatting amiably away. I looked back at Vassula, and it was again her face I saw looking at me.

It was only within the past few months that I was able to read the message which Vassula wrote down while at my home nearly two years ago. As I was personally unaware of this phenomenon reported by some, of seeing Vassula’s face being transformed into the visage of Christ, what she wrote in the guest room of my home that quiet afternoon is even more meaningful, as it pertains to this very subject.