Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1808

1808 Spiritual distress.... sense of responsibility.... harsh reminders....

February 18, 1941: Book 27

How irresponsible people act towards their souls when they close themselves off to the right realization and reject all help sent to them. Every admonition and warning is in vain, they attach too little importance to their lives and also have no sense of responsibility. And yet God, in His longsuffering and patience, repeatedly endeavours to educate them to think correctly, but they do not recognize this. And the more stubbornly they close themselves to His word, the thicker the soul's covering becomes, and it takes very strong shocks for this covering to burst and the soul to become free. The spiritual distress is far greater than the individual person is able to recognize. Only rarely is a believer present where several are gathered, and this believer is ridiculed where he should be heard.... Only rarely does the divine word penetrate people's hearts, for the world wants to hear something else, it wants to be entertained in a worldly way, it wants to be distracted and enjoy earthly speeches, it does not want any teachings or references to the death of the body; it only wants to live, i.e. to utilize and enjoy earthly life. And the divine words are an obstacle to this, they inhibit the urge for earthly life, they inhibit the ecstasy of joy and curtail earthly enjoyment. The more limited people are, the more difficult it is to explain the divine activity to them, for then they have no understanding for spiritual experiences, and they now try to compensate for the lack of understanding with an increased desire for the world, for they perceive what is incomprehensible to them only as pressure and burden and want to escape this by paying homage to the world all the more. And without the will to recognize the truth it cannot be offered to them, and if it is offered to them then they do not understand it because they do not have the will to do so and the desire for God is only weakly developed in them. And therefore God must send them other admonishers who will silence all desire for worldly pleasures in them. He has to touch them harder because they do not pay attention to light touches, because they do not sense God's closeness when He makes Himself known to them. And so an ever harder lot will be imposed on humanity and it will have to languish under the pressure and find no compensation in the world and its supposed pleasures. Life will be so hard to bear that true comfort will only be found with God.... in His word, which promises His love and mercy to everyone who turns to Him and surrenders the world....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers