In 1998, Vassula gave a talk in the Holy Land during the TLIG Ecumenical Pilgrimage and Retreat. This talk takes about 10 minutes to read and every time I read this talk ( at least 10 times so far) I learn new things. It is a really good read and meditation for Unity week. www.tlig.org/en/churchunity/unity/

Vassula always prays very hard when she prepares a talk and she was inspired no doubt in this one. It covers the entire scope of unity in a very concise manner. It is with reluctance that I even add one thought to it .

But, I will share an observation instead of a thought. As I have been in True Life in God Prayer Groups around the world for 15 years and have attended almost every international pilgrimage where we practice unity, I have experienced first hand, along with thousands of other people, the distinctive spiritual atmosphere in these ecumenical gatherings.

One word that partly describes it is “family”. I mean the word family in the most positive sense, not as it has tended to become in it’s all too often dysfunctional form.

Many readers of True Life in God would agree with me I am sure – that there really is a distinctive feeling of brotherly and sisterly love at True Life in God events. This spirit is different from what I experience in church and in day to day life. We can all feel it in church sometimes but the form I am speaking of is much more distinct. The grace to get a taste of this which I am sure exists in other Christian vineyards as well, gives everybody involved profound inner joy, inner happiness. Once you do experience it for real and then you think how Jesus wants this for the entire church and what that will be like, it fills us with more determination than ever to work harder for unity so this love and joy can be shared more widely.