Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1109

1109 Public declaration of spiritual endeavour....

September 23, 1939: Book 20

Such incredibly high demands are made when it concerns worldly pleasures or earthly goods and every human being endeavours to outdo the other. Yet in spiritual terms people completely lack this instinct, indeed, it is rather the case that spiritual striving is concealed from fellow human beings and thus a competition to attain a state of perfection is completely out of the question. And this is characteristic of the spiritual backwardness of mankind. People are not afraid to publicly declare their desire for earthly possessions but conceal as far as possible everything that is aimed at furthering the soul.... And yet the human being must first overcome this shyness in front of his fellow human beings, he must openly and courageously confess himself as a creature of God and thus as an earthly child who wants to serve Him and who regocnizes His power and glory. And if he puts his duty towards God before his earthly activity he can also be sure of divine blessing, but the father in heaven does not respect a creature who does not openly confess Him. And thus even today only a few people have the honest endeavour to make God's will their own; they all continue on their earthly path unperturbed without asking themselves whether they are doing their best to comply with the will of the one Who created them.... Their only concern is to increase their possessions and goods or to prevent them from diminishing.... But if they would just as eagerly think of their soul and fulfil their spiritual duty with the same zeal, earthly life would no longer burden them, for the lord God assures the fulfilment of what is necessary for life to those who love Him and keep His commandments. And a public confession would bear exceedingly beautiful fruit for fellow human beings.... for one person always emulates another.... How many useless things a person focusses his mind on and how necessary it is to immerse himself in spiritual questions alone in order to secure his existence for all eternity.... Admittedly, man must be able to renounce earthly goods with complete satisfaction and be content only with what the father in heaven has intended for him. But he willingly surrenders everything once the spirit within him instructs him and makes him understand the worthlessness of earthly things. How his mind is then turned only to the spiritual, and how empty earthly life now appears to him, how sober all that he desired before. And his zeal will become ever greater.... his shyness to confess will be overcome, and he will now be able to work for the blessing of himself and all those to whom he imparts the same teachings that are so obviously and wonderfully offered to him by the infinite love of the lord....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers