Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/0965

0965 Demons.... temptations.... love to matter....

June 15, 1939: Book 18

The demons lie in wait for every weak moment and seize the weak-willed soul to bring it down. The human being's struggle is in vain until he commends himself to the father in heaven, and blessed is he who takes refuge in Him in such distress, for he truly needs divine help. The hostile power has unbelievable power over a weak human heart and often uses such means which require fierce resistance, which the human being in his weakness cannot muster on his own. Yet divine love is always ready for the earthly child if only you think of it.... The soul constantly seeks to defeat itself, yet earthly possessions tempt it with all their might and the adversary tempts the earthly child in every conceivable way, and yet the inclination towards matter is to be completely overcome.... all desire for it is to be discarded and only spiritual possession is to be striven for instead, and yet again and again the human being falls into the enemy's hands if even the slightest love of possession makes him strive for it, for then his power is all the greater the more the human being allows himself to become a slave to his earthly possessions. And once he has recognized the weakness that causes man to fall, he will not cease with temptations of this kind. And again we want to call out to you: Watch and pray so that you don't fall into temptation.... Because the enemy tries to bring about the apostasy from God with cunning and he always uses the weakest moments in man’s life for this purpose and then has the strongest influence on the soul, which certainly recognizes the temptation as such in itself and yet a certain timidity drives it to comply with the desire of the enemy's power and thus still clings to matter again instead of declaring war on it. And thus the slightest cause can lead to spiritual decline, and a pure heart can be defiled if God's help is not claimed, but an earthly child desiring God's help and thus living in light and grace will successfully face every challenge, for its request for deliverance from the adversary's power will soon be granted and matter will appear ever more distant to it, and the inclination towards it will be completely overcome....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers