Aegina retreat 2022
Every person (whether consciously or unconsciously) is looking for an answer to three existential questions.
- Where am I from?
- Why am I here?
- Where am I going? What will happen next?
Philosophical systems and religions offer different answers. But here we believe that the Triune God, who made himself known to us in his Son Jesus Christ, offers the best answer.
Why am I here? What is the reason for my existence? The Catholic Catechism says that man was created to glorify God. This is the reason for his existence, but also the existence of the entire creation. Everyone should contribute to this goal. ”I am the Lord. That’s my name. I will not give my glory to anyone” (Isaiah 42:8). Creation proclaims God’s praise by its mere existence. Man, as the crown of creation, must also show respect to God with heart and mind. ”Glorify my name” (Mal 2:2; Is 42:12; Jer 13:16) is what God requires of his people and all the inhabitants of the earth. So much Catechism.
O.K. So now I know that I am in the world to glorify God. But I am convinced that most people do not know this. Not only non-believers, but also believers. And if they know, for some reason they don’t do it. Why? Before I try to answer that, I would like to share with you how I have come to believe that the TLIG Messages are indeed from God. After completing my studies in theology, I was ordained a priest and appointed administrator for three parishes. This is because there is a shortage of priests in our country. Knowing the pastoral reality paralyzed me spiritually. A spirit of lethargy crept into my priestly life. In practice, this means that you fulfill the necessary obligations because you have to. But you look for comfort and pleasure somewhere else, in the world. It is a danger that threatens many priests in the pastoral care. The Lord Jesus says that the priests were led astray by rationalism, disobedience and vanity (cf. 17.07.89). An outward appearance of religion, but a spiritual emptiness within. It is not unusual for a cleric to leave his state. And in this situation, God came to me to save me. Through a friend, many of you know him, his name is Jan, I got in my hands the books of the TLIG and I began to read them with a bit of distrust. I soon found out what you all probably know. When I replaced Vasssula’s name with my own and entered into intimate conversation with the Lord, a special joy and sweetness spread within me. And my zeal and desire to work for the Lord returned to me. On this I now want to explain that whoever wants to work for the Lord and thus glorify Him needs a supernatural source of energy, something that gives him strong motivation. And I have not found that in anything other than the word of God, who speaks to us today through the Message.
And now I will return to why we glorify God so little. Saint Paul says that the basic sin is that we refuse to glorify God and thank Him. We refuse to acknowledge God in His Divinity. We ignore God and pretend He doesn’t exist. We observe that even religious people today do not normally adhere to God’s word and live according to their own ideas. Therefore, I dare to say that to recognize God in His Divinity today means to recognize that He speaks to us, that He speaks through the Messages of the TLIG. Although our churches proclaim God, they deny Him His sovereign right to speak to His children. We are harming ourselves. Scripture says: ”Therefore beware of rejecting him who speaks to you. If those who rejected the interpreter of God’s commands on earth did not escape punishment, how much more will we not escape if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25). What the Lord expects from us is that we recognize TLIG Messges as a true revelation of God, as a Hymn of Love sung by God to humanity. ”I, the Lord, love all of you and it is for the sake of those who seek The Truth that I come to show them again what The Truth really is and what It means since they have forgotten It” (09/04/88).
We all know that the Church is perishing in its great apostasy, an apostasy predicted but kept secret. But God cannot be silent. (12.02.00)
St. Irenaeus, a church father of the 2nd century, under the influence of the Holy Spirit defined the vocation and goal of man with the words: ”A living man is the glory of God and a man’s life is the vision of God!” TLIG is the way to achieve this. To live as God wants and to see God.
The Lord further teaches us that we glorify Him when we listen to what He tells us and when we do it. In the Messages we find a lot of advice and recommendations regarding the transformation of our lives. But I don’t want to talk about those. I will mention two activities that the Lord asks of us. It is evangelisation and work for unity.
- Evangelisation
”Vassula, console Me and bring to Me small souls; show them My Heart, tell them of My Love” (23.12.89).
”Not that I need you, Vassula, but when you go out to testify in My Name, it glorifies Me and at the same time it purifies you” (04.03.91).
The greatest act of love is to bring souls to the Lord. There is nothing more we can do. That’s evangelisation, that’s missions. We often hear that we need a new evangelisation. Evangelisation can be done in many ways. However, the Scriptures say that faith is by preaching.
God is calling us to bring Him to this de-Christianized generation. But we must first be trained by Him, enter His school. This means nothing more than reading the Messages, from beginning to end and again, opening it at random, meditating on its words, learning them, living them…. To give priority to the Messages above all else. The Lord says that ”the more they will advance reading Me the more sanctifying graces will I be pouring on them, to draw them deeper into the flames of My Heart” (28.11.96). I have already heard many speeches on the subject of God, but I was most touched by the words of those who came to know God throughTLIG. The Lord desires to “sing Our New Song through your mouth; those who are still not contaminated by the powers of the world will be drawn to Us in Our Imperishable Light” (12.04.95). ”Evangelize with love for Love” (27/01/89). Even when we think we can’t speak up, we can find a way to get involved. We have different gifts and abilities. It is enough, for example, to recommend others to read the message. During the TLIG pilgrimage to Lebanon in 2005, Vassula wrote a short piece of encouragement for my fellow priest who was troubled by the loss of believers. I wrote it down and I always have it with me. I quote: ”Dear XY, by telling your parishioners to read True Life in God, they will multiply. Distribute the Message and people will return to God.” I can confirm that this is true.
- Work for unity
The Lord explains that disunity weakens his mystical body – the Church. And that He is coming to restore his Church again. And He calls us to work for unity. I didn’t know that disunity was such a problem before I metTLIG. I was raised to believe that, simply put, we Catholics are right and unity is restored by others coming over to us. But since the division has been going on for almost 1000 years, I didn’t understand how this could happen. And if even those ”above” can’t do anything about it, then what about me? I now know how important unity is in God’s eyes and that He has a plan and a way to achieve it. You all know Vassula’s vision of the ”Three Iron Rods”. I also consider Jesus request to unify the date of Easter to be a simple yet feasible solution. But Church leaders would have to believe that.
In the Message, the Lord says that ”Love and Humility will be the other Key for UNITY” (09/08/89) and that ”the Truth will free you and enable you to unite” (23/12/87). And also that ”unity is to share Holy Communion” (13.04.91). God showed me in TLIG how He looks at it all. He helped me get rid of deep-rooted prejudices and changed my opinion about ”separated brothers” and members of other, even non-Christian churches. He gave me hope that unity will come again, and that it will come as suddenly as the fall of communism once did. The nations will call it the Great Miracle (10.01.90). The Lord also needs my heart so that in it He can make his Church one and only. Unity comes through the heart. But then there must be no dispute, no arrogance between us. We must all bow down. So I already understand what I have to do, and that by working for unity I glorify the Lord.
I would like to end my contribution with the words of the Lord Jesus from the Message: ”Take care of My interests, and I will take care of yours”. Many people worry about their future and that of their loved ones. It is understandable. But when we work for His interests, when His House is more important to us, He will take care of our interests and our house. I believed it, I experienced it myself.
