Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2176

2176 Spiritual connection with God antidote for the world....

December 6, 1941: Book 31

There is no better antidote to the world and its pleasures than spiritual union with God. Whoever strives for the latter no longer desires the world, for he has now found something that is worth striving for and brings him everlasting good. Spiritual union with God has little to do with the body, for every physical desire is disregarded because it is an obstacle to intimate contact with God. For the body belongs to the world. The body must therefore also surrender itself and now do what pleases God if it wants to mould itself in such a way that God takes possession of it in order to work through it. God deems such activity necessary; God knows that faith is in great danger of being wiped out and He must revive it through extraordinary activity. For extraordinary work should lead to God. The greatest blessing is the closeness to God, just as the distance from God, which becomes apparent through faithlessness, is the greatest disadvantage for the human soul. For then the body dominates the soul, it demands unrestricted enjoyment of life and finds fulfilment, and the human being lives his earthly life without God, so to speak. And his spirit is gagged and this means spiritual stagnation, if not a decline in his development. The separation from earthly pleasures and comforts and the giving up of earthly desires requires self-conquest, but on the other hand has the greatest spiritual success, for to the same extent as the human being sacrifices, he also receives, but something far more precious, because it is imperishable good which he exchanges for earthly goods. And he only realizes what this means when he dies, when he can take this good into eternity, where everything earthly remains behind. Spiritual union with God is the beginning of the blissful state which outlasts the earthly world, for the ultimate goal of all spiritual endeavour is union with God, and for anyone who already strives for this union on earth the world has lost its appeal, and this has the same significance as having escaped the adversary's power. Letting the human being fall into a spiritual low is his incessant endeavour, and if the human will is too weak he will succeed in resisting the body's desire. The human being has to strive for spiritual union with God, then he will also receive the strength to become master of his body's desires. And supreme spiritual success will reward his will. What the body gives, the soul will receive, and this will outlast all earthly....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers