“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not remain in darkness“. St John 12, 46-47

Jesus is constantly calling out to us. Jesus continues to face the stubborn unbelief of the many who, after so many miracles performed before his eyes, do not believe in him. Why are the disciples so few? Can we do nothing to remedy this? Let us arm ourselves with the ardent desire to bring the most rebellious minds to the faith of the Gospel.

To encourage us, let us know that under the law of Jesus there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. At this very hour, our prayer is perhaps the last and supreme resource of many souls in peril. But are we not among the faint-hearted who believe and dare not confess their faith? Are we not still among those who fear the opinions of men more than the judgments of God?

Jesus leads us to the One who sent Him and who is the final end of all life. Jesus gives us to his Father. He will bring us out of our darkness and save us. This is the call of the heavenly Father, and it is His Son who gives it to us. Why should we fear the truth from the lips of the Son of God? We need it, and in all its fullness, so that it may make us happy. Truth and life are only to be found in the lessons of charity, piety, patience, humility and self-denial which Jesus has given us. 

The hand extended to Christ never remains empty;
The 4th Gospel shows Judas holding out his hand. Judas’ fingers close on the slain Lamb. Satan is in Judas. But Judas carries in his hand, which is Satan’s, a terrible mystery. Hell keeps in its bosom this piece of bread, a fragment of light. Is it not a faithful and exact expression of the word: “The light shines in the darkness”.

The gesture of Jesus points to the last mystery of the Church: it is the hand of Jesus offering the Eucharistic bread. The call is addressed to all, for all are in the power of the prince of this world. The light does not yet dispel the darkness, but the darkness has no hold on the invincible light. We are all in the ultimate tension of divine Love. If the desperate explore the depths of Satan, the Gospel calls believers to move mountains. For us this means moving the hellish mountain of the unbelieving agnostic world, its nothingness, to the dazzling being of Pentecost and its new dimensions of life.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, the One who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8).

John placed these words in the opening of his Apocalypse as an echo of his Master’s words, as a sign that all generations would recognise him, the divine Being who is always the same, who never ceases to establish His kingdom of grace and truth. Jesus, who reigns invisibly in His Church, will visibly return as Triumphant One: this is the theme of the Apocalypse of Saint John.1

A “revelation” that is by no means terrifying, the Apocalypse is therefore essentially the book of Hope, the true theological Hope that has God as its object, the Hope that awaits with love the visible glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Revelation: Revelation reveals to us who Jesus Christ is: God made Man; Saviour, King of Creation; Supreme Judge. Mediator: who bridges the gap between God and man. Revealer of God; perfect Witness of his love.

“Manifestation: Revelation announces the visible appearance of Christ, His glorious manifestation and His victory over Satan
(1 Cor. 1,7; 2 Thes. 1,7; 1 Pet. 1,7). Satan, the “prince of this world” (Joh. 12,31), “roams around us like a roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5,8). It is
remarkable that the two books most attacked by Satan are Genesis and Revelation, which speak of him as a person and announce his final defeat by Christ. The message of Revelation shows us the urgency of our conversion and personal commitment. This revelation was made known to John, that is, God made it known to him by signs. In the visions of Revelation, God used symbols similar or identical to those of the Old and New Testaments. “The words of this prophecy.”

John affirms that Revelation is a prophecy: it is not a simple prediction; it may not even predict anything: it is a revelation of the divine thought, concerning events contemporary to the prophet, and sometimes the designs of God for the future. Like all prophecy, Revelation must console, instruct, exhort, stimulate (1 Cor. 14:3) “The decisive moment is near“: it will be sudden. We must therefore, in this happy perspective, be converted: we must turn to God without delay, in expectation of the glorification of Christ. If man needs God, God needs mankind. This revelation of the divine thought was made to Vassula Ryden in 1985 while she was living in Bangladesh. The soul of this assembly, Vassula, born in Egypt of Greek parents and of Greek Orthodox faith, needs no introduction.

God invited her to serve him by passing on his divine words to each of us. Vassula receives these inspirations in the form of locutions and inner visions, with God asking her to call these prophetic messages “True Life in God”. We have all read “True Life in God”, the set of messages from Jesus to Vassula, “Heaven exists but so does hell” and “Prophecies for the end of time in the work of True Life in God” where ‘ Vassula writes – here, descriptions of Heaven and Hell, thrilling testimonies of God’s Mercy, His manifest signs and wonders and, above all, God’s personal invitation to accept His Mercy before His justice comes. End of quote.

In these prophetic messages God calls His entire Creation to return to Love while asking Christians to unify His Body, His Church. “Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant! You all belong to me. You are all ONE in my eyes” says the Lord. Vassula’s mission is to go and
proclaim the Truth, the Prayer of Jesus to the Father: “May they all be ONE as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, so that the
world may believe that You have sent Me” (John 17:21).

Jesus clarified on December 10, 2001: “My spoken words meant that the whole creation must be affected into a spiritual unity and
not a unity by a signed line. To accomplish My In these words, the churches must seek first humility and love; graces that
can be obtained through the Holy Spirit and through great repentance.

The opening of the 7th Seal, in chapter 8, verse 2 of Revelation, presents us with the vision of the 7 angels announcing the plagues destined to convert the inhabitants of the earth (see “Prophecies for the end times in the work of True Life in God” by Vassula with the afterword by Rev. Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi S.T.L. S.Th.D.) 

Verses 3 to 6, while the angels are preparing to sound, another scene is revealed to John: it is the answering of the prayers of the saints: that is, the effectiveness of our prayers. We now know from a reliable source that they reach God and that they are effective, since the kingdom of God will come as we ask. There is therefore a close union between our prayers and the return of Christ (see the True Life in God prayer groups). But the Lord in His messages teaches us that the establishment of Christ’s glorious reign over creation will not come without upheaval and change.

The Lord has asked Vassula to make His messages known throughout the world. She has visited more than 87 countries and spoken
at more than 1,145 meetings, some with large audiences. (See Revelation chapter 11, verse 11, where John announces: “Then they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, tongues and kings.) These prophetic announcements are both sweet and bitter: the prophets are in contact with God, admitted into his intimacy; intimacy with God is sweet, but it is always accompanied here below by trials and sufferings.

The time is near. The Lord Jesus is to return soon. Let us prepare to welcome Him by keeping the words of this prophecy – the messages of “True Life in God” – and heeding the warnings it gives us.

The Lord addresses Vassula in these messages of “True Life in God” and to each one of us, travelers in this world. He asks us to meditate on them, to live them, to reflect on them and to collaborate – according to our charisms – in this mission through witness, prayer, repentance, the love of God One-Triune, love of neighbour, love of enemies, forgiveness of offences, the practice of the sacraments: confession, which has the value of exorcism and therapy for the soul, communion with the Body and Blood of Christ, anointing the sick and afflicted, veneration of the Virgin Mary, the All Holy Mother of God.

We must learn to struggle victoriously against sin and follow Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.