Inside the Church, Vassula shared her first experience of attending Catholic
Mass:
'I was there with my sister attending Mass. It was my first
Catholic Mass and I did not know how to follow it either so I thought it best to
copy what the others were doing... if they knelt, I knelt as well, etc.. When
the time came and the priest was giving out the Holy Communion, I had no idea
what to do or what was really going on. We saw the people lining up and I asked
my sister whether we should do the same. She refused, but I decided to join in
the queue. Arriving towards the priest I saw the people stretching out their
hands and so I decided to do the same. Of course the priest offered me the Host
in my hand. When I looked at Jesus, I did not recognize Him, and I wondered what
this was, I said to myself: 'What is that?' I went back to my seat and asked my
sister, 'what is that?' she replied: 'I don't know'. Mass was over and I still
held Jesus in my hand and was already thinking of placing Him near my icons
because, I thought that if the priest gave this it must be holy and blessed. We
went out into the Church yard and it was already dark.
My sister then said; 'Do you think it could be the Communion? Try it and put
it in your mouth and if It melts, then It is the Communion. If it does not melt,
then it is something blessed and holy'. So I tasted Jesus, and ate the Bread of
Life the Bread of Life that Jesus wanted me so much to have'.
'What is
that!' These words in Hebrew are famous and are the popular explanation of
the name 'Manna'! (Exodus 16:16). When the whole community of Israelities began
complaining to Moses and Aaron in the desert that they would starve to death,
Yahweh said to Moses; 'Look, I shall rain down bread for you from the heavens
(Exodus 16:4). 'When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with
it' (Numbers 11-9).
Bread from Heaven! It's another way of saying;
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. When Vassula said: 'What is that?' she didn't know,
at the time, that she was declaring a truth of great importance: Jesus in the
Holy Eucharist, His real Presence, He is the Bread from Heaven. 'I have
offered you from the Palm of My Hand My Celestial Manna; I have offered you,
while crossing this desert part of My Cloak; to 'to keep you alive, I have
offered you to eat My Body and drink My Blood' (July 27, 1992)
'My children, our love must be not just words or mere talk, but
something active and genuine. This will be the proof that we belong to the
truth...' (1 John 3:18-19)
