“The Day of the Lord is at Hand”
February 2-7, 2023
Retreat Banner
My little children, I shall not be long, I am already on My Way of Return; I am telling you this before it happens, because when it does happen you may believe that this Voice you have been hearing all these years, came from Me; I am telling you this so that you may rejoice, because I, too, rejoice for this Day when Satan’s head will be crushed by My Mother’s heel;
– hear Me: I shall pour out My Spirit on this evil generation to entice hearts and lead everyone back to the complete Truth, to live
a Perfect Life in Me your God;
(TLIG Messages, September 19, 1991)
At the end of our previous retreat in Aegina, we left with the thought and impetus to strive towards attaining a closer, more prayerful life with our Lord. As a holy obligation, the spiritual seeds planted in our souls during the Aegina retreat had to be nourished. Jesus hastened and facilitated this endeavor through our retreat in Meteora, which took place from February 2nd – the 7th, 2023. True Life in God-Greece hosted this spiritually uplifting, enlightened, life-changing retreat in Meteora, Greece. We embarked on this journey physically and spiritually, pulling ourselves away from the comfort of our home, our belongings and our surroundings to find our real home in Christ. As a spiritual exercise, the journey we undertook comprised a sort of dying of self, as we went with a sparse suitcase to an area most of us had never seen. What we have as our anchor is our dependence on Christ.
Meteora, our destination, comprises a miraculous landscape and monastery setting. The environment is very uplifting, spiritually charged and holy. You can sense the holiness in each and every chapel, with its frescos and icons. Historically, on these cliffs the Orthodox Christian church was protected from the Ottoman rule of the 16 th-18th centuries. It is due to the accomplishments of the hermits and monks that built this over-reaching hide-away that we have the benefit to partake in our living faith. What we perceive in Meteora is man’s everlasting desire to connect with the Divine. The cliffs welcome complete isolation, a peace and harmony that was and is used for spiritual ascension. There are now six active monasteries in Meteora perched on very large, cliffs. It is a miraculous gift of nature that was first inhabited by these hermit monks beginning in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The Famissi Hotel-Eden, in Kalambaka
We arrived at the Athens airport on Thursday, February 2, 2023, where our bus coordinators were waiting to bus us on a five-hour drive to Meteora. It was a joy to see some old True Life in God friends from Czech Republic, Germany, California, England and Greece, and we even had the pleasure to meet new ones from the USA. With True Life in God as our common ground, we almost instinctively talked about prayer meetings, pilgrimages and the power of the work of the Holy Spirit within them. We noted the unity, kindness, love, understanding and care people have for each other in the company of True Life in God. When we partake in True Life in God related activities, it is, for sure, God’s Will in action. We waited a while at the airport for other over-seas and European passengers before embarking on our bus-ride.
On the bus, Catarina, our bus leader, led us in prayer for a sick friend. Sister Monica Josefa, in unison with all, prayed the Rosary for the benefit of all friends in TLIG who could not attend this retreat, for the people of Greece, for those in need, and those who are suffering during these trying times. She also prayed for the retreat itself, that all in attendance will be inspired. The passengers had the opportunity to share thoughts, stories, songs. Sister Monica sang two beautiful songs to our Blessed Mother. The testimonies and stories shared imparted experiences of miracles in people’s lives that led them to follow Jesus-to dedicate their life to their spiritual growth, with Jesus as their guide. Upon arrival at our destination point, the Famissi Hotel-Eden, in Kalambaka, we were stunned to see the hotel as a welcoming, quaint, log-cabin style lodge.
Friday, February 3, 2023
Vassula’s Welcome Talk
Vassula welcomed us on February 3, 2023. She led us towards God by saying that everybody is invited to be a living altar to God; not by force or condemnation. He is gentle. He comes to us in His wisdom, to each of us in a different manner. His approach is never the same for each person, but it is always out of mercy, with peace terms. We all belong to God, so He comes to remind us of our roots. He invites every soul, gives every soul the fullest knowledge of His Will. Spiritually and historically, the time period in which we live is terrible because no glory is given to God. People give glory to themselves instead. We are living in the end of times as depicted in 2 Thessalonians 2. At this designated time in history, faith is frozen, but the Holy Spirit promises to revive us before Christ’s return. What offends Christ the most is apathy. Complacency and apathy are unacceptable in His eyes. We are wretched and are asked to ask the Holy Spirit daily to enliven a flame in us. Grace is there for us, but we have a long journey towards perfection, uniting ourselves with the angels. Are we not called to be gods by participation? God wants us to receive Him, to be His beloved child, and at His service. We come to Christ as we are and He will turn us into saints. We are created out of Love for Love: to Love our Creator. It is only from the triune God that we have our lives; if we cut our God, we cut out life.
Vassula is speaking
Vassula continued by saying that when we pray, we unveil God. True Theology is contemplation of God. We live, move in Him. The soul of man has been deformed by our sins. To save us from sin, He, God, is the one who died for us. He wants us to give more to Him, so we receive more from Him. A divine union with Him means finding a fullness of His deity. Through the True Life in God Messages, we read: “My return is imminent;” (TLIG Message, December 27, 1994) https://ww3.tlig.org/messages/898/ And, “I will come back the way I left;” How will this happen? Will He walk on the Earth? He is preparing us for His return through His teachings of wisdom. His return will include a fire through which He will make all things on this Earth new. (https://ww3.tlig.org/events-and-activities/international-retreats/meteora-2023-the-day-of-the-lord-is-at-hand/)
Father Rolf spoke after Vassula completed her welcome talk. In 1956, Our Lady told Father Rolf that if the world will not hear Her, she will appear in every country, in every family. Our Blessed Mother is preparing us for Jesus’ return. We must prepare ourselves internally, by following, honoring, and loving Jesus’ sacred Heart. What we need is to listen to the language of Jesus’ cross-that is, we need to be ready to bear our personal cross-Jesus prepares each one of us to bear our own cross. We fear the idea of suffering, yet we are full of sins. Through confession we come closer to freeing ourselves from sin so Jesus can step in and heal us. Jesus knows us and lives in our hearts, and our Blessed Mother brings us to Jesus. We need this help from our Blessed Mother, like a child, since our hearts are as a little child’s. The cross we carry can indeed by carried by us because Jesus himself is actually carrying it for us. Our fidelity will consecrate us to Jesus’ Sacred Heart and to His Mother’s in unison.
As we deeply contemplated the concepts and wisdom embodied in Vassula’s and Father Rolf’s talks, thankful that they offered us the opportunity to enlighten our souls, we sang a hymn to our Blessed Mother ‘Agni Parthene Despoina’, composed by St. Nektarios, before departing for the Monastery of Agios Stefanos.
St. Stephanos Monastery
This monastery, along with its surrounding landscape was breath-taking. Housed on one of Meteora’s enormous cliffs, we could see the beauty of God’s creation with the surrounding mountains, the valleys and the rolling hills. A bridge led into a small chapel’s outer portico, where we lit candles, and venerated a very large, gold-plated icon of our Blessed Mother. In the chapel, frescoes entirely decorated its four walls. The artistry was so detailed, colorful and full of meaning. The monks, along with those who visited this chapel used the frescos to learn about their Christian faith. Our tour guide disclosed the history behind the frescos: they were brought in from Italian monks and were a means towards a spiritually contemplative, prayerful life for the residing monks, and all who visited the chapel. Within its pictorial accounts and stories, the frescos portrayed the life of St. Stephanos, the life of Christ, the life of other noteworthy saints and an image of an ascent to Heaven and the divine realm. We were all awed by this tour. Upon our return to the hotel, we attended Holy Mass and then watched a movie entitled “Marian Apparitions of the 20th Century.” In the 20th century, our Blessed Mother appeared at three hundred locations to bring us back to Christ, to embrace us in Her love and to lead us towards a holy, divine life, praising God for His goodness. Our Lord never ceases to show His presence, using art forms, saints, and the Blessed Mother to invite and to allow us to know Him.
Saturday, February 4, 2023
On Saturday, February 4, 2023, Bishop Jeremias from Brazil spoke to us all. He stated the he has been reading the True Life in God Messages since 1998. He is Ukrainian Orthodox. It all began for him while attending a confer